Patti Edmon Artist

Waiting seems to be a very popular pastime these days, though it wasn't the motivation for this piece... I keep saying I'm going to change my 'look' and here is another in that series of color and style. I do, though, feel as though I'm evolving. Maybe waiting to evolve? It's one of my favorite collages and Cassie likes it too because when I showed it to her she said, "I have to have this - let's go to the frame shop as soon as I get back." That, of course, was before the back stuff with Jim; I hope she still wishes to purchase it, I'll wait and see. Nothing like a kink in the works to put your priorities in order. I'm so far behind in every area, sadly with my Life is a Verb coaching class, although I feel the effects profoundly. Prior to this, very deep and life-altering work, I would not have gotten through the past couple of weeks without anxiety, fear, maybe a bit of depression, and definitely feeling overwhelmed. Always being in choi...

This is the last piece, I think, in my latest collage series. I am rather attached to these colors though, so I'm sure I'll find other ways to use this palette. Speaking of other, I planned to title this piece "Hope." Then I started thinking - usually my first mistake:) - about the article I'd read on Rat Race Trap about shifting from hoping to wondering, and how it helps avoid disappointment. It's a good read; author Stephen Mills talks about how, when what we hope for doesn't happen, our hopes are dashed. His intent certainly isn't to promote pessimism. Far from it; he cites Susan Jeffers' book, Embracing Uncertainty , and her premise that, since we have little - or no - control over the future of our art, our jobs, our children, that if we merely wonder, there is no outcome attached to those hopes. It removes the pressure from the future. Same goes for wishing and wanting. I find that idea so appealing... instead of hoping that my guardian ang...

Earlier in the summer, I found my self in a creative slump, a flat, static stretch; feeling OK, but not great, a little down but no major depression. I’ve spent the past three years spent learning mixed media techniques and processes; I realized that now it’s time to move to the next level. Do more than arranging elements in a pleasing design on a page, or canvas. I need to find the source of the muse and, at the same time, understand the forces that subvert creativity. Like fear. Fear is a byproduct of most journeys; who, after all, isn’t afraid of face-planting at some point. My problem is that it often takes hold before I get a good footing on the path. I’d been producing work that I really liked, so naturally fear arrived like a beautiful, fair-weather friend. I found myself doubting - will you really stay, even if I turn out to be a lot less perfect than I’d led you to believe? Will you abandon me just as I get my hopes up? It’s no secret that growth involves risk, but after a few...