Sunday, September 2, 2012

You Gotta Have Faith

Blind folk see the fairies.
Oh better far than we.
Who miss the shining of their wings
Because our eyes are filled with things
We do not wish to see. ~ Rose Fyleman
I have to admit, I didn't like Faith. I had created her shortly after making Flora, my first faery, and had intended to give her to my sister, Sarah, for her birthday. Faith sat down in the bottom of my cupboard for more than a month – long after the birthday had come and gone. Every once in a while I would take her out and think, guiltily, that I should put her in a box and send her off by post. I never did.

One day I was invited to visit my friend, Louise, whom I hadn't seen in a long while. I knew that Louise enjoyed many things magical and whimsical. I wanted to bring her a faery but our arrangements had been rather spontaneous and I didn't have the time to create properly. I had started, rather mechanically, putting a faery together but I knew I wouldn't get far with it. So, absentmindedly, I went over to the cupboard and took out Faith.

I'm not sure whether I was looking for inspiration but I just held her and looked at her for a long time. As I did so, my daughter asked me what I was going to do with Faith. I replied that I really didn't know. I didn't really like Faith. My daughter was shocked. “Why, Mommy? She's so pretty!” Is she? I asked. “Yes!” Suddenly a solution dawned on me. I asked my daughter if she thought Louise would like Faith. Again came a resounding, Yes!

At that moment Faith looked different. Faith came to light. Faith did look pretty. All that time, since conception, Faith had been designated for the wrong person. Certainly Sarah deserves a faery but Faith was not the right one. Faith belonged to Louise. I immediately became giddy with anticipation. I couldn't wait to introduce the two of them, Louise and Faith!


 This is the way it is with art. I had forgotten because it's been so long since I created something. You cannot force creativity and you cannot force a created object into the wrong hands and before the wrong eyes. Well, you can, but it feels completely unsuitable. Friends and family are kind enough to be polite and accept a creation even if they don't really like it but that's never the goal of an artist. At least, not this artist. Perhaps because each of my faeries seems to have a “character” of sorts, she needs to be in the right hands, with someone of compatible character.

Louise would not rest until she had found the proper place for Faith. I knew then, that I had made a good choice...or my daughter had. When last I saw her, Faith was hanging in a corner by the patio door – light, breezy, and an area decorated by other whimsical objects such as a hand blown glass Friendship Ball, and a string of engraved copper bells. Faith had definitely found a home and I felt very good about it. I had just experienced how having faith in your own abilities and your own intuition always pays off. :)

6 comments:

  1. It's always like this with gifts and recipients, a matter of compatibility. Even in our daily interaction with inanimate objects we find that a cellphone, for instance, is an extension of ourselves while we may never accept a certain laptop as a personal companion. I'm not suggesting that your fairies are inanimate by any means, eh!
    I enjoy this blog of yours, like I do with all your others :-)

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    1. All my other blogs... Yes, Abufares, I am a prolific and diverse blogger. Lol! Thank you for visiting me in all these nooks and crannies of the web I have made mine. :) And thank you for understanding my gift dilemma. My fairies are inanimate but they do have character and, your right, compatibility is key. :)

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  2. She's an aptly named fairy and, it seems, very patient.

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    1. She is patient, Anji! :) And I think she's glad I waited but I could be anthropomorphising. :)

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  3. Oh my gosh, Izzy...this is so special! Faith looks simply wonderful hanging where she does, all happy in the breeze that comes in the door. I just switched the curtains back there to some light weight cotton white and turquoise ones, and she goes well with them. Thank you so much for Faith! She is well enjoyed for sure.

    xxoxxo
    Louise

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    1. Hi Lou! So glad you dropped by and I'm even more glad you're enjoying Faith. It's nice that she has a loving home. Turquoise is definitely her colour. :) Thanks so much for commenting. xoxo

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