Live Like an Artist – Awkward in Life
A super quick post today, to share photos of my sketch pad in my garden and some lines by John Berger and Rilke.
John Berger: “We who draw do so not only to make something observed visible to others, but also to accompany something invisible to its incalculable destination.”
Perhaps we could say also “we who write” or “we who photograph” etc.
Next there is a passage in Rilke’s Letters on Life I’d like to share:
“Look: I also do not wish to tear art and life apart violently: I know that sometime and somewhere, they are of one mind. But I am awkward in life, and for that reason, whenever life tightens around me, it often results in a moment of stasis, a delay that causes me to lose quite a lot.”
He says, “for art is a thing that is much too great and difficult and long for a life, and those of very advanced age are nothing but beginners in it.”
And: “This is why I long so impatiently to get to work, to begin my workday, because life can become art only once it has become work.”
And I am impatient these days, to get to my work. And when I’m living out there in the world, lord, I’m awkward. Yet, I’m not letting my awkwardness stop me from doing things. From saying yes. I had meant to take a month and say no to everything and be a hermit tbh. I’m trying to get to the second draft stage of my current manuscript. Today, I did a manuscript exchange with my good friend Kimmy Beach and my goal is to get it through a couple of more drafts by end of September. Originally this deadline was the beginning of September. Our exchange will be good to spur me on in my edits.
Instead of ignoring the world though, I’ve said yes to invitations of all sorts, lately. Some social, some photography gigs, some work related. The manuscript will get finished — it’s at that point of no return.
There is no balance, we writers and artists know that. Just an attempt. Life will get tangled with art, and sometimes that can be a very good thing. What is one without the other?
