Artist of Life
Daydreams are for the innocent, and the masters of fate. A story seems to unravel as if it were carefully planned; yet, it is spontaneous. Flow, reflect, and echo. Sculpt thought like marble, as actions are the most efficient chisel. In the mind of an artist, a creation is merely the product of a journey begun with a vision, or more essentially, the stroke of a brush.
A Day At the Park
The dawn of a sunny afternoon manifested with birds singing to one another. Sputtering sprinklers doused a rippled reflection of a playground with sand box and swing set on the cracked sidewalk. Sweet laughter carried by a cool breeze followed a curious child. His unkempt curly brown hair bounced from a playful trot towards the sand box. A plastic set of shovels and sand sifters awaited the next interior designer to arrive.
The curious child took his position, and quickly sorted out which tools he would need to use in the construction of an imaginative sand structure. He selected a small blue shovel, a bright yellow bucket, and a green and blue sand sifter of fair size. To begin his construction, he leveled a corner and filled it with a flat layer of meticulously sifted sand. One overlooked pebble of too large a proportion could jeopardize the whole operation. The curious child plotted down, set his tools a side, and began to think.
The next step involved sketching a blueprint of his grand structure in the ground. Design prior construction would ensure a great product. Finger at hand, the sand began to reveal a wooden drawbridge, an old iron gate lined with rusty bolts, four stone towers looking into the distance, and a princess in the tallest of towers projecting her beauty with golden locks flowing in the wind breeze. Nearly finished with the sketch he suddenly realized, what is a grandiose castle and beautiful princess without a dragon's dungeon and a chivalrous knight mounted upon his noble horse? He quickly added these important details and placed some last touch ups to the blueprint.
At last his sketch came to life. The curious child began shoveling more meticulously sifted sand into the foundation of his castle, not to forget a caged dungeon for the gnarly fire-breathing dragon. He worked in a joyful trance of creation, sculpting the wooden drawbridge, old iron-gate, and towers like a master artist until they began to take shape. A stone patterned tower rose swiftly from the center of his castle to the highest peak. A gently crafted lady with hair reflecting the most beautiful hues of light peaked out of the small window of this winding tower. From below, a brave knight mounted upon his horse rose from the sand almost in motion itself. The knight carried a shining blade pointing towards a snarling dragon reaching its four sharp claws from the depth of the castle's dungeon. The curious child's sketch rose from the sand, and its life illustrated the most essential sense of imagination.
The curious child's mother called in the distance and came over to end the imaginative day at the park. When he showed her the sand sculpture, which had been so carefully crafted, she nodded in approval, unaware of what really lay in front of her age old and uninventive eyes beyond the eroding walls of sand. She then picked him up by his green cargo shorts, and bright red shirt, and gave him a playful piggyback ride to the car.
It is my purpose to illustrate the qualities of an artist. When faced with a media and surface to work with, an artist sees through a lens of optimism; for, every opportunity could be the next stroke. From there, they can begin creating a reality from within. On one too many occasions we let the dark clouds of pessimism constrict our vision of opportunity. It is key to broaden our perspective if we are to know ourselves. An artist is unique, acts upon inspiration, and shows discipline in their study for the greater opportunity to articulate their deepest thoughts and feelings. An artist is observant, and develops a keen perspective from which strokes are made. An artist is dedicated to personal growth.
From the words of Thoreau, "If a man does not keep pace with his companions...perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away". It is to this philosophy from which our lives may dance, observe, and create; as artists, we learn to hear a drummer of our own, however measured or far away. An artist plunges their self from a rocky cliff into a raging waterfall, only to arrive at the nearest sandy bank the currents pass by. For, the quintessential artist is able to go with a flow of observation, refinement, and articulation with confident strokes.
And, as the artist makes each stroke of paint, faith is essential. Life is a process of taking steps in the dark, finding a light to see your path, and continuing the journey of your potential. As a sculptor chisels away at a marble block with passion, we should live life with that same passion. Each step is another stroke upon our canvas. We must have faith in each brush stroke; although we are not perfect, mistakes to an artist are simply angles to work off of, which add to the unique qualities of their artwork; beauty lies within the uniqueness of each stroke, down to the mixture of paint we assemble before the stroke is made. Here I stand, an artist of life, painting to a rhythm from within. The sculptor Henry Moore once said, "to be an artist is to believe in life", and so we must have faith in each step that we take, hence our canvas will be full of life.
1805 38th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122-3447
Phone: (206) 324-2573 Fax: (206) 324-2589
epiphanyparish@epiphanyseattle.org