Thursday, September 24, 2015

Thursday Thoughts...

“Allow yourself to be a beginner. No one starts off being excellent.” 

Wendy Flynn

I wonder at what point you stop being a beginner?  I nearly always feel as if I'm still a novice, a learner, only a few steps along a path that takes much time. I always feel as if I am a long way from achievement or excellence - that there is so much room for improvement, so much more to learn and to master. (I want another word for mastery that isn't so masculine - any thoughts?)

And then occasionally I stop and look back, and realise I have probably come a long way since my earliest forays into artistic endeavours. Perhaps I am a better binder of books; perhaps my calligraphy is more confident and free. Perhaps my sense of design has developed. Perhaps.

I think it's tricky to try and allow yourself the freedom of a beginner - after we've been doing things for a while we do have expectations of ourselves above the level of beginner. I do know however that those days when you just let yourself play and wander and meander and follow this track and dabble with that and explore those things over there like a beginner does are often just the best!


One of my favourite play pieces ever!  I was helping Barry tidy up his rust pile and came across theses scraps. I began to build a circle, layering them on top of each other and said at the end "I've built an upside down nest!". We wondered if we could glue it somehow so that when I turned it over it could be a nest...so we did and I could! For the full story see here. 

8 comments:

  1. There is always something to learn. In that sense we are all beginners. Love the nest!

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    1. Yep, I will go to my grave Jo with things still to learn!

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  2. I have spent my whole life refining how to draw a line & don't have another 60 years to start all over again... so no I will never be a beginner again in this lifetime the last time was when I was 5!

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    1. & a link to a perhaps relevant article on life as a story (or not)
      http://aeon.co/magazine/philosophy/the-dangerous-idea-that-life-is-a-story/

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  3. Let's never lose that sense of excitement that comes from learning something new. That's probably why we feel like beginners, because we're always trying something else. Sometimes I long to stop, find a niche and work at it until it becomes my signature thing, but the other way, the constantly pushing the boundaries way, gets the heart thumping doesn't it? I love that nest too!

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    1. I think that sense of being a beginner does come from trying new things and experimenting - like you I sometimes wish for depth; but figure I'll be happiest with breadth! There is magic in learning and discovering new things, and I shall happily spend time there...

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  4. Hello Fiona ~ I can certainly appreciate the magic of being a beginner...I suppose it helps us to continue to grow. And what a lovely nest to illustrate the myriad pleasures of learning/discovering new things!

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  5. Hi Fiona, your nest is stunning, l would love one in my garden, and l totally agree with what Printed Material said, its so exciting to learn, weather your a beginner or not- always love what you do, keep up the good work

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I appreciate your thoughts and comments; thanks for taking the time.