{"id":11263,"date":"2016-04-06T11:56:40","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T18:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=11263"},"modified":"2016-04-06T12:27:06","modified_gmt":"2016-04-06T19:27:06","slug":"step-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2016\/04\/06\/step-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Step Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Me-painting-closeup-115\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
Me, painting, close up, two weeks ago in Crestline<\/a>.
\n(Below) one of my big pieces in the window at Sandstone.<\/h6>\n

Years ago I took a workshop for painters where I didn’t learn anything memorable except one thing: \u201cStep back from your work.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems so basic. Did I need an expensive three days in another state for that? Maybe not, but it was a teaching the instructor\u00a0kept repeating as none of us were doing it. Instead we were working diligently at our easels, focusing on one detail or the other, trying to get it right. Meantime he\u00a0was cruising around behind us and getting a whole other view of things\u00a0. . . because he was looking at the whole.<\/p>\n

And that, in fact, is how every viewer looks at a work of art. If it doesn’t succeed from across the room, its not succeeding,\u00a0regardless of how the detail is treated.<\/p>\n

It’s something to remember. And not just in painting.<\/p>\n

How our lives are succeeding in the whole is what\u00a0matters. We tend to forget to step back.<\/p>\n

When we do we’ll very likely see that things ARE\u00a0going well, that we ARE\u00a0blessed, that our prayers ARE being\u00a0answered, that what really matters is in place and we have good reason to be happy.<\/p>\n

Of course I’m talking about the redeemed<\/em> state. There was a period in my youth when quite the opposite was true. Everything was incredible hassle and I seemed to be facing only\u00a0opposition on every side. It was much later I saw I\u00a0was\u00a0fighting God, always a hard battle to win . . . until you give in. In time I did and my experience has been more with the current ever since.*<\/p>\n

But that’s not what I set out to say. Rather it was to remind myself, and all of us, to take a break from the immediate, the current challenges that consumes us, and look at the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

Our lives are a canvas; we’re working on details. Others, looking from a distance, probably see a\u00a0pretty good piece of art. We need to step back and see that, too.<\/p>\n

_______<\/p>\n

* Related to this, I’ll be speaking this Sunday\u00a0on The Prodigal Son, My Own Experience<\/em>. That’ll be at Heritage Christian Fellowship<\/em>, San Clemente, 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. All invited.<\/span><\/p>\n

** Also, I’ll be the featured artist at the Sandstone Gallery<\/em> in the Laguna Beach Art Walk tomorrow evening. Anne’s work will be there too, as well as both of us. That’s 6:00-9:00 p.m. Again, all invited.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sandstone-Indian-Face\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a reminder to take in the big picture, not just the details. (Also, here are invitations to two events.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11263"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11294,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11263\/revisions\/11294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}