Carlsbad Art and Culture

Ideas are like snowflakes on a cold Winter day. Their whimsical decent concludes with a delicate landing upon a pile of previous brainstorms. In a creative blizzard, ideas clutter on the frozen ground in a thick blanket of inspiration. This layer continues to build, reaching your window pane, climbing your door and eventually trapping you within the walls of your studio.

Equipped with a color slinging shovel, you begin digging through the layered blanket of ideas. Each foot of creativity corresponds to a new collection of projects. Your studio walls begin to fill with freshly splattered canvases and the barricade that once trapped you begins to wither. Your roof becomes exposed, followed by the top of your front door. A recently stretched canvas glows as a ray of sunshine fits its way through a newly exposed section of window.

A squinted glimpse towards the clear sky results in a frenzy of work. Like a forgotten avocado, your ideas struggle to remain fresh. The sun’s rays pierce your blanket of creativity. One by one, your ideas melt and dribble down your front lawn and into the street. You work in a feverish torment. For every two completed projects, you lose one. Your fingertips are sore and your nose burns over a sea of drying paint. The balls of your feet feel as if they are filled with sand and your back ages with every move. Your stomach cries for attention and your eyes are the color of a late night shopping spree.

After months of preparation and dozens of projects, the seal of your studio door breaks. The rusty hinges swing wide and your eyes meet the Spring colors of a new season. A lush green lawn overgrows the front sidewalk and stretched white clouds smear across a royal blue sky. Birds churp and bees buzz as neighborhood kids chase the jingles of a local ice cream truck.

Weak and weathered, you stand feeble. You sweep the short path through your yard with a wide smile. You invite the community into your studio with nods and hearty handshakes. Your paintings hang on the walls as trophies of another Winter survival and are marveled at by family and friends. Your battered mind and feeble stature is a small consolation for the the smiles your work attracts; the sleepless months prior is nothing more than a dream when you learn that you have inspired and the work you endured is a fading memory when you have found your labor of love…

Happy Labor Day!

Click HERE for Labor of Love by bryan snyder!

What labors do you love?