I have a dear friend who, for numerous years now, has sent us an amaryllis for the holidays. It’s always different and always spectacular. Each season I tried in vain to tend the bulb past its winter’s bloom with the hope of carrying it through to another year.  But busy family life, with a couple of household moves added to the mix, thwarted my meager attempts; every year I failed.

Until 2 years ago.

Late in December, after the requisite weeks of darkness in our cool basement pantry, I brought the previous year’s gift bulb upstairs to rest on top of the refrigerator, hoping its warmth would coax new growth. Periodic checks showed absolutely no progress. So late that January I finally reached for the pot fully expecting to heave its contents into the compost. Imagine how thrilled I was to discover a fresh sprout of green emerging from the papery brown folds at the top of the bulb.

And so it goes with work in the studio and the resulting ups and downs.

There are many hours that go into the pieces I diligently construct. Along the way there can be numerous false starts, often accompanied by plenty of discouragement. However, as my artist friend Dianne Shullenberger wisely counsels: despite the frustrations, we continue for the joy of making and because stopping isn’t an option. How true. I have come to learn that most of the time, by steadily pushing on, a breakthrough will eventually reveal itself.

In the next weeks, I’m going to revisit the making of Ulysses’ Wave, a piece that absorbed innumerable stops and starts, plenty of doubts, and finally satisfaction once I found its rightful path.

Ulysses’ Wave  19″ x 38″   © 2014 Elizabeth Fram

Sometimes the stars align and a piece comes into being easily and quickly. This is not one of those works.
But that’s okay – and maybe more than okay. This certainly isn’t the first time I’ve struggled and it won’t be the last. But with each new challenge I build a bit more confidence that in the end I will find my way to resolution.

And, as this amaryllis reminds me, there is power in persistence.