Giving Birth To Art Has To Be A Gamble
By Celeste Varley

What will she say about her husband's insanity, Jack wonders... then he marvels at her stunning choice of words. He couldn't have made it up himself! Yet, Jack sits at his word processor, and watches to see what will come out of the mouths of his characters in the book he's writing.
Wait a minute. Isn't Jack writing this book ?
Yes he is, but if he just made it all up, it would be a story all about him interacting with himself. How very boring - for him too. Instead, he allows the spirit to come to life through his art. That's what artists do. So he works in relationship with his subjects as they come into being before his very eyes.
Can you share this cooperative effort ?
There you stand at your easel or other place of work, deeply respecting the essence of your subject, letting it find the way to express its unique spirit through you. It's very tempting, when things are going well, to take over and feel quite heady about making the piece go where you think it should go.
More often I find, when things are not going as swiftly in the direction I think they should, it's hard not to let my mind help things along with some judicious pushing - or so I tell myself.
When art comes too easily, it loses its art.
Of course it's scary to be a participant in a birth: mother, father, midwife, or artist. That's what makes it so valuable. In our quest for joy, we ought not lose our respect for our spiritual connection. It's giving birth, not taking birth.
Things didn't go as expected with the birth of my friend's third baby.
They had done it twice before, and had it all planned with a midwife and a warm pool of water. But sometimes you cannot predict what will happen and what your needs will be.
My friend's wife went through many hours of prelabour, and so expected to be several more hours once hard labour began. Inside of about 10 minutes, their new daughter was born into her father's hands ! Oh, and the midwife arrived in time to clean up.
Often you'll want to explore some options first in giving birth to a work of art, to keep your mind feeling free enough to cooperate with your heart. Once you go into the final labour of birthing a new work, you need to feel safe enough to follow your heart, and have everything you might need at your fingertips.
Let your newly emerging work dictate what method you end up using. Be prepared to drop all your prior plans if that's what your heart tells you. On the other hand, you also might be in labour for days and weeks before your work faces the light of day.
Keep the lines of communication open, stay light on your feet, and keep the faith.
The author ended up developing rich characters he'd never met before. My friend now has a big healthy baby girl. You will have begun something surprising and new too, that the world has not yet seen.
When you marvel at what you've birthed, you'll understand what Nicola Temple meant when she said:
I had no idea that something like this was inside me, to make a beautiful painting without any preconceived plan.
Nicola also went on to birth a real miracle baby boy a few months later.
The sensitive balance between your heart and mind can apply to any undertaking. You don't need to have been a biological parent to grow from the birthing experience. Love once experienced in any field is there for you to give again in other situations.
Hello, I'm Celeste Varley and it is my passion to help people seeking spiritual development to find and explore their own inborn potential for visual expression. Once you learn a new way of seeing, you can access and express deeper feelings that are normally hidden. If this article speaks to your heart, you may want to see more Fresh Horses articles on my website. Check it out and see if it's right for you.
Celeste Varley
heartsongstudio heartsongstudio
Discover, uncover & recover your wild creative potential !
Celeste_Varley Celeste_Varley