“And suddenly you know. Its time to start something new and trust the magic of new beginnings.” Meister Johann Eckhart (from The Painter’s Keys)
What is the magic of new beginnings? A paraphrasing of the dictionary definition of magic calls it a power that allows people to do impossible things. “Impossible things” is a wide-open description that could mean anything and everything. Many artists struggle to create a vision that lives inside. Freeing this vision feels impossible, insurmountable. Yet this vision, this inner voice is crying out. It wants to sing but how?
Sometimes it’s necessary to sweep out all the old visions, the old thought processes. That inner voice wants to sing but can’t. There’s too much Old Stuff hanging around blocking the view. The voice can’t see it’s way clear to freedom, to expression. It’s easier for an artist to quash the voice than to deal with the Old Stuff. That Old Stuff has been around a long time. It’s soft and worn and comfortable. Anything new would require the work of breaking in. Who wants to break in the new? The old is so comfortable. It’s too much trouble to change. Why bother?
That old stuff is tired, faded and dusty. Everything it creates will be tired, faded and dusty. Breaking in the new is a fresh adventure, a new beginning. Opening a path for the new voice to sing feels impossible but it’s really quite simple. All it needs is a little trust. Trust the magic of new beginnings. Once that voice is free to sing impossible things can happen. The impossible makes even the oldest rustiest tin can sing like the sweet sound of a meadowlark. Time to kick that rusty can down the road and let the magic of new beginnings sing. The impossible is happening. That old can is being replaced by the sweet sound of a new song. And that is magic.
I felt like this when I moved from conventional canvas art to digital art. I’d been feeling profoundly uninspired with art when I moved to North Cyprus, I forced myself to create some paintings but there was no life in them. And then digital art dropped into my life and I was off and running again!
The magic came back!!! You certainly have it now!
and this could be said of anything creative, eh, Mary Gwyn?
Absolutely!! Thanks, M.R.!