Show Your Work!

I'm reading Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon and he makes a lot of really compelling arguments and useful tips about sharing your creativity.  I read this line this morning:

When you put your work out into the world, you have to be ready for the good, the bad, and the ugly.  The more people come across your work, the more criticism you'll face.

~ Austin Kleon

Yesterday, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and share a very personal poem here on my blog.  I was immediately stung by its reception from a few extended family members.  Ultimately, I changed one of the lines in the poem to spare some hurt feelings - although I'm sure it's a little too late for that.

The sting was soothed by multiple supportive, heartfelt and painful phone calls with my mother, brother and sister.  After hearing of its rocky reception, I'm not sure sharing my work was the right call, at least not in the medium that I decided to share it with the masses...on Facebook.  I should have taken baby steps and perhaps only shared with a small group of writers I met over a month ago at my writing workshop.  I don't know, self-doubt always seems to creep in when I'm about to share my art or words and I think that's true for most people who create.  I've been writing in this space for eight years, most of which have been on the down-low.  Finding the confidence to share has been hard, made harder by yesterday's hoopla.

I didn't sleep much last night and after a good long talk with my mother this morning, I decided that sharing my poem on Facebook was probably not the best idea.  I've had a love-hate relationship with Facebook for a few years now and recently read this poignant essay by a new friend about her recent breakup with the social media behemoth.  I'm absolutely thinking hard about this decision, too.

Writing this poem was a necessary part of my journey to reconcile my parents'  divorce and forgive the past.  It sprang from me as an homage to my mother and father.  A testament to the beautiful, stable childhood they created for me and my siblings.  These were fantastic, sensory-inducing memories of my life under their care.  My memories.  My childhood.  Memories of the stories I'd been told about where they came from.  I am proud of my family.  I love my parents for blazing a new trail for our family unit and their pluck for sticking it out until we were almost grown.

Talking with my brother and sister yesterday was cathartic.  I wasn't crazy, they remembered all of things I wrote about and more.  My siblings shared in my memories and we laughed, cried and I felt their love come through the phone lines, all the way from Oregon and New York, and directly into my heart.

The important lesson I learned yesterday :: Words Are Powerful.

I'm going to keep sharing.  That's in my DNA, but I'm a little gun-shy on the writing front this week.  I'm encouraged by other authors, bloggers, instagrammers, my husband and two very special cousins that reached out and said kind, constructive words to me yesterday.  Thank you.

Today I'm going to share what art I've been making lately.  That feels safer and, I'm hoping, less controversial.  Here goes…

Watercolor Orbs

Block Printing Workshop with Jen Hewett :: My version of Turkish Poppies

MAKE :: workspace at The San Francisco Makeshift Society

Jen Hewett's beautiful carved stamps + printed textiles

Experimenting with the color red + new "womb + baby" carving 

Drawing Oompa Loompa Flowers with my goddaughters 

Original watercolors + Annie Flavin's poem God's Voice

Hot pink on grey card stock

Orange on grey card stock

Grady's swirly flower teacher thank you notes :: mass production

colors + papers

testing colors + textures

My Full Plate Exhibit Entry :: Full Circle 

I feel nervous to click "publish" on this post, but also feel like I have to in order to move on.  I've written and re-written this about two dozen times.  I need to stop editing myself.  I don't want to be afraid to write or share my art.  I don't want to stay stuck in the past.  I want to move forward and the only way I know how to is to dig deeper, try new things and share it with the world.  And that's exactly what I'm going to do so that I can continue to stay on course and finish my journey towards coming full circle with my life.

Click.