Mike

You know how you can see something day in and day out for years and years?

And then one day you move it to a new spot and the light hits it differently and suddenly it is transformed into something entirely new? Something which used to be humdrum is now ta-ra-ra-BOOM-d-ay!

Or when you go on a road trip and you have an opportunity to think about your life back home as you watch the scenery roll by?

And the literal distance from your usual routine gives a clarity to how you are living and tons of ideas rush in of all the things you could change for the better when you get back.

Sometimes it’s a sad sort of revelation, in the “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone” tradition. But if you are conscious about it and think of it as a discipline, you can purposely create opportunity for a fresh perspective, and that is a powerful skill to have.

I do it ALL the time. In fact, when I’ve been in a bad mood and I look back at what was going on at the time I guarantee I was in some rut or another and “turning my head” and looking at things in a new way, literally or figuratively, will have been what made the difference and snapped me out of it. It’s one of those skills which works for any size — mini, mega, or meta. A fresh perspective is a one size fits all proposition.

I am using it with our house, and the transformation I envisioned is all but complete. Mike and I are using it in our approach to our careers in art. This blog is a literal example I am developing of how I can share my artwork and my perspective with a lot more people than I ever have before.

Even the Holidays are getting the treatment this year.

I’m taking a fresh look at what I’ve got already and not feeling like I need to make all new art for everyone. It’s actually kind of fun. Like “shopping your closet,” only I’m “shopping my studios.”

So if things aren’t going exactly the way you want them to go, before you lose the mate, sell the house, trade in the RV for a speedboat, or invest in the entire line of Vasari oil paints when before you only used acrylic, consider the fresh perspective. Rearrange what you have. Reshuffle your schedule. Reconsider your ambitions. Turn your head. Look again.

You may see things in a whole new way.