Excess Baggage

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Seated on a Suitcase 1913 - 1915 Edvard Munch

Too much or too overweighted baggage is very expensive to travel with today. We all have had to accept that reality and pare down our luggage flying anywhere. It’s not such a bad thing—we probably tend to cart around too many things anyway! It is the same situation for anyone trying to create as well. We cart around too many things, but I am not referring to equipment. (I love painting equipment.) What we carry with us, and it is a heavy load, are too many distracting thoughts and concerns. Most likely, this is a natural condition of being alive in a fast-moving, hyper-connected world. Of course, there are some serious things to keep in mind. But, there are also thousands of thoughts and worries that really don’t matter, and do get in the way of being creative. For most of us, this excess “thought baggage” has become subconscious, like a low-grade infection that doesn’t put us in bed, but hinders our lives.

Bomb…