For everyone who voted “Send help”: (and all the rest of you, too):
Sometimes, I’ll have a grand vision in my head, but when I snap a picture, it doesn’t match. Disappointment. Or, I might spend half an hour writing, and don’t get the essay/story I wanted. So it goes. Music will feel discouraging. Drawing will seem drab. You don’t achieve what you dreamed of. and it’s discouraging--a long, discouraging spiral. Worst of all, it deters you from doing it next time--like having a bad run. Welcome to artist’s block. “Artists block” isn’t just annoying. Sometimes, it digs to our hearts, making us question not just our art but ourselves. Are our creations really worth it? Here’s where you’re not alone: I’m pretty sure every artist has asked that question. No artist is immune. Despite that, though, we have artists! What is the answer? I think the cure depends, but I came across a very inspiring quote which helped me. A few years ago, I saw the quote, and it helps me even now. It’s from Maya Angelou: You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Even writing it now feels--freeing. Whatever your art is, you can’t do it only when you feel like it. Pick up the camera, the pen, the paintbrush, the ballet shoes--whatever it is you create, and start. But what if you are slogging along, and it still doesn’t feel inspiring? What if you’re doing it, and it’s not getting better? Besides the answer (keep going), a great way to recharge is plugging into the artistic community around you. Sick of photography? Find new photo inspiration in magazines, Facebook groups, or even pinterest. (If you’re a photographer like me, here’s several photographic journals with beautiful content that inspires me, as well as some IG pages): -Brandon Woelfel -Jessica Whitaker & Kobeissi’s content -a simply beautiful photographic journal. I love looking at their journals -Fashion magazines--we get a Wall Street Journal magazine every once in a while and I look for triangle shapes in the photos. Finally, if your favorite creators don't inspire you, take a walk. Did you know the same laws that make a buttercup beautiful also design beautiful portraits? So if you’re afraid you aren’t good enough, your progress isn’t enough, or your art is uninspiring, remember the flowers. Beautiful things start small. ~priscilla
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If you’re anything like me, you might like knowing what’s going to happen in advance. Such as: knowing about spring cleaning so you can arrange your day around it. Or, knowing the Coronavirus will be around for five months so I can plan my life around that! Do we know everything? Not just that. When we don’t know everything, we fear. Remember when I talked about opportunities? How when you have so many, your chest constricts with anxiety? Like opportunities, a lack of knowledge causes fear. The coronavirus poses a lot of uncertainties. Will my favorite businesses stay open? What if the economy crashes? Or the internet? There are reasons to be afraid. We can be just as afraid of opportunity as threat because both can end in this: failure. Isn’t failure what we’re afraid of? A country’s failure to run. An economy’s failure to thrive. Our failure to live. If we hinge our hopes and fears on our ability to conquer these challenges or grab these opportunities, we will, inevitably, fail. On the other hand: it is JUST as easy to have peace and security despite opportunity and change. The other day, I scrolled through my email, glancing at scholarship opportunities and college admission emails and all these things I’m not sure if I’ll get. And it feels tempting to be anxious. But while I clicked off the email, I realized: Right. Maybe I won’t get this Random House scholarship. Maybe I’ll be beaten off the Author Mentor Match. Maybe I’ll get the coronavirus. But that made me realize: whether I get it or not, whether I qualify for the AMM or not, whether I get into UC or BU or wherever else, or not, it’s ALL God’s plan. God has a purpose for me, and he will open the doors for me to get there. All these things in my life are here so He can use them, even if it’s not for the purpose I think he will. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. So, what will give us peace in these uncertain times? Focusing on God’s will for us instead of our plans for us. Whenever anxiety grates on us, let’s remind ourselves: God knows and provides. We might not know why this is happening, but we can understand that God has a plan and what’s happening is exactly right for us. I had some pictures planned with the post, but they got LOST. So enjoy some pretty flowers instead. ^_^
