As the days tick down to finishing up my Certificate in Graphic Design program and my worries mount... "Where will this next stone on my path take me?"..."will it take me closer to the art career I've been digging for for years or will it feel like another dead end?"... I listened to an interview this morning with David Gray that really shifted something in me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge David Gray fan. He started as a painting major in college and instead gave in to the real love of his life: music. The way he writes a song from the lyrics to the melody to the instruments he uses has always spoken to me on an artist's heart level. His words that sang true to me this morning:
“The artists that I love the most...have slow curves...like George Braque...he stayed on his path...he stuck with it and for thirty, forty..years he’s banging away on the same drum...working within the constraints of one idea...or, Jack Yeates...there’s another example of a painter who suddenly blossomed...this is where the optimism comes in - when the richness of my life, the amount that I’ve been through and the people I’ve seen die and the people I’ve seen born, the amazing experiences and disappointments, triumphs...surely, all this is just going to create a greater potency when you try and make the sound (art, stories, etc...) that you want to make. I don’t see any reason why it should go off, like it’s a young man’s game. ”
One of the most fun projects I am currently working on with a group is to recreate a website for a local sustainable farm. I've done a tiny bit of the coding and been asked to be the illustrator for the project, to give the site a quirky, warm feeling. I am loving this project!
Be well and just keep painting...singing...playing...being you!