My birthday started out very quiet I just hung around the house, doing nothing really. I decided to visit my upstairs and see if I was inspired to tackle any projects up there.
One room had pictures strewn out all over the floor. I am always moving furniture around and I moved the chest of drawers they were in to my studio downstairs. I use to think it was Chester drawers, that was always confusing to me, why would they name a piece of furniture Chester?
Anyway, I started looking at this old photo album that came from my aunt's house. It is real old and full of people I don't know. Her husbands family. No one left on his side of the family. None of the pictures have names and some are so tiny it is hard to see the person.
I decided I would make an art project out of the photos. Use them to practice drawing and keep the photo and the picture together. I have been reading a book about famous successful people and how it takes and equivalent of 10 years to become really good at something, so I thought I better get started soon.
This book made me think how many times I saw what I thought was pure talent when really it was dedication and repetition that brought out a small talent. I am impatient and expect to be good at something instantly. If I am not then I quit and say I don't have the talent for it. Really I am not interested enough to put the time in or I am too embarrassed to suck at something until I get it.
Comparing myself to someone who has in some cases dedicated their life to their craft and expecting instant success is setting myself up for failure. Is it important enough to me to make the same effort. It is also a slam to the person who has spent time learning something.
It is the same with the program it takes time and effort to get to a place of serenity. In the beginning I wanted to be well I didn't like it when I found out that people had been there for decades. I felt better pretty quickly but here I am decades later still learning new things about myself.
For the project I have committed to drawing each photo ten times before moving to the next photo. I started yesterday and used a magnifying glass to see the details. One down and 50 to go. If I can get my scanner up and running I post some of drawings.
Let see if I have what it takes.
Final note. No one looked too happy back then. I guess with the depression and then war not too much to be happy about.
LOL on the Chester drawers. As a kid, I thought the same thing. Yes, the faces were definitely glum back then. I often wondered if their teeth were bad and they didn't want to show a smile.
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