Had a plan and then there it went...

The Catcher Mitt...end of week 10
Julia shares...
As artists, We need to focus on process, not on product, and yet, we also need a catchers mitt-somewhere or someplace where the ball we're pitching is aimed.  In order to keep our art moving successfully on it's tur course, we need the right catcher's mitt. Ideally we want someone with enought range to catch a pitch that goes a little wild, someone weith enougth enthusiams to yelp out, " put it here!"

We make art to communicate not only to ourselves but also to the world. Someone or something must represent that world,  and it must be the right someone or something. We must become smart about this.
We need the eager one that Says "Tell me more about that" or "Show me that again" can bring our artist into blossom just as chill inattention or indifference can nip its growth or stunt it.  So too, skewed and premature criticism can cause it to compensate like a pine in a prevailing wind, and twist in an unnatural direction. 

Early work is most often called forward by warmth, the words, "it's going to be great!  We can call such a person a muse, but we dont' have to. You might like words like fuse lighter, spark, catalyst. It's someone whose particular intelligence lights your own..

Here's something to think about, At the end of his middle period, Frustrated by his growing deafness-and the deafness of others to the music only he could seem to hear-Beethoven , in despair, made God his Catcher's mitt and went on to write some of his most glorious music. 

Julia goes on to say....Even there we are pleasing a certain receptive aspect in ourselves, a sort of internal embodiment of our ideal viewer, reader, or listener, I wrote The Dark Room to read to my friend Ellen Longo in installments. She was a avid reader and accountant. I wrote the Popcorn; Hollywood stories to make my first husband laugh at my version of the world we both survived.

A tepid ear, a hurried glance a lack of real focus-these can chill and even destroy and early work and a fragile worker. Yes, artists are resilient, but we are also like tender shoots. Our thoughts and our ideas must be welcome or like shy suitors, they get discouraged and go away.

Does this mean we want constant adulation and approval? Oh probably. Does this mean we hate criticism and have no rigor, no discipline, no need for improvement?  Emphatically, no What is does mean is that our catcher's mitt must be receptive to our efforts, to our warm-up pitches and our looping fouls as well as to our sizzling fast balls and snaking curves that catch just the tiniest corner of the plate. 

Julia has a friend Ed...and when she tells him the writing is a little ragged he says, "I'm sure it is, but it will tighten up later. 

What we want in a great catcher is what you see with a great catcher. Someone  avidly couched near home plate. Somebody slapping his mitt a little eagerly and saying, "Put it here"..

In many ways a Catcher's Mitt is like a Spiritual Sidekick. Even the Lone Ranger wasn't really alone in all his great adventures, He had Tonto at his side.

Often, when we think about periods where we have been particularly happy, we will discover that we had an unacknowledged sidekick, a creative companion who cheered us on by taking a lively interest in our adventures. 

A few questions asked..
1. As a child, did you have a catcher's mitt for your creative efforts?
2. what was your very best catcher's mitt?
3. do you now such a person now?
there is a few more question but I'm not going to bore you with them all.

Well to be honesty...I'm not sure about a catcher's mitt as she describes things here...I had supportive people but not a soul one..maybe my parents and a few art teachers... but I pretty well did al ot on my own and with my cousin Doris..As of now, I'm blessed with a house full of creative Catcher's Mitts..so at any stage of the process I'm in I can usually run and grab someone that 'srunning out the door and have them come take a peek at what I'm creating.. and the husband in his factual ways is a great sounding board to a certain level..

on to week 11... Discovery a sense of authenticity

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