Michele Karlsson Art

The most common question I got when moving to Italy (and for every decision I’ve made since then, to be honest) was “Why?” And my very genuine answer was/is always “Why not?” It’s a perspective thing. I don’t want to premise every decision from the standpoint of justifying myself but from the vantage point of possibility. And generally speaking that perspective keeps me thinking and moving in a positive direction. But –

It’s been a topsy turvy world recently and my personal life hasn’t been much smoother. So many changes, so much uncertainty, so many questions and so very few answers.

Where in normal times I sense a balance in everything and the vibrations that live under my skin undulate like a slow moving river, right now everything feels out of balance and that vibration? It feels more like the Jaws music; some days rhythmically sounding the danger that circles around me, and other days so out of synch with itself and with me that I spend too much time anxiously waiting for the next “da-dum”. Sometimes I’m so exhausted from waiting for it to happen that I relax. I don’t recommend that. I’m shocked, mentally and physically, when the next vibration hits. I imagine it’s something like feeling the initial earthquake and then waiting for the aftershocks, never really knowing if or when they’ll show up. Life has become a bit like a horror movie with bad things around every corner and bad people masquerading as the good guys. I mean, I know it’s coming but it surprises/terrifies me anyway.

I don’t want to live my life in survival mode so I’m taking my life back. I can’t and won’t ignore the rest of the world but I can make sure that my days are as filled with thoughts and activities that keep my mind engaged and my soul as bright and shiny as possible. I don’t have to let the bad things have enough room or sunlight to grow.

That’s how my foray into teaching has begun, with a need to reassert myself as the center of my personal universe. It’s more than just that though. A parallel and more outwardly facing path is my desire to help others find their own artistic voice and access the benefits that creativity holds for each of us.

So if you enjoy a bit of the dramatic and want to follow along I’ll be doing my best to write about my experience as a teacher without credentials to strangers on the internets in the hopes that a by-product of saving myself results in me hauling others into the lifeboat.

And if that isn’t the strangest and most ass-backwards mission statement every devised I’ll drink my brush water. On purpose. Enjoy the oversharing and overreacting.