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The Accordion Café (free)

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Week 12: Recovering a Sense of Faith

Sorry this is so late! PLease post your FINAL check in here.


Chapter 12 is titled “Recovering a Sense of Faith.” In this final chapter, Cameron focuses on the importance of trusting the creative process and embracing a sense of possibility and openness to a greater creative force—what she often calls the “Great Creator” or creative flow. She encourages readers to recognize that the journey of artistic recovery is ongoing, and that the completion of this twelve-week course is really the beginning of a lifelong path toward creative growth.


A central theme in this chapter is the concept of believing without seeing—placing faith in your creative instincts and ideas even when there’s no tangible proof or immediate result. Cameron emphasizes that creativity often involves uncertainty, and part of the artist’s role is learning to live with and even welcome that uncertainty. This sense of faith is described not in a…


67 Views
alvinquanthai
6월 09일

1) I remember writing incompletely on alternating afternoons.

2) There was no date according to plan.

3) I wanted a full sized accordion, and found one on craigslist.

4) One page in on a morning page when trying to sell my fifteen year old accordion bought used from another seller, I made sure to finish the song I was playing, rode my ebike 30 miles while wearing the accordion like a backpack and carrying an empty case with alternating hands, and busked in a shopping center while failing to meet the buyer in person. I pray to Christ that I can put my heart into whatever I set out to learn.

Week 11: Recovering a Sense of Autonomy

Acceptance


Accepting two ideas:

  1. Artists may be broke or doing okay with money - and that has nothing to do with the true value of the art or the artist.

  2. Artists must live a life that nurtures the artist-child-spirit, in all the ways that might seem unconventional, quirky, even irresponsible. And when we do that, the responsibilities will be easier to achieve and get done.


Art is life: life is art. We must live our art every day. Give to ourselves the gift of making art and being creative.


Success


91 Views
alvinquanthai
6월 01일

I've missed two days out of seven for morning pages and I'm blanking out on what I wrote about. I noticed that I speak more of what I mean when I write.

No artist date this week.

My grandfather did screenprinting to raise money for the family and I did screenprinting in college three years ago.

I ran out of pages on my second notebook and didn't want to fetch another one, so I continued pages on a laptop.

Week 10: Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection

(Only two more weeks!)

In this chapter, Cameron focuses on how artists and creatives can protect their newfound creativity and artistic growth. She highlights common obstacles that can sabotage creative progress and offers strategies to safeguard one’s artistic journey.


Dangers of Creative Sabotage

Cameron discusses how, after making progress, artists often encounter self-sabotage. This can come in the form of toxic relationships, self-doubt, fear of success, or procrastination.

She encourages readers to be aware of these destructive patterns and take steps to counter them.


The Role of Workaholism


90 Views
alvinquanthai
5월 24일

I've done morning pages five out of six days. Reading my pages has brought me cringe. I can freely write down action plans that I would have taken without forethought.


This week, I stayed for a webinar. The last artist date to a Swan Lake ballet got me out of a drought. I was not seeing the purpose of my pages, but I'm glad that I can accept art the way it is.


I saw a double chamber accordion for sale, but buying it and coming back home requires me to take time off. I don't know if this is what I really want, but my accordion has air leaks and gets quiet high notes on piccolo reeds.


I like overtime. I like work challenges. This keeps me from doing sedentary learning like with music theory. I've heard from a professor that my drawings were noisome. Pointing towards the sides of the canvas makes art look edgy. It might be my own nervousness from being vulnerable. My ego says, "I have to be at work to make money. I have to be of service to the disabled." "Be vulnerable or people will get mad at the blocks I form from connecting." These are struggles from creating. Yesterday, I greeted visitors at work more profoundly and with the most authentic yet cringy smile I could produce.

Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength


This chapter is about acknowledging and healing our artistic losses.

Survival


This section has two core ideas:

  1. We must acknowledge, mourn and thereby heal our artistic losses. The critiques that come from the loss can be reframed as learning to make our art better.

  2. The learning environment, specifically academia and higher education, can damage us in that it doesn't encourage the artist - rather academia focuses on criticism and taking art apart.

We are told that we must mourn/acknowledge the loss/pain of our younger artist selves.


81 Views
alvinquanthai
5월 05일

Thank you for summarizing the chapter.

  1. I did one morning page this week. It had made me felt like I accomplished something that day, but I couldn't resist playing the accordion or dancing the other days.

  2. No, I did not do my artist date. Instead, I sat down, closed my eyes, and observed my thoughts as much I could before giving into accordion playing. I felt in control of the present moment when it came back to accordion playing.

  3. I saw a dead cat with an abdomen avulsion at around the time I handled a conflict with a truculent co-worker. In regard to jealous haters, I focused on what I had to do, and the troubles handled themselves.

  4. I had a great time performing in the eyes of people I do not normally see. On the other hand, the people I spend more time with want to hear The White Stripes and Metallica, but I don't play songs from rock bands on the accordion. I'm prioritizing myself and forming boundaries until I can come back and give with a sense of abundance.

Week 7: Recovering a Sense of Connection


Listening

This section describes that the art we are seeking is about letting it out of us, and we do not have to think in high lofty concepts for great art.


We are told to be ready and just listen to the creative impulses and urges, they are there, we just need to follow them.


We are also told to remember that the universe wants us to create, we are to put our faith in the universe that it will give us what we want.


Perfectionism


The correct way to approach perfectionism is to allow for the unfinished details to be worked out later with time, not to stay stuck reworking things over and over and over.


75 Views
alvinquanthai
4월 27일
  1. All pages were done across the week. I daydream of advertising myself at an ice cream truck or food stand down the streets of a third world country. What does Julie Cameron mean by childhood loves? I saw childhood peers in my dream, and consciously ran away from them at Balboa park in Los Angeles.

  2. I hope practicing accordion suffices as an artist date. Most of the time, I think about how to make money or changing jobs. SpAnish for DUmmies showed me how to speak with Accents.

  3. I binge videos, but when I study anything, situations regarding the topics I study come to my awareness. For example, after finishing SuperAdobe home building class at CalEarth, I see people interested in homebuilding.

  4. I get urges to play Spanish, but express it through spoken language instead. I have haters for being myself, and I know that I better change departments. I don't want to play music around haters, but I can make space to play it away from them. Far away.

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