Wisdom

and our ever present artist identity

Dec 12, 2023

What have I learned today, this last week, month, ..year ..years ?

When I once envisioned my artist self as luxuriously past obligatory working years I imagined my future self furiously making art every day.

I do not make as much art as I intended which is actually a bit surprising. What I do now is make art as the need arises ..thankfully this is often. I spend more time in deeper thought.

This past week I learned to stay in the present in my walk with Gracie the Hound . To witness her tender sniffing of ends of weeds with intoxicating,invisible scents - in a zen like state. For a moment . Not tugging her to move on. Witness her blissfully absorbed in olfactory pleasure .

My mind wanders as we walk..Sometimes I lose place and time to my thoughts. I enjoy this reverie and simple mental meandering. I might even latch on to a solitary image or floating thought that inspires me to write here.

I now associate age and the progression of time as wisdom. I continue to hope that this is a blessing I have inherited from my sheer time and experience on earth. I prefer to consider this time a gift - to not wish away harsh winter days . To not pine for a bird song in Spring when I am weary of the dull grey landscape .

Growing older, growing into myself offers a bounty of possibilities . I feel freer to create for myself what excites me -what is appealing -without censure .

What can I offer at this juncture to others?

My hope is to pass on knowledge, ideas , learnings from my artist journey as an elder artist who has observed and experienced life through various lenses. Continuing to be of value in the world I believe is integral to our spirit and well being -at every age.

I have been totally thrilled by the opportunity to feature a wide array of talented artists of the Ageless Artist eras in my weekly interview feature to be discovered in my other newsletter :

Our art careers and practise can meander over the years dependent on our life paths , survival and sometimes the needs of others . Yet the artist inside us still yearns to create. We must create. We can learn so much from each other !

How we measure this value changes. No longer asked —what do you do ? (as in for a living) The dialogue changes. Our identity grows brighter..or diminishes. Dependent on our self perception .

Question: When did I start making?

Answer:

When I first discovered the joy of creating “something” from nothing.

I am a lifelong artist .

Please let me know if you are an artist /creative 50 or better and would be interested in being interviewed for a future Ageless Artist /jetpack Artist post

I am bathing in a lovely glow as the recipient of recognition in my community here on Substack and in my home community. I celebrate this ! Who ever said or thought that we should disappear into the wallpaper got it wrong.

Thank you to

Claire Venus

for offering me interview space in her Creatively Conscious newsletter “BIG Dreams and Quiet Ambitions #9”