I needed a clean shirt to work out in and went on a journey that I never expected. The winter heat wave California is experiencing meant most of my t-shirts had been in deep storage for months.
Not wanting to roll out in a wrinkled mess and wanting to get to the gym rather than ironing, I grabbed one my friend gave me I don't usually wear to sweat buckets in - I love the shirt.
It says Art Rebel on the back side over poker cards and Work Of Art on the front. Great memories, great shirt.
The conversation it provoked is too good not to share.
Well if you guessed what happened next you are better than I am at seeing the future.
A guy asked me, 'what kind of art are you'? LOVE THAT QUESTION!
I thought about it for a moment and blurted out - Impressionist art. Being curious, he asked me to explain. Which brought up a pause... Hmmm, why did I know in my bones what kind of art I was?
Suddenly I was back in the Museum D'Orsey in Paris as a teenager on a student trip. My teacher showed us the Impressionists and I was fascinated, moved, intrigued. When you stood too close to Monet or Pissaro the paintings looked like a hot mess.
Paint splashes everywhere, layers and layers of shades and movement without a clear border anywhere. Yet you stand back a few feet and let the whole picture emerge and it makes so much more sense. You can see the lilly pond instead of the swirls. It actually speaks to you, has a story to tell.
Well that's how I feel about me. If you look too closely at my life, without the distance I've traveled for a bigger perspective, it looks a bit like a hot mess. Okay more than a bit in places...
I've changed industries four different times. I started in headhunting, moved into finance then back into headhunting for the entertainment field. Only to get recruited to work in education for television and film post production and then moved into post production.
The only constant I've had is that I am endlessly curious about us, we the people.
Hand analysis was the main thread, the one thing I never got tired of because it was always a glimpse into the art that is you.
My personal life has been an adventure, too. However I like to keep my personal life private because it's not just me exposed in those stories. Let me share that path has also been layer upon layer of color without clear boundaries - if you look at one relationship at a time.
But when I step back, that is a different matter. I can only say, there is a story to tell. Like Impressionism, it isn't everyones taste, but it is a work of art.
What kind of art are you? What is your story...
If you want to put a frame on your picture, that is what I love to do - help you. Let's see the big picture that is your life, where the shadows add depth and the truth is the light that illuminates more of what is real about you.
By all means, spend a few minutes and let me know what kind of art you are, if you care to, or let me know if I can help you see yourself through bigger eyes. That's what I do when I read for you.
Whatever you do today, know that you are a work of art. You may not be finished with the layers on this chapter, so withhold your judgment until you have a bigger perspective. You may find you are an Impressionist masterpiece in process...
Lisa Greenfield
