THE HIDDEN GIFT IN MESSING UP: The Gift of Time

A few weeks ago, I got an invite to participate in the annual National Arts Program event here in Santa Rosa, and managed locally by the Santa Rosa Public Arts Department

I’d never participated before, but it was only $25 to apply, so I thought, “What the heck, why not?” I filled out the online entry form, and was accepted. (FWIW, I don’t think it’s that hard to get in. The categories are big and inclusive.)

I was pretty sure I’d picked this artwork:

My Blue Bear Clan Shrine:
“Follow the River,
Follow Your Heart”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But when I checked the online form, I found I’d uploaded the image for this shrine:

Shrine Series:
Yellow Horse Clan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoa! I don’t know how that happened! It’s a lot smaller, so I worried it wouldn’t have much of an impact. OTOH, price-wise, it was also less expensive!

Oh well. Too late to do anything about it. So I took this piece to the show at the Finley Community Center.

When I got there, sure enough, the BLUE BEAR shrine was on the form!

No worries, they said, we’re happy to accept this one. Because it was small and meant to sit on a surface, they put the piece in an enclosed display space in the Center’s entrace, where it sits on a shelf.

On my way out, I overheard a conversation with another artist bringing in different work than they’d entered, and that was no problem, too. Hmmmmm…….

I’d also volunteered to help with hanging the show, so I would be coming back in three hours to do that.

So I went back to my studio and worked on my Blue Bear shrine! It need a few very small adjustments, and I spent a couple hours getting that taken care of.  And most of my larger shrines can be wall-hung or sit on a flat surface.

It took a few hours because that very small adjustment was more complicated than I thought, with a lot of trial-and-error in play. But I finally nailed it, and brought it with me to the venue.

They said, sure, we can take that instead.

And then I bumped the shrine against something and BROKE OFF THE FINIAL on top!

I need a stronger post!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARGH! I said never mind, I’ll stick with the Yellow Horse Shrine.

And I ended up being glad I did.

The gallery section was not quite large enough for all the entries, and they used a rod-hanging system that lets them hang “stacked” paintings, like this:

Image from Wayfair website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only the paintings were stacked vertically in threes. And the paintings were a little wobbly because of the variety in frame depth (some stuck out more from the wall than others, and of course, each frame hung a bit differently.

And I realized the bigger shrine would have either hung a little wobbly, or bounced around a bit. The smaller one sat securely on said shelf.

So my initial mistake in selection, and my finial-breaking goof, were all dealt with by the smaller, better-positioned shrine.

Who knew?

I took the bear shrine back to the studio, made a sturdier post for the finial, and it’s back on display. (Yes, when hung individually, it’s stable when hung on a wall.

It got me thinking….and reminded me of what I’ve learned in life.

So many times, huge disappointments turned out, in hindsight, to be blessings in disguise.

The love of my life in high school dumped me four months into into college, and another romance ended when I found out the guy was cheating on me. Not getting accepted into that college’s art program. Getting fired from a well-paying job because I was “too grumpy”. Being unable to find a teaching job during the 1980’s, even though I even drove cross-country to find one. Being rejected from shows because my work wasn’t considered to be “real art”, or because I work in too many different media.  Etc. etc. etc.

Until I look back and realized the “true love” guy was abusive. The cheater was I left behind for another guy who WAS–is!–the love of my life. (46 years together!) If I’d gotten into art school, I never would have gotten far, because I am NOT a painter. I hadn’t yet learned the hard way that we can master almost any creative skill, if we learn to persevere because we love it. The job was the wrong one for me, and my supervisor was not to be trusted. That any job that required sitting in a room every day, all day, with a schedule and an agenda, and no say, drives me crazy. That I didn’t have to be famous, or make tons of money from the work of my heart–because it helped ME be my best self.

Not always, of course. I’d never dismiss or belittle anyone else’s disappointment or sadness for the twists and turns in their life, nor for the hardships they’ve had to deal with. I know that there will be more ahead for me, too.

But this extremely brief turn-around reminded me that life holds ups and downs, bumps and waves, disappointment and tons of potential insights along the way.

Figuring how to manage them has been powerful.

And realizing what I learn from them has been powerful, too.

Sometimes life is brutal, but sometimes it’s just a (major/minor) learning experience. I hope you are in a point in your life where you can separate the big learning experiences from the true sadness/tragedies (which also take time to heal. Not fix. Just…heal.)

IT. TAKES. TIME.

And I hope you can see the big life lessons that got you to where you are today.