I Was Busy Surviving

I Was Busy Surviving

"I Was Busy Surviving" - oil on paper, 23 x 23.  Available here and at Artfinder.

The wild god points to your side.
You are bleeding heavily.
You have been bleeding for a long time,
Possibly since you were born.
There is a bear in the wound.
​
‘Why did you leave me to die?’
Asks the wild god and you say:
‘I was busy surviving.
The shops were all closed;
I didn’t know how. I’m sorry.’
from Sometimes a Wild God by Tom Hirons

Here I am still.  Communing with this poem and the wild god at my door, in my studio, in the paint.  And this bit of the poem - oh and oh.  Why did you leave me to die? asks the wild god.  And how often have I left my inspiration, passion, interests and sparkle to die while I was busy surviving?   For much of my life, I fear.  But, I didn't know how.

How do we feed what makes us thrive when we are busy trying to survive?  How do we exist in the world of should and musts and responsibility and busyness and yet nourish, protect, inspire, infuse, inhabit the wild god of our passions and explorations?  It is, by far, the thing I most hear from other artists and creatives - how do we live in the world and yet create?

I know how I have learned to do it.  And how I am still learning to say yes and yes and YES, HALLELUJAH when the wild god knocks at the door (and yes even when the muse is not present - show up and often things happen) But what I'd love to know is how do YOU inhabit your passions, dear reader?  Perhaps your secret techniques will be just the whisper another creative needs in this very moment. 

Both Wonder Mike and Lilly think this is an important question - and will reward one lucky commenter with a piece of original art!  Yep, it's time for the MARCH READER GIVEAWAY (not giving away a reader, nope nope!  Giving away a bit of original art!!  Leave a comment below to be entered.

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AI-generated inspiration image

work in process

why didn't I take. more process pics?

At last! She has an arm.

About the art:  beginning with an inspiration image generated by the A.I. bot responding to written prompts.  Note the bot decided the woman did not need an arm!!! I used a grid on this one to keep myself from veering too far from the composition. After toning the Arches oil paper with oil paint and liquin (several days to dry), then a grid and sketch with colored pencil.  Working from the inside out, applying layers and glazing the requisite 80 million times.  I pulled the man forward in my rendition, deciding the interaction between these two characters needed a spotlight.  And that she needed an arm. :)