For a new beginning…
Small abstract works on paper completed 06.10.2024
Today I began what will be a self-designed and self-paced equivalent of the MFA program I had been accepted in, but that I was unable to participate in due to a number of events that led my life down a different, but wonderful path. As the years went by, I often fantasized about what it would be like to be working on an advanced degree and to immerse myself in my work.
I’ve realized that the only thing in the way of me actually taking the step of really developing my art and practice in a serious and professional way is me. At this stage in my life, and having just turned 74, I’m confident in my ability to take on the in-depth program of studio work, research, experimentation, and projects that I have in mind.
This blog will be my way of documenting what I’m doing; a place to keep track of images of my work, books that I’m reading, online classes that I might take, artists whose work I admire and learn from.
I’ve hung this poem by John O’Donohue in my studio to encourage me as I start this new adventure:
For A New Beginning
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
