Wednesday, July 30, 2008

White Space

Taking my personal "white space".

Aha.......got this in my INBOX today. Call it what you want, all of us need some time to just germinate. I'm always commenting to people when I look at art, that I like/don't like the way someone uses their negative space......or has good quiet space placement in their work. This can be applied to life as well as Molly Gordon emphasized in this ezine email.

I'm certainly taking my white space lately. I look forward to the time when it will all pay off for me with lots of passionate work emanating from my studio at the farm.


quoted from Molly Gordon at AuthenticPromotion

Why Your Business Needs You to Do Less, Not More
Graphic designers and layout people will tell you that white space is what makes it possible for us to register text on a printed page or a computer screen. White space gives order, context, and emphasis to what matters. Without it, everything seems equally urgent and important.

If you’ve ever tried to read an email or web page with long paragraphs, you know what happens when too much content squeezes out the white space. It is hard to track meaning, hard to isolate key points, hard to know how to respond.

The same thing happens when there is not enough white space in our lives. Depending on our individual styles, we may get irritable, weepy, bossy, or simply forgetful. In an ironic turnabout, we may start saying "no" to things we'd like to say "yes" to and vice versa. Play feels like work, and work loses its charm.

On the other hand, when we expand or maintain white space in stressful times, we discover unexpected opportunities and solutions.

When a problem is too big or complex to be solved with available resources, we have to go to another level to solve it. White space helps us find that other level, when pushing harder and moving faster won't work.

If the white space in your life has been shrinking, or if, like me, you need more white space than usual right now, pause. Revise your commitments and declare a moratorium on promises for a few days.

Preserving white space allows the shape of what is truly important to emerge while giving us the breathing room to respond more completely and effectively.

That’s a good thing.
Until next week,
Molly Gordon
http://www.authenticpromotion.com


Thanks, Molly, for just confirming what I already knew!

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this article, Cheryl. It was just what I needed this morning. As a direct result, I just sent an email declining a request to do something I didn't want to do, but was gonna feel guilty saying no.

    I sure feel better now.

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  2. heh heh heh....good excuse, huh!

    No, seriously...how can we really make art that shows how we view the world or feel about the world if we have no time to "experience".

    Taking your own white space is essential. Sometimes we just have to be reminded.

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