practice

Wednesday, October 19, 2011


Let Your Mind Go Blank - new collage drawing - 7 x 12 - Susan Black - soon in shop

Practice means to perform,
over and over again in the face of all obstacles,
some act of vision, of faith, of desire.
Practice is a means of inviting perfection.

Martha Graham

For a few hours after finishing this piece I felt terrific. This piece turned out almost as perfect as the image that I had in my mind (since doing the tiny thumbnail in my sketch book) and there always is that picture, in my mind, of near perfection anxiously waiting for the final reveal. A better than good feeling. A great feeling. That elusive feeling ... the one I'm always looking for.

While listening to Q (favourite CBC radio 1 show) yesterday Gian interviewed Tom Waites. He asked Tom what were his favourite songs from his newly released album. Tom answered that his favourites were the songs yet to be created, the ones being worked on & the songs that were still just tiny specks of ideas - that once a song is finished & recorded it's done and he's on to new & better stuff. This description so resonated with me as I've so often wondered over the years why it is when I do create something I'm proud of, something I'm really happy with those feelings never last long & are always so very fleeting. On to the next thing for it really is all just practice.

Late to the game I know but I am completely obsessed with this Adele song listening to it makes every little sad cell in my body wake up & start yelling at me ... we've all felt that helpless ache. That ache of wishing & wanting with all your heart that you could have someone, something or sometime - back again.




sketch/in progress/ & 2ft x 3 ft black & white poster hand inked with pale blue - soon in shop

9 comments:

  1. I saw it on Pintrest last night and liked it. Its a new favorite - that black background is lush - just like we noticed on that bright floral we both liked. You are so prolific too. Im cleaning my studio today - its rainy. before I do my actual paying work, im going to do something fun today. btw, i got second place on that flannery painting. there was good money involved. i am buying some antique fencing. happy hump day.

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  2. congrats on the prize. you deserve it.
    I really like this new piece too -but most of all I like the confidence that I've been feeling lately - it makes me want to be prolific, it makes me want to make stuff. xoxo S

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  3. ps. I have a whole new series (planned in my head and in my sketch book) of both abstract (even a triangle motif one - Shut !! Up !!) & botanical/fauna collage drawings on black backgrounds. Can't wait to get to them ...

    as soon as I get all this calendar/new etsy stuff finished - calendars were really great for me last year & sold quite a few at gift shops in the city.

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  4. Go Susan!! I have been a printing maniac and am heading to our cabin to see the Moose boy for a few days of R+R...oh + my Doug too. Can't wait to see the new botanicals you will create while I am gone....tail wags from Moose. PS check out his new gift I purchased for him.

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  5. Hey sue!
    Love the white on black stuff - reminds me of scratchboard, one of my all-time favourite techniques!
    Cheers, n

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  6. I think that makes sense - I watch my kids and they go from art project to art project with almost no thought. It's just done and onto the next one already. It seems like our natural state.

    Adele is hypnotic.

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  7. I love that first collage - very smart! (Would go well in my sitting room!) A few tabby tones in there too, I notice.....

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