Being Forged by an Eternal Flame Vol. 1:001
Sometimes when looking at a blank white text editor, traditional piece of paper, new document in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and pretty much every other medium both traditionally or digitally, the white background, empty page can be somewhat daunting because depending on what goes on the page, how it’s designed, crafted, created, scraped, sculpted, molded, modeled, pressed, written, spoken, heard, read, thought, smelled, felt, or sensed all have tied connections about how ideas, thoughts, intentions, desires, and the execution of all those things combined, polished, finalized, and presented to the world for review has been very taxing.
One wrong keystroke, one wrong brushstroke, one wrong accident could be the thing one is looking for to give a complete twist on how the desired project may appear or be portrayed.
I have been learning to let go of all the ways I think things should be, and try to just be. Just exist. We are loved. We are enough.
My name is Christopher Stapleton, and this is a real-life story about my life as an artist, my life as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), my life as defined by me, created by me, and supported and forged by an eternal flame that radiates within. My life here on Earth being forged by Cold White Fire as a child of God, Source, the Universe.
Cold White Fire is a personage of spirit that teaches, strengthens, magnifies, edifies, uplifts, comforts, chastises, rebukes, helps, calms, motivates, energizes, relaxes, redefines, blesses, protects, inspires, reveals, guides, directs, shows, radiates, instructs, warms, whispers, communicates, speaks, and has loved me for who I am. Cold White Fire is the name I have given the Holy Ghost, the Spirit, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Revealer, the sensation I feel within that has pretty much been following me and helping me in my life.
I never needed to pay any money for help or direction. The care, love, respect, and gladness has always been available without money, without price and without a need for me to give anything in return, that doesn’t mean I don’t try to do what I can to return what has been given to others.
Being forged in fire doesn’t sound very appealing. Yet I’m thinking that pretty much everyone has felt the refiner’s fire in their life at some point, if not every day of their life. For me, as I can only speak for myself and from my experience, being forged, has been a process of day to day learning, trials, challenges, and struggle. I haven’t been alone in this journey, but I have had to in some small degree walk the footsteps of my Savior. All of us will have to walk our own difficult paths that lead us to an eternal path. The direction from which we choose to walk is one’s choice. I have been through hard times, and many of you have been also, which is great to meet others on this eternal journey as a being of light, living on Earth, in a mortal state, developing oneself, and being developed into a great individual that will one day walk back into the presence of one’s Eternal Parents to continue their next timeline after we venture into death to live again.
I have been learning about how steel is forged, created, processed, purchased to be used as a stock medium in precision machinery, production, manufacturing, and an endless list of things metal is used for. The process I want to focus on is the forging of metal. The act of being refined through repeated intense experiences such as a metallurgist would do to make a metal piece of artwork. In a greater scheme of this Earthly life, we are clay in the Potter’s hands, metal in the Refiner’s Fire. If you are unfamiliar with a refiner, or The Refiner, this video will jog your memory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DIIgm6xABQ
I often wonder what the purpose of my life that has a lot of difficult challenges, could even be of benefit to another in this world, let alone what I could do to provide for my loved ones. I like in the video the woman talks about in paraphrasing, “when we increase our capacity for pain, we increase our capacity for joy.” To me that has given me a lot of peace in my life, when I struggle day to day, trying to make a difference for myself, have confidence in myself, trying to achieve a skill, talent, or learn what I can to apply it, and help another, even if that means serving others by first serving myself.
Life is very challenging. I have been in the mercy of God, Source, the Universe for helping me get through difficult challenges that have ultimately been blessings in disguise.
I attended the Art Institute of Seattle from 2003-2010. I obtained two bachelor degrees in both Media Art & Animation, and Game Art & Design, via graduating with honors. However I went through a period of my life after graduating, that felt like “Why try?”, “What do I have to give or even add to this life that will be of any benefit to raising a family, a benefit to myself, let alone benefit to society?”
My most sincere desire was just to be able to contribute something in whatever degree I could to society, to my family, to my loved ones, to myself, and to Cold White Fire. Everyone I have spoken to in my life has told me that I was special and talented but the problem was those special things about me or talented things about me don’t transfer into money to pay bills, make a paycheck, and provide for my family, and for myself.
I was able to keep a portfolio that I have tried to expand over the years, but I didn’t know the outlet to share it, advertise it, let alone was unsure if it would even help me. Over the years I’m glad I kept doing what I love, which is to draw, be creative, paint both traditionally and digitally, and I’m turning towards digital sculpture.
In the Art Institute of Seattle (AIS), I learned to be an artist, to be trained both traditionally and digitally. I have always been artistic and have been much of an observing artist, more than a performing artist. Observing meaning, being able to look at other’s work and be in awe, and wonder when that would ever come to pass for me, but everyone knows that being in school, you have to do the work, and make things happen, otherwise one’s grades fail, things don’t go right, that GPA needs to be at a constant to continue to get funding or be eligible for funding, grants, loans, etc.
I plan to have a series of blog posts here on Forged by Cold White Fire, which is my blog about my artwork, the struggle I have been through, experiences I have had with artwork, being an active member of the LDS Church, and my desire to contribute back to society. I hope you enjoy future posts and perspectives.
Thanks!