I now find myself temporarily without a project to work with. Not that there are not any in the list, but there are steps that need to be taken before I can get down and dirty in the mess of it all. So here I sit, and there I sat, yesterday, thinking about the next steps and the near future of my newfound craze? talent? addiction? or whatever term one can apply. Meanwhile I am excited at the thought that G-d willing, each of my grandchildren and children will have a piece of my making. A new tradition? Hopefully. I should last that long!!
So what's up now? Of late, I have been mulling over the idea of creating my own work of art (ha!) or figment of my imagination, presentation, representational of thoughts in my head - whatever. But it will be totally mine. Yes, the pieces I create are distinctly mine, signed and one of a kind for the most part. But an original piece of art? An abstract piece? Think my high school art teacher would faint if she read this! I think I will faint, for I have no clue as to where or how this interest and ability arose. I feel like fainting at times!
So, back to the thoughts of mine. Am I nutso to think I can? Am I to emulate the little engine that could, muttering all the while, "I think I can, I think I can", until it changes to I know I can? Madness, I think to myself, and yet, there is that itch, that niggling little thought that will not go away, but rather keeps growing in intensity and need. Oh, it might never come to fruition, even if I start to work on it in between other projects, but, but, maybe.....?
So, yes, why not? I look to the world at large and think, why not? If I am mad, well, there are many people out there who are definitely mad and yet look at them. Trump acts as if he is President, but not really. Called unhinged, a spoiled and entitled frat boy, a danger to his GOP - and shame on all the mad people there who enabled all this mess - and I think, HA! Madness is no impediment. To paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling on one's back for ages, well, that is madness, and yet look at what still exists.
Now know that I am not comparing myself to any brilliantly talented artist or craftsman or woman. I am a teeny tiny dot on that line of measurement, somewhere near the bottom, I am sure, but again, why not? I am not attempting to take over a country, kill its inhabitants and proclaim myself Ruler for Life, or Arbiter of Fates. Yet people have done and are still doing that. So again, why not? Nothing I do will shake up the world, only my little world, so.... And that is it. I have talked myself into it. I will continue to gather the woods I think I need for this piece, which actually has no shape or display look or tangible presentation in mind. Yet the wood needs to be there if and when I need it.
People out there. Listen to me. I swear that before I started this - and why remains a deep dark unknown even to me secret - I did not and still do not possess a whit of artistic ability. I still draw stick figures, my humans do not look human and as for animals, well, pity the poor things. My houses are still peaked roofs and the tree beside it is still that ubiquitous apple tree with a round growth of leaves. The round sun is smiling from the top right of the page with sunrays emanating from it, always and forever. See, my teachers despaired of my drawings. Somehow they never got hung up on the bulletin board. Hmm, wonder why?
In the midst of all the mess of national life, what I do is of no importance. Yes, it is to me and to my kids. They indulge me in my delusions, even as these delusions turn out pretty damn well, if I do say so myself! So why not? People are dying in droves. Ove 332,000 dead and another almost 200,000 predicted by mid or late January. Getting dangerously close to 2 million - 2 million! - infected and who knows what the long term consequences are, to people, economy, even trust. Vaccines are promised, I am certainly checking off many of the boxes, from age to morbidities and yet, no news as to when, where, how, which one, or even how the process will work or if there is even a process to speak of! Do I bring my Epi-pen, as I have had anaphylactic reactions to various insect bites? In the vernacular - nobody knows nuttin'!
So why not? Why waste time I may not have? Why waste time that I can share with Gerry? Why waste time when something I make can give someone a bit of pleasure, with a beautiful, unusual, and useful piece of art, of creation, be it table, stool, blanket ladder, decorated crate or whatever. Why should I not dare to do something, to step out of my comfort zone? There is no reason why, so here I am and here I will stay until whatever. The future, particularly at my age with my issues and the issues of the world, the future is certainly uncertain and certainly of limited duration. Thus, I will do what my heart now tells me to do and forge ahead, try out new things, attempt new challenges and what will be, will be.
Join me. Let us make 2021 ever so much better than 2020 was. We all need hope and joy. We all need to find an interest as other interests have suffered. We all need to feel useful, to have good come out of bad. Bake a cake. Sew an outfit. Knit a sweater. Do needlepoint. Buff up. Staff a food pantry. Tutor a child or an adult. Carve and create with wood, metal or stone. Whatever takes your fancy - as long as it is legal - do it. Just do it. It is fun. It really is and you might be very surprised at what happens.
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