Fear & Commitment

David Bayles and Ted Orland in ART & FEAR have this to say:

"Making art can feel dangerous and revealing. Making art is dangerous and revealing. Making art precipitates self-doubt, stirring deep waters that lay between what you know you should be, and what you fear you might be."

Here I sit with fear -- which shows up most often in my world as procrastination -- trying to complete a companion piece to "Our Lady of Nopales" to send to an invitational exhibit in Kerrville that opens at the end of the month. I am in awe of more than a few of the other Texas artists whose work will be included, and I keep finding everything else to do.

Bayles and Orland continue:
"Yet viewed objectively, these fears obviously have less to do with art than they do with the artist. And even less to do with individual art works. After all, in making art you bring your highest skills to bear upon the materials and ideas you care about. Art is a high calling -- fears are coincidental."

And: "Artists get better by sharpening their skill or by acquiring new ones; they get better by learning to work, or by learning from their work. They commit themselves to the work of their heart, and act upon that commitment."

So ...Leap, girl. leap.