Unpause(d)
Superfluous preface first: I haven't been churning out any (literally, none) artwork in the past several weeks. My house is an ongoing renovation project-in-progress that has seen more "in-progress" momentum lately than it has seen for the past several years. My office at work is also moving to a new location. Both places seem to be a bit in flux. Admittedly my motivation to sit with a pen, paintbrush, and piece of paper has been limited, as evidenced by the tumbleweed floating through my artwork social media accounts.
Literally my IG and FB lately
/Preface
To begin for real this time... a house is a lot like a work of art. Someone saw it in their head. Someone (else, potentially), drew up the plans, and someone executed the plans down to the nitty gritty details that you can't really see if you're just standing in the room as the homeowner, but you know how many hours of work went into it.
Renovations can go on forever if you let them - finish one room and then the next room looks way out of date. Start in on that one. The constant chase. A renovation is so satisfying... but it can also be never-ending. Again, sound similar? Art is the same way.
“Art is never finished, only abandoned”
There is always something that could be done. Another room to change. A tweak to make to a drawing that is already made. A new painting to create. It's just a matter of figuring out when you want to pause. The fine line of knowing when to NOT add more to that painting that would ruin it. Less is more. There is always unfinished business, or a sense of unfinished-ness in art, if you go looking for it. Another home reno project. Another line or splash of paint on a canvas. Another decision to make after a big life event.
Pause.
I went through one of those big life events several years ago and hit the pause button on a lot of things and people. Didn't physically go back to the places I moved away from. Didn't take a single road trip to hang out with people I had moved away from even though they had nothing to do with the life event I was working through. It was a subconscious huge pause button. Because at the time (and for a time) I needed to divorce myself from the old stuff. I put my metaphorical paintbrush down and stopped trying to work on that piece of art for several years. Stopped the renovation. Paused.
Fast forward to an invitation I recently received to dive back into the familiar waters of The Past in a pleasant way: a reunion with some people I went to college with (a loooong time ago). It seemed like it could be a fun foray back to my old stomping grounds, to see people I hadn't seen in almost two decades. Granted, a large room full of a ton of people is never something I'm super excited about partaking in, but the fact that the people are familiar I thought would make the whole thing doable.
Pop quiz hotshot: was I right? I was right.
Sparing you the nitty gritty blueprint details from that reunion, I will say at the very minimum that I am very glad I drove back to the places of my past and reconnected with people who played an important role all those years ago. The nice part is that some of those people have stuck around and are still just as important in the present.
Human interaction, it seems, isn't entirely bad all the time - who knew? So now the next stuff begins: making the effort to see those select few people without another twenty years slipping by between visits. It’ll be refreshing to visit those familiar places again now that they’ve had enough time to become pleasant again in my subconscious and are no longer attached to The Past (::cue dramatic instrumental::).
Unpause.
Pick up that paintbrush again to make new art. The art will come back. The renovations will be completed (note: I didn't say "finished" - have you been paying attention?) and will look great.
There are entirely way too many metaphors in this post: Renovations. Artwork. Life. There is always more to do with each of them. There is also always the opportunity to make new adventures, incorporating the important people who have stuck around along the way. We only have 100 years - just try not to spend them all on renovations, or waiting around for the next reunion - make the next adventures happen yourself. Pick up that paintbrush again and make that art.
Art is never finished, only abandoned… much like the Titanic (sorry, Leo. Yes, that Leo this time).