Brushstrokes

“Artists frequently hide the steps that lead to their masterpieces.” Matthew Weiner

Brushstrokes

“I’m a little freaked right now!”   Annie looked up and said to me.

Annie is graduating from college within the next few weeks.  She said, “You can’t imagine how many jobs I’ve applied for!  I haven’t gotten one and can’t find anything I want to do!”

I remember feeling the same when I was her age.  Oh!  There are times when I feel that way right now, even after all these years!

I can’t tell you the number of people I know who have been working to achieve their dreams for years and years and haven’t been able to “succeed,” to get what they want.  They’re right! 

When viewed from a particular perspective, they’re right; they haven’t accomplished everything they had hoped.  But there is always a different way to look at things, an alternative view.

We often look at our lives the way we look at a painting.  We look at the whole and see something wonderful, a masterpiece.  But in choosing this particular point of view we don’t break the whole painting into individual brushstrokes.

Can you imagine someone walking up to a large blank canvas with a bucket full of different colors of paint, all sloshing around in the bucket?  Then can you see this “artist” hold the bucket in two hands, turn her body to the side, pull the bucket back and then thrust it forward until its contents splatter against the canvas?  How do you envision the results?

Would such an action result in a beautiful, carefully constructed landscape or portrait?

Carefully selected and applied brushstrokes are critical to the creation of a painted masterpiece.

Matthew taught me that, “Artists frequently hide the steps that lead to their masterpieces.  They want their work and their career to he shrouded in the mystery that it all came out at once.  It’s called hiding the brushstrokes, and those who do it are doing a disservice to people who admire their work and seek to emulate them.”

Every one of us could benefit from paying careful attention to brushstrokes, whether the strokes are those of another or our own.  The benefits of beginning with a finished painting in mind are clear.  But important, fulfilling joy is the result of stroking the brush.  Remembering this one, simple concept can alter ones view from despair to anticipation.

Adopting this concept and fully infusing it into our lives can also help reduce the despair of others.  When we reveal our brushstrokes to others, they can see and understand the process of creating a masterpiece.  They will know that a masterpiece created by a bucket-splattering artist is a myth.  And, that an artist’s painting is still in process as long as she is brushing.

You and I have succeeded in making thousands of brushstrokes.  I am continuing to brush and am not finished with the creation of my masterpiece.  How about you?