Unbecoming: The Third Piece in the Unscale Collection
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Unbecoming: It started out looking like a big mess, and then all of a sudden, it started to look like ice cream. Moon Mist, to be exact. And I kind of loved it. But then I had a second look and decided that it wasn’t going to be Moon Mist. It was going to be something else. As I continue to make my way through the 12 theme ideas for The Unscaled Collection, I continue to be surprised by what I intend to paint based on what I feel and what actually reveals itself when I let the brush hit the canvas.
I’m sure you’ve heard other artists say something similar, or even verbatim, but it’s a true occurrence for me. I tend to lean into the hard, yet misty lines of a painting. It’s like my hand only knows how to move one way to make a brush create paint strokes, but I’m continuing to trust the process and am delighted by how it’s going.
Unbecoming is More Than a Painting
What Unbecoming represents for me, even before it was finished, and as I sat down to write the draft of this blog, was letting go of how things are “supposed” to look. We believe we’re supposed to be a certain way, or act a certain way. We’re brought up and literally “reared” to think a certain way.
Recently, I saw people yelling at a farmer online for letting his young son drive a truck on their private property (which happened to be a farm). They were saying he was being irresponsible and unsafe. And yet, the truth of that situation is that young kids drive vehicles on farms. I don’t know why people pretend like it doesn’t happen or that it isn’t supposed to be that way. What way is it supposed to be? Please, tell me.
The Roads We Travel to Becoming What We Want for Ourselves
As I’ve been making my way through this journey of unleashing my creative side without reservation, I’m finding myself questioning so much about my life. It’s uncomfortable at times, but I know that new life is bred in those moments of discomfort. This painting is a great example of how we have to keep pushing through what makes us uncomfortable to find something amazing. I didn’t like it when I first started mixing colors together. Then I caught myself trying to make art that is “acceptable” or that is “supposed” to look a certain way.
I relaxed after that realization struck me because who gets to say whether or not art is good? Especially art made for no other purpose than to surprise and delight the artist? The hardest part about unbecoming what you used to be or letting go what you think you’re supposed to do is allowing the mistakes, the changes and the weird yellow color that looks more like puke than sunshine on the canvas. It’s a metaphor, obviously, but also, I worked that yellow to the metaphorical bone to make it look the way I wanted it to look and it still wasn’t good enough.
How We Become Something We Might Not Want
It’s too bad that we often work ourselves to the bone to look a certain way for others or to perform a certain way. If we just redirected that energy toward ourselves, not unlike what I’m doing with this creative platform, we might be surprised and delighted by what we find.
The Unscaled Collection is starting to take shape and while I’m focused on bringing the next few paintings to life, I also find myself being excited to explore other collection ideas. The kind that maybe don’t necessarily have such a deeply-rooted story, like The Unscaled Collection, but that are more light and fun. I think the two ideas started to blend together in this piece because the ice-cream theme, intentional or not, really makes me happy.
Learning as I Go and Unbecoming What Was
In reading several books on making art, I’ve come to find that there is a wide range of opinion about art. It’s not news to me, but paying attention to it is new to me. My new creative direction is met with a wide range of opinions reflective of what I’ve read in those books. I thank everyone for their insight, but like all things in my life, I take only what I need when I need it.
My best friend will tell you how infuriating it is to give me advice because I mostly nod and smile. It’s many months or even years later when I will recall a conversation that applies to where my brain is focusing at that moment. It’s not news, but it feels like news. Not to mention, my ego likes to think I came up with that insight all on my own. Definitely not. What I did do, however, is make it my own by applying it to my life.
There’s Gold in That Advice, But I’m in No Rush, Thanks.
If there’s one thing I’m very good at it, it’s parsing a bunch of information (solicited or otherwise) and determining what I need to move forward. I’ve been asked numerous times throughout my career about how I do this thing or that thing, but most people just try to replicate what I’ve done, never considering how their experience, ambition, motivation, and discretion comes into play.
And I think the liberties I’m taking with my art right now is a great example of how I continue to push against what is expected of me so I can do the thing I want to do. This creative era is not just about wrapping up my consulting business. It’s not about shifting gears so hard that people get whiplash. It’s about allowing the part of me that lives with the lid on tight to fly her freak flag and see what happens.
Living into Our Potential
I know what I’m capable of, and know how to live into my potential. I’ve done the work to get here. But getting to the next thing means clearing space, undoing some things that have been done, and being really honest about what’s next. It requires unbecoming. And for some reason, my brain associates that with ice cream.
If I were to guess, I’d say it’s got something to do with being lactose intolerant and my own art is taunting my inability to enjoy Moon Mist ice cream in celebration of this piece. But no matter. I’ll probably enjoy some ice cream anyway. Not because I believe my lactose intolerance to have resolved itself (if only I were so lucky!). No, I’ll have some ice cream in celebration anyway because I don’t tend to listen to advice until much later. That upset stomach is tomorrow Heather’s problem.
A Piece Unbecoming
You’ll look at the finished piece here and wonder what the hell I’m talking about with the ice cream metaphors, but that’s because once I realized I couldn’t get it to do what I thought it should, I let my instincts kick in and I just started painting flowers. Not unlike the second piece in The Unscaled Collection, “Making, Not Fixing“, I followed what felt natural and my body and brain wanted flowers.
I ended up almost entirely covering the original horizontal lines that crossed the canvas and that reminded me of Moon Mist ice cream and I went in a direction that felt feminine, light, and of course, unwinding. I’ve called this piece, “Unbecoming” but like the second piece, it is also about stretching, giving, and changing. These flowers will bloom and continue to cascade off the canvas if I let them. But I stopped when it felt right. That’s all we can do: follow our gut. Quit while we’re ahead.
If this piece speaks to you, I invite you to consider purchasing it for your home or office.
And if you’d like to connect with your creative side and are looking for some inspiration, join my 5-Day Creative Challenge below. It’s a free email series that will walk you through identifying your creative nudges and acting on them in easy-to-digest stories and actions. I won’t send you too much email. Watch for monthly updates from me.
