It is a difficult lesson to realize a that part of working hard to make things better is having patience.
The patience of knowing that you're not good at something right now, but if you keep doing it anyway, eventually you will become good.
Patience to save enough money to move; patience with your body to move slowly at first.
Patience to wait for the next semester, or the next registration, or the next information session.
Patience that you'll meet the right people.
It's a letting go of some control, this patience. It's working with the flow of the world around you, instead of struggling to make the world flow with you. It is being able to rest while in liminal states.
It's sometimes letting your head be at rest with your nose just above the water.
It's knowing that - whether you thrash around or have patience with yourself and life - either way, you will transition from who you were to who you are, to who you will become.
Head Above Water
2014
Acrylic dry-point intaglio & paper
(Addendum: would you like to see this piece in person? It will be on display at Oregon College of Art & Craft's Alumni show from July 3rd-30th.)
Who We've Been & Who We Are
2014
Acrylic dry-point intaglio, paper, pencil, watercolor, gouache