It’s no secret that I love using the color red in an image. Why? Because it’s evocative. It symbolizes so many things – blood, life, death, love, passion, anger….

No matter what it means to you, I hope to see it come through in your art!

I’ll pull some of the art that I see this week to feature!
Use the hashtag #PromotingPassionChallenge so I can find you!

Here is some food for thought. Enjoy the challenge, and remember to push yourself creatively!

One of my friends, Heather, recently wrote to me “I see you as you are, soft and strong…” and those words really hit me. Soft and strong – how is that possible? I have often believed that to be soft is to be weak. I have massive issues in showing vulnerability to people I feel I should show command in front of. The problem is, I wrongly always see myself in a place of command, authority, and responsibility.

Over the years I’ve struggled tremendously with anxiety. Most specifically social anxiety, but it extends everywhere. From canceling tea dates with friends to refusing to attend entire events, I have too often let my anxiety cripple me.

But then again, I’ve also flourished in it. I realized early on where I fly and where I fall. I crave control, so if I am on a stage, I flourish. I know people are there to see me, so I take the control I was given and can seriously command a stage. But if I take on the role of my “normal” self, not the elevated person that people sometimes see, I flounder. A lunch with friends, a party…I shut down. I cancel, I won’t attend, or I try and I end up outside in tears.

All my life I looked upon softness as a defect. Push through, do what you have to. Don’t let others see your weakness. I know that were I in a room today with you, I’d still put that mask on. I know I’m not past it.

But I want to be. Many of us here are creative individuals – perhaps artists for a living or for a passion. We are largely drawn to that life because we feel deeply. I know that I feel deeply. But I find those deep feelings a very personal experience. I shudder at sharing it with others.

But I want to be, as Heather said, soft and strong at the same time. I want to learn how to be both, better.

I felt it was important to write this down here so that you know you’re not alone. If there is one thing I’ve always believed, it’s that if I feel something, I know someone else does, too. It also felt important to write this here because:

It is okay to be proud of yourself and still have moments of weakness.

It is okay to be confident yet still unsure.

It is okay to command a stage but flee from a party.

It is okay to be brilliantly yourself, even if that means you have mental illness.

It is okay. However you are is okay. I revel in myself today, all of my oddities and contradictions. They are what make me complex. And yes, that I know – I am wildly complex. Take ownership of that beautiful fact, because you are, too.

Sometimes the best way to get out of your head is to change your perspective. Literally. If you work with a camera, use a different angle! That discovery was paramount to my growth as an artist.

See what you can do to create from a different perspective or angle than you normally would!

I’ll pull some of the art that I see this week to feature!
Use the hashtag #PromotingPassionChallenge so I can find you!

Here is some food for thought. Enjoy the challenge, and remember to push yourself creatively!

  • March 31, 2020 - 11:33 pm

    Gallagher Green - I am going to try so hard to get a photo done for this, despite the insane craziness that is my life right now!ReplyCancel

It’s a freaky round of 10 Things I Love… and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My dark heart needs to be satisfied, and these are the things that make it swell:

  1. Andreas Mantegna and his forced perspective paintings
  2. Francesca Woodman (self-portrait artist)
  3. Hannibal (tv show) – Season 1, Episode 2
  4. Francis Bacon (paintings) + Battleship Potemkin (1925 silent movie – a frequent influence in his work)
  5. Caravaggio (dark paintings)
  6. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (dark fantasy book)
  7. Amanda Palmer and Edward Ka Spel – Beyond the Reach & The Clock at the Back of the Cage (music videos)
  8. Emil Alzamora (sculptor)
  • March 31, 2020 - 11:32 pm

    Gallagher Green - I will check these out thanks!ReplyCancel

A self-portrait does not have to be the whole self. If you’re not there yet with that kind of work (and it is a deep, long-lasting work), only use a part of yourself. A hand, your hair – get creative! And if you feel like you can push yourself, create a full-fledged self-portrait!

This means you are the one working the camera and in front of it. I’ve created over 500 self-portraits in the past 10 years. Whew. Jump on board with me!

I’ll pull some of the art that I see this week to feature!
Use the hashtag #PromotingPassionChallenge so I can find you!

Here is some food for thought. Enjoy the challenge, and remember to push yourself creatively!

Meta!
  • March 16, 2020 - 2:10 pm

    Gallagher Green - Got lots of ideas on this, it is my jam! ReplyCancel

  • March 26, 2020 - 10:11 am

    Naufragia - Lovely work as always. Love the hands in the back, and the contrast between red and blue!ReplyCancel