Sunday morning gift to artists

Hint: We are all artists. When reading this passage, feel free to replace the word artist with the name of your chosen work, your passion. "… expectations based on the work itself are the most useful tool the artist possesses. What you need to know about the next piece is contained in the last piece. The place to learn about your materials is in the last use of your materials. The place to learn about your execution is in your execution. The best information about what you love is in your last contact with what you love. Put simply, your work is your guide: a complete, comprehensive, limitless reference book on your work. ..… the lessons you are meant to learn are in your work. To see them, you need only to look at the work clearly – without judgment, without need or fear, without wishes or hopes. Without emotional expectations. Ask your work what it needs, not what you need. Then set aside your fears and listen, the way a good parent listens to a child." - From Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, David Bayles and Ted Orland