I don't worry about it too much

Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on November 24, 1999 at 04:54:39:

In Reply to: Symbols, Foreign Languages and Intention in Henna posted by Kenzi on November 23, 1999 at 04:28:44:

In the long view, I don't recommend worrying overmuch about artistic
integrity. It's a bit of an intellectual wind-up. Just do what needs
done.

Think of art as more like nursing a child. If you take perfect care
of your body, and stay loving and calm, whenever the baby cries, the
milk lets down perfectly, the child is fed, grows, and that's beyond
magic. If you take perfect care of yourself, perfect your craft, and
stay loving, attentive and calm, whatever henna you do, for whatever
person, is perfectly done. Like a child dancing. Like a flower
blooming. Like a cat purring. No effort. Just calm, joyous and
attentive response to the situation at hand. No pretension. No
intellectualization. Just perfect henna.

You have to practice, practice, practice until the henna or any other
art flows from your hands as effortlessly as purrs out of a cat's
throat...... but then it's magic.

I let my clients choose their design, or I ask "what blessing would
you like, and what would you like to pay?" That sorts things out
wonderfully. I go from what they've chosen, but I don't copy very
precisely.

Other vendors? I usually have way more business than I can handle.
Competition is no big deal. If business is slow, I get to play!

Follow-ups:

• Re: I don't worry about it too much Kenzi 18:01:02 11/24/99 (2)
  • Re: I don't worry about it too much Catherine Cartwright Jones 19:38:03 11/24/99 (1)
    • barbies, probably off-topic... Natasha 16:46:51 11/29/99 (0)