As we begin a new year, I wanted to offer a bit of reflection. Like the year before it, 2021 brought many changes to our lives. We had already figured out how to work remotely but had to continue to adapt to sustain it in ways that advanced our work, kept our energy high and benefited our clients. Often it was not easy.
Much has been written on the changing character of work so I wanted this take to be from a more personal creative perspective. The vast majority of us in the professional services sector went from spending the majority of the week in our offices to spending most or often all of that time at home.
I am very fortunate to live in a beautiful seaside town, have a lovely home to hunker down in, and a painting studio as play space. I have always done personal artwork to balance my professional role running of our office but being home so much in the midst of a pandemic did affect the character of that work, not surprisingly.
Unlike our strategic brand work, I tend to let my painting just evolve organically, respond one work to the next, and not worry too much about the why. Having said that, the horizon line of the sea became a kind of constant, and an abstracted salt box of a home began showing up as things progressed. A kind of sanctuary for safe haven, if you will, but often small in the scene, generally couched in a turbulent sky. It was a sky that could be seen as hopeful and clearing at the end of a big storm, or maybe just bracing for the next one.
I guess its kind of how many of us felt last year. We have a lot of work to do to make this world better, but we could sure use a bit of clear sky to guide us.