🌙priscilla Yay! So today, we’re up for an artistic analysis. Does anyone have books, music, movies they recommend for analyzing? I have a few I’m interested in reviewing. Right now though, I need to remind myself of something deeper: an analysis of me as an artist. I’ll share something with all of you: You may know me as a photographer, but before that, I was a writer. Writing actually drew me to photography--the idea that you can tell a story through a picture as well as words. But now, I feel like I’m needing to re-evaluate myself as an artist. Here’s why. Stuff. That’s vague. But okay--a lot of stuff has popped up for me to try and do, like write for scholarships, the Author Mentor Match, or even keep a diary to improve my writing skills. Do you ever face a thousand opportunities and your chest seizes with anxiety? That’s me. I just don’t know which opportunity is right. Or even if there’s any. Comparison. As I mentioned before, a lot of those opportunities revolve around some kind of competition. There’s a lot of competition for writers. When I wrote a lot and knew how joyful it felt to write, I didn’t care about competition--I just wanted to write my best and inspire others. But now I doubt my abilities. Millions and millions of people are more qualified than me. They deserve these opportunities more. They’ll get these opportunities. I’ll drown as the microscopic fragment and no one will ever know I was a writer. Pressure--to do well on ACTs, SATs, essay writing contests, college CVs, resumes, etc. What teen hasn’t felt this? Writing--or, honestly, understanding art--is a tool you can use to get scholarships, high grades, jobs, and more. How can you create art for your passion instead of scholarships, scores, or grades? A lot of us depend on institutions and other people to measure how good our current skills are. And that’s a good thing. And the older we get, the harder it is to unplug from those voices. Does anyone know the answer to this? Tell me if you do! I confess I haven’t quite figured out how to deal with this yet. But, I remember opening my Bible today and coincidentally seeing this verse: “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.” Further up: “Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49, ESV). Basically, this verse caused me to question the WHY of creating art. Why do we create art? That will guide us out of or into pitfalls with opportunity, pressure, and comparison. And, right here, the Psalm pretty much disqualifies worldly gain like scholarships, ACT scores, CVs, competitions, publishing, or whatever other opportunity you could tack on your resume from being legitimate reasons. Legitimate reasons not just for art, but for life. “Pomp” can’t guide our lives. So if not pomp, (all the worldly treasures we can gain from art) then what? The Psalm also provides an answer! “...yet without understanding.” No understanding makes us beasts. The meaning of understanding is definitely complex. I believe “understanding” refers to all areas of humanity, like understanding God, building our lives on solid foundations, valuing our souls, looking to eternity--but it does point to one thing. Just like art can be used for “pomp”, it can be used for understanding. Wherever you are as an artist, even if you’re an amateur like me, I want you to know: It’s not about follower number. It’s not about competitions. It’s not about essays. It’s not about scholarships. It’s not about test scores. It’s not about resumes. It’s not about anything on your walls or anything on paper. It’s about understanding. Write for yourself. Create for yourself. Express yourself. Process your feelings. And--importantly-- understand. And that’s what I learned this week. Art is for understanding, not brownie points. (hehe). 🌙priscilla ^a bit of art I've been working on this week: how to get runners in focus and the background blurred. ^-^
Like last week, I’m going to tell you more about small things--this time, three acts of kindness that affected me. By now, you might be wondering why I’m so obsessed with “small things.” Aren’t there more important things to talk about--like spring? Fashion? The coronavirus? Honestly, I think that’s a trap we fall into often. We pay so much attention to the “big” things that we forget the universe--and the Kingdom of God itself--is built on the smallest things. Jesus compares his kingdom to a mustard seed (small!) and yeast (also small!). Isn’t that amazing? It means every act of kindness matters, too--especially the small ones. So, here’s a list of (small) kind things people did that I still remember.
Thinking about small ways to be kind is important, too. It makes kindness seem more--doable. Here's some small things I've heard others do: 1. Thank the musicians and secretary at your church. 2. Picked a flower for someone 3. Compliment someone--if you see something you like, say it! 4. Ask someone else how they're doing, even if you don't feel like it 5. Rolled in garbage cans for someone 6. Asked a cashier how he could pray for them 7. Say happy birthday to someone :D 8. Comment something kind on someone's post 9. Say hello Kindness doesn’t have to be “big” to be important. Is there anything kind someone did for you that you remember? until next week! 🌙priscilla ^here is a view through some roses while you think.
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