Momentum...sometimes elusive and if gone for too long (at least for me), it can be devastating to progress & growth. Every now and then a blip of something someone once said to me jumps into my head and today that something is about the care & keeping of momentum. Gordon Lee, one of my painting instructors from college once told me that often times the most challenging thing for a painter to overcome is momentum (or lack there of, I should say). At that time, I'm not sure that I understood fully what he meant. I thought of momentum as the frequency with which one creates. I found myself jealous of those who seemed to have reached that place of continuous momentum (meaning they worked on art, all the time). I now know that while frequency is the concrete idea that my momentum is built upon, what happens once you've reached & maintained this foundation is amazing.
momentum =
- The quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity.
- The impetus gained by a moving object.
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For me, momentum is:
Painting or making art at least three times a week
Working on something even when I don't feel like working on something
Using time of low inspiration for other art stuff like preparing canvas, blogging, looking at books
Devoting quality time to making the small stuff...all of it is art, don't discriminate
Be aware of the threads that can carry you from one piece to another
My progress report on mastering the elusive momentum....
As you read, my large assemblage project found its end recently which had the potential to stop me in my tracks. Knowing this, I found books, sparking the inspiration. Yesterday I focused on the small stuff and made several lovely assemblage minis as I'm trying to get a jump start on the festivals, it is important. Today I focused on a thread while I anxiously await the next big idea.
Go make something!
