receiving healing, Monotype of the Day #260

As many of you who have been following my posts know, I have had a difficult month health-wise, but I'm now on the mend. Throughout the month, and even when I was in the hospital, I continued making my daily prints. I made them, but I didn't like them. It was hard to tell if they really weren't good or of I just didn't feel well. One of the core struggles of being an artist is judging your own work. I consistently find that I get the most positive responses on piece I like the least. I've come to believe that it is not my job to judge my work or even to like particular pieces. Rather, it's my job to follow the energy of piece. To let that energy flow through and to work it until it dissipates and finally to withhold judgement. It's hubris to think I know the purpose of a piece, whether one single person is meant to be moved or many, whether it is about changing some stuck energy, or even bringing something new into the world. How can anyone presume to really know the impact of the footprints they leave on earth? This is heavy training for the ego which wants everything to make it look good. It is also a deep lesson in detachment. It is common for artists to identify so closely with their own work that it is hard to let it go out into the world and face judgement. Detachment allows an artist to let work go with blessings. The key is to keep working and know your work has meaning in the world that you will likely never know. This is the promise of creativity, the gift of The Artist to the artist. So, as much as I hated posting my weeks of hospital prints, my faith in the process and unknowable purpose of working kept me dutifully doing my job and I am grateful for such a job (even though there has been more than a little grumbling of late!). xoxo