It’s been waaaay too long since we updated our website. So much has been happening, some good, some not, but all very… happening.
Through the past year-and-a-few, we lost four members of our family, three we were very close to. If you’ve ever lost someone you really loved, you get how this takes over your life. If you haven’t, it’s hard to explain.
There’s a dance that goes with the end of a life, a ritual of phone calls, emergencies, doctors and nurses and staying up too long for too many days in a row. Prior to entering the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we were in a very creative phase, getting a book finished, having art work accepted into exhibits. It was heady and wonderful and it all came to a crashing halt for more than a year. We reeled from loss to loss, numb, exhausted, too drained to hold a conversation for long, let alone create.
The return to life was slow for both of us. Now we’re creating again. The first novel is done and out seeking an agent, we have some leads but my basic theory is “Prepare for bad news, then if it’s good, hooray, and if it’s not, you’re ready.” It’s gotten a good response from test readers and we’re hopeful, but meantime, on to finishing the other three in the works already.
I had several sculptures begun, the research phase through, the design finished. Now I’m in the building phase of creativity. The first to be finished in a year, They Call It Bliss, is coming together almost exactly as I envisioned it, which is scary. It’s a weird piece and not much like anything I’ve done before.
The other two, the companion piece to His Own Man and a piece about autism are not as far along, but developing.
Perhaps recent events have deepened my understanding, perhaps it’s just natural development as an artist, but with every new work, I come through it more fully developed as a person. As I create them, they change me. Growth continues.