Art by Brandon, Age 5

I’m especially interested in all things art. My mother was an artist and my oldest child is soon to be a student at a top art school.  And while I’m not an artist by trade, I have been surrounded by enough art in my lifetime to have developed something of an artist’s eye and can put together a decent design when I need to. I like to think I’m pretty good at recognizing great art when I see it, but it turns out I’ve not even noticed the progress on my most impressive art project to date.

First, read this  [from Seth Godin's blog – posted yesterday]:

Making Art

My definition of art contains three elements:

1. Art is made by a human being.

2. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.

3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we we’re doing when we do our best work.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Perfection in motherhood may be unattainable.  We have good days, bad days.  But our impact, our best work, this motherhood gig…definitely a work of art.