Shifting Rhythms

One of the benefits of the creative life is being able to shift my working rhythm in response to new opportunities and internal needs. The new year has already offered me the experience of changing pace several times. January started out fast and furious with teaching a new class at JFK University and planning for upcoming exhibitions. Then mid month, I shifted into vacation mode, traveling to Florida with my husband to visit his parents. There I shed the detail-minded thinking of my professional life in lieu of an enhanced focus on the present moment – fishing in the mangroves, piecing together a butterfly puzzle, reading one novel and then another, and napping most afternoons. I did a little shooting while there, taking photographs like this one while wading in shallow water, fishing for red fish. Maybe the memory of that cloud-covered morning will make its way into a Bottle Dreams piece someday.

Upon returning home, life looks so fresh and new. I have used the time change of three hours as an impetus to get up earlier, rising by 7am to greet the day, thereby gaining another hour or so of work time in the morning, which has always been my most effective creative time. Shifting something as simple as the time I rise creates a new spark of energy. Eventually, I expect this new rhythm to give way to another sense of timing and pace (the creative spirit loves variety), but for now I am enjoying the crispness of early morning and being awake to see the sun peak over the hills of Muir Beach.

Why Art is Like Fishing

1. Because you have to enjoy the process of it. It’s called fishing, not catching.

2. Both art and fishing require a combination of skill and luck. You put yourself in the right place, at the right time with the right equipment. You look for signs. You read the water and the movement of birds and head where it looks auspicious. But in the end, it is a spark of chance (or magic even) that delivers the fish or the artwork.

3. Every day is different – some days are empty, and some are so full of catching you can barely keep up.

4. A really big fish feeds a lot of people. A good artwork will too. But a small one can be just as fun to catch and sometimes even more tasty.

5. “You’ve got to put in your hours for your inches” as one fishing friend says. It takes time and dedication, which is why point #1 is so important.

6. The possibilities are infinite. You never know for certain what you might see and what you might catch. The sea is a magical liquid world that hides, and sometimes reveals, its wonders.