Friday, 9 August 2013

Persepctive and Channelling Pollyanna

It's been a week of taking stock. Someone took mine or rather the proceeds of some of my stock plus other stuff in a handbag snatching. So all week I have been vacillating between anger and resignation as the real world reality of a snatched bag impacts on my life.  Actually I wouldn't say anger but puzzlement. The sort of person who snatched my bag is so far from my existence and yet now marches beside me every waking moment. I argue with him in my head, I try to look at his family photo album that I have created in my head to see the moment that he lost his way. If only my thoughts could communicate with him or at least make him itch and think!

 But they don't and I just have to channel Pollyanna and her good view of the world always looking for the right handle on life.

Every Cranky Ceramics post begins with an itch or something that bugs me and by sorting out my thoughts I can free myself from some of the anger or over excitement so that I don't look so cranky all the time. In other words I try to put the world and our impact on each other into perspective.
I have always had difficulty in handling perspective in drawings and paintings and maybe it is also a reflection of my mind.
This is one of my very(very) old paintings and I can see now on reflection, where it went wrong but I just haven't had the urge to go back and fix it. Sometimes going backwards and trying to change outcomes can make things better, but other times the mistake is a good lesson to sit in front of and learn from.
Skill takes constant practice and attention.
 
It also takes effort and study to produce a balanced ceramic vessel but sometimes the physical state of our bodies affects the outcome. Many years ago, I was involved in a car accident which resulted in a number of spinal fractures which have permanently changed the behaviour of my spine. Some days are worse than others if muscles are not worked evenly on both sides and often my pots have a giddy lean. I have come to embrace this aspect of my work as representative of who I am now, but at the same time fight it because it indicates that I need to do more stretching to prevent the decline in my spine and all the impact it can have on my internal organs.
 
 
 
 
So when my mind leans too much one way, it is also a warning to me that maybe my perspective is out of whack and that I need to do some physical , mental and dietary balancing.

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