Shift out of my old skin.

No one wants to be isolated, but this year, some of us are totally alone, or facing a kind of isolation that feels claustrophobic and heavy. I’ve taken some of this time to find out how this could be a benefit to me instead of stressing the negative points. Because it’s much easier to do that without a tribe or influence. It’s in our nature to want contact, to want culture and tribe and belonging and status. To feel good. Facebook and other forms of social media are designed to indulge our needs to be liked and validated. We hang out with people who do that for us. We seek something that makes us feel good. But there is a danger, when an artist is making change, to be entrenched in a tribe, unless the change you seek is WHY you choose a certain supportive group of people. Our artistic tribe determines our artistic behaviors. We will do and say things that bring us praise and approval by our friends. I think it’s easy to understand this because we grow up and are influenced by our families first, then our close friends, then the powerful many, then what we love and admire. Status is everything, even in art. All of that is great until you want something different or need to make a change that is not the “normal” for your tribe. Then watch out. The pull and influence of the tribe, even one you love and respect, will then be against what you are seeking. There are a few things that I have long wanted to do artistically but never could accomplish because of outside influence. Even the weight of someone’s loving regard was too pressing for me and I was too weak to shift out of my old skin. But then a virus came along, and low and behold, I was isolated enough to explore perspectives and values and craft outside my norm and comfort zone, to experiment, to seek new habits I might not have ever sought previously. I hate this virus. But it’s here. And I am adapting. There is an old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I have. (Image is Edward Hopper's chalk drawing for Morning Sun.)