use what you have
One of my art mentors uses this saying when she feels "stuck": "Use what you have." For all you know I could be referring to food I have in my refrigerator, skills and talents I have (instead of those I do not), art making materials, space, time,
the list can go on....
I constantly have to be reminded to "use what I have". Once my daily, 2 week schedule was so packed with social commitments and meetings, I had to use the 15 minutes of down time I had daily with so much more intention. I remember using the last page of my moleskine journal and needing another - Not wanting to go pick one up, I created my own with kraft paper bags and a piece of ribbon.
Last night I had a beautiful meal of fresh green onions, steamed spinach and farm purchased carrots (I didn't feel like going to the grocery store). Also, wanting to watch a movie, but knowing there wasn't anything I currently wanted to see (I saw "Away We Go" last weekend), I started Season 1 of Six Feet Under again (was it two or three summers ago that I treated myself to one episode each night?)
Today, I am meditating on the remaining inventory I have with galleries (what if I shifted this a bit, and believed , again, I could "sell what I have"?), What about the inventory I have in my studio?
There are so many ways to apply this mantra.
I also took the action of going through all of my flickr photos and grouping them in different sets. I noticed I have 18 photographs of chairs, 8 photos of cars and trucks, 24 photos that involve eating and drinking, 27 photos that involve the wonders of winter. Huh. That's new news to me (and the photos have been there all along). In addition, I realized that I don't want to alter my sets that involve sacred traveling places for me: Marfa, the South Shore, Iowa City, Fitgers in Duluth.
How will I use what I have today?
This post is dedicated to my good friend, John, who models for me the abundance of "using what I have".
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karimaxwell/
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