Social Media | RHYMES&REASONS

Conscious Incompetence

Uncomfortable, frustrating, deflating and dispiriting all rolled into one. This is the state of conscious incompetence. And I am right bang in the middle of it.

The pleasure of learning a new skill has been replaced by the cold reality of daylight. The thrill of finding I could produce a painting which was ‘presentable’ has, three years on, been sharply highlighted by a gaping lack of experience. The short-term affirmation of social media approval and modest sales has been replaced by a cringing reluctance to stick my head above the public parapet.

There is so very much to learn, so much work to do, as a musician applies herself to scales so the painter must learn and practice the techniques and technicalities of their art. Long hours in the studio, alone with your thoughts and insecurities accompanied only by the silent (and sometimes not so!) monologue of self criticism.

But something drives me on, the glimpse of an idea captured on canvas, crossing the threshold of nebulous to form laying down a moment in time, an outward incarnation of an inner life. There is something calling out, bigger than and beyond me, enticing and playing with my heart a I struggle and strive; it at once elates and then strips me bare. Cleansing, simplifying, purifying and humbling perhaps one day it will enlighten also as to the core nature of this oily world in which I find myself immersed.

Top: ‘Poetry with Pomegranate and Plum’ Above: ‘Trio of Plums with Blue Jug’

Rebecca Pells Artist

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July 28, 2016

21st Century Introvert

Quiet. Introvert. Solitary.

All words which have long since borne negative connotations. In 21st century life, where sharing our every movement and every meal online has become the accepted way of behaving, social media has become the extroverts dream paradise, the introverts hell. Underestimated as a way of being, introvertism is neither prized nor offered as a path to tread, shunned in favour of over-confidence, extrovertism and ubiquitous over-sharing.

But a world in which every one is a Donald Trump or a Boris Johnson would not succeed – thankfully! Our species needs it’s philosophers, it’s artists, scientists and geeks. It needs it’s witnesses as well as the witnessed. They are the ones who step back to view the bigger picture or delve deeply to see the oft missed yet crucial detail. Introspection provides the opportunity to practice, to cultivate and examine from every angle before we hit the share button. It is the first necessary step in the consummation of a new idea, the space in which to sow, till, nurture and reap until the young sapling is strong enough to face the limelight.

It prepares us for the conversation, tentatively invited when we finally stick our head above the parapet: it will buffet us in the maelstrom of social media, straining against our every grain and fibre of being, our private world exposed in the harsh glare of publicity. Carried as the wind in the trees our inner souls are transported across countries and continents, to shores so distant our physical being will never set foot upon them. As the shock of the first tectonic impact settles, we begin to find a new way of being and to join in the conversation. Our vulnerability becomes more robust as we emerge from our inner world and engage with the tumultuous, shifting noise of the online world.

As an artist I have reluctantly had to embrace the world of social media, the list is growing – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Artfinder, Fine Art Seen, as well as my own website and of course WordPress. It certainly has it’s benefits and I have come to realise that unlike the extroverts who seek constant attention, the introvert retains the ability to retreat at will, we are masters at the beautiful art of withdrawal, where once again we can resume a conversation with ourselves; where we can tend a wound, cradle our disappointment and nurture our imagination until we are inspired once more. To seek solace, to retreat from the white noise, is to find space in which we can ask more of ourselves, raise questions that can re-shape our thinking and perspective of the world we inhabit.

It is quite simply, an exquisite place to reside.

Oil painting ‘The Bench’ Rebecca Pells

available from https://www.artfinder.com/product/the-bench-47d9/

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July 17, 2015

Embracing Vulnerability – take the risk and do it anyway!

To be vulnerable is to experience our own humanity. It is a place we reside, where we are tenderly cradled and touched by our very essence. In an age of tweets, updates, blogs and other portals of instant digital exposure, we are encouraged and seduced into sharing details of our lives. Our vulnerability stands at the threshold of our inner deep desire for acceptance and affirmation and the outer, shallows of exposure.

Creativity is the metamorphosis of our inner world to the outer. Our vulnerability is on display along with our words, paintings, sculptures and photographs. Ideas originate in the depths of our being, inhabiting a private nurturing world before eventually the desire to transform the nebulous into something physical inspires action and the artwork is born. Projected into the daylight, we are not simply exposing our physical being but that delicate, unprotected and naked vulnerability which shies the limelight and seeks shadowy refuge at the merest hint of criticism or indifference.

Mark Richards http://www.markrichards.eu/

Mark Richards Sculptor

I recently spent five days on a sculpture course at Stanton Group Studios. It was my first experience as a life model and what I thought would leave me vulnerable and exposed quickly began to feel entirely natural. It is only in the crossing of the threshold from the comfort of familiarity into the unknown that we experience vulnerability. We can step back in fear or stride into a new horizon just waiting to be explored. For me this experience was far less exposing than when I publish an article or enter a painting in an exhibition. Modelling shares only the outer self whereas the others come from a place deep within, revealing something of the vast, private interior, offering up tender shoots easily crushed by rejection, ridicule, judgement and jealousy. It is tempting to recoil but in so doing we also close the facilitating portal to appreciation, admiration, respect and regard.

To seek vulnerability is liberating; it faces the biggest fear of all – that if others knew what we inwardly harbour, what we are really like, they would avoid us. And yet the most attractive and interesting people are not those who look amazing or produce the greatest work – they are the ones who are confident in spite of their imperfections. They are the ones who are willing to face rather than fear vulnerability knowing through experience how freeing and empowering it can be.

Many of us resist risk and change be it of ourselves or in others. An attempt to be invulnerable is a vain one; it is part of our intrinsic nature and encompasses courage and compassion. The choice we have is not whether we are vulnerable but to live with it bravely and with courage step fully across the threshold.