Chani's Creative Space

Years ago, as I was living in Germany, I used to be a bit sad in September because of the perspective of a long and hard winter coming. I could not help myself to check again and again how many days I still had to work in the office before the next break comes up. And it always seemed to me an awful long time to wait until then... Now, I am happy that the summer holidays are finished with their mass tourism. I like the autumn here with its interesting light, a weaker sun which is still strong enough to give us the possibility of hiking. Even the winter with its pleasant temperatures is a delight, ideal for bird watching, shorter hikes and walking on empty beaches. In fact, I have learnt to (try to) enjoy every day of my life, not only holidays. If I was still checking my calendar permanently to see when the next break comes up, I definitely would have to change something in my life. Parrots in the sky

Last week, my mother brought me some drawings and paintings I performed as a child. I had completely forgotten about them.  It was interesting for me to see how similar and different at the same time this "early work" is from what I am doing now... I wonder if other artists feel the same way and what they feel looking at their early work.  I was 9 years old as I painted the following:

Every time I need some encouragement or motivation, I use to re-read Neil Gaiman's 2012 commencement address at the University of the Arts of Philadelphia (US)  which is, in my humble opinion, absolutely brilliant. I love every word of it, but especially the following extracts: "People who know what they are doing know the rules, and know what is possible and impossible. You do not. And you should not. The rules on what is possible and impossible in the arts were made by people who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them. And you can. [...] "Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make good art. I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. ...