go look at new stuff on my website! (c:
www.unravelledonline.com
the arrows actually point to something new and interesting now! Happy clicking...(go peek in Painting (at the end of the second section) and Jewelry for most of the new stuff...)
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Just passing through....
So I went back to the source to see what sparked the response I found on Full Throttle and F**k It: Losing It
It got me thinking, which is always a good thing and I think I have to post. For those of you who would rather just have me tell you what the original post was about, too bad! Go read those two really great blogs! I'll wait........
done yet?
Alrighty...
I think I have to beg to differ on some of this and I have to offer a "new" idea or two of my own.
Creative folks like to talk about "it"- the magic, the thing that keeps them going, their muses, etc. They (we?) talk about it like it's a tangible, concrete object that we've somehow inherited or found lying in the gutter. We look at it like it's a big secret that only a select few of us have managed to find...and then when they lose "it" they either hang up the brushes, or they put up the pens or walk away from their novel or whatever. Some of the more attention starved ones choose to openly mope about how they used to be this or that and some tend to go sit quietly in a corner and wait it out and some choose to kill themselves.
So this is where I start to get a little...argumentative.
I don't think that there is a magic inherent to artists-at least not in the sense that most people consider. I think it comes down to something more universal-perhaps passion, or perspective. I say passion because a person without at least a shred of passion could very easily fall into the same holding patterns as all these artists who chose to end their lives early. Any person, mind you, without at least some interest in what the next day holds, or what the next month holds or the next minute holds, can find themselves considering some pretty drastic measures, just to shake things up a bit. People express their passion or at least interest in life in lots of different ways, some creatively, some not. We're all familiar with this-you dress a certain way, you order a decadent dessert just for the fun of it, you go on vacation to a place you love or a place you've never been, etc. etc.
Some people choose to paint. Or write. Or draw. Or sing. Or write music. They choose to express their passion or interest or opinions in things/life in a more direct way. I argue that it's when they become jaded towards their life or their environment that they begin to think they've lost the ephemeral creative "it".
You see it all the time. Artists stop creating because they stop caring. It happens to people all the time, it's just more noticeable by the time you've gotten famous enough to see your name in print, in lights or on an award or two here and there. It's also different because when you break through the fourth wall the exists between those who are famous and those who are not, everyone has an opinion on what you're doing. So if you have a bad day or year or month and you put work out anyway and it doesn't jive with the perception of what your work should be, people start to accuse you of losing "it" when really, maybe you just didn't care about the flowers as much this year as you did last year for whatever reason.
So let's say an artist stops caring and therefore stops creating. They haven't lost the spark that makes them creative, or talented. They could still sit down and draw the pants off anyone that challenges them probably, or outsing the best contestant on American Idol (idle...) or whatever-but they don't. Because they're over it.
Sometimes this can feel like they've lost their spark when really they're just bored. Thinking of the magical, artistic "it" lets people off the hook-it makes it seem like they have some special vision that makes the world more interesting or more exciting to them-so much that they just have to sit down and paint a picture of it in an attempt to convey that magic. I think the reality is that staying engaged in life enough to where things really do seem that intriguing takes work. Lots of work.
It's the same problem most adults have I think-you look at kids and most things are new and exciting because well, they haven't lived long enough to figure out the tricks behind the magic-as adults we come to expect certain things-cause and effect. Beautiful sunsets, etc. If those things are going to remain surprising and engaging, we have to choose to treat them as though they are new and exciting and different. It takes a great deal of effort sometimes I think to remind ourselves to stay engaged. Whether that means that we're going to wake up every morning and just make an effort or whether that means we're going to wake up and sit down at our respective Muse Centrals and "do" something with what we see or feel, is entirely up to us.
The other thing that you need to consider is that people have different desires to do things. I'll use my friends as examples. I have friends who are artists and friends who are creative and friends who are practical and all these things....each one of them is plugged in and engaged in life-they just desire to express that connection differently than, say, me. So some of us choose to paint and play with silks because we get really excited about the colors of the sunset last week-some of them choose to sit down and code some really complex computer languages because they just care how things work. But we're all plugged in to life. If my computer coding friends woke up one morning and suddenly didn't give a damn, they wouldn't lament that they had lost their ability to create code. They wouldn't think of it as having lost their "it". They would probably either relax and wait until something new developed technologically that got them excited or they would go back and revisit some of their older stuff to see if they could make it better or whatever.
Two more points and then I'll move on I promise:
One of the points that Steve brought up (which you all know 'cause you read his post...ahem. (c: ), is that perhaps Hemingway should have waited it out, spent less time concerning himself with what was, etc. etc. I couldn't agree more, but I think it has to do with social context. At the time that Hemingway and Jack London and all them were having their breakdowns, it wasn't socially acceptable to talk about your feelings, really (maybe moreso with Jack London's time, but he was a notorious drunk who, I think, personally, just got lucky...and wasn't real stable to begin with..), and I don't think the same essential skills of socially taking a break, or working through a tough period, etc. etc. had been instilled.
I'm reading "Lila" right now by Robert Pirsig and he talks about how the rebels following the Victorian era who were against all the stuffy reason, logic, manners and pomp of the times were able to rebel against it without any negative impacts on the overall society because they had been raised with an inherent social structure. They had a certain level of moral quality (his words, not mine) instilled in them and therefore the overall societal structure didn't suffer because of their personal rebellion. So fast forward to today-we have all that inherent, societal "talk it out", "processing," "closure", "becoming more centered" , dialogue programmed into us, whether we want it or not really, and therefore are better equipped to just wait out the tough periods, or change our focus, etc...Picasso didn't have that luxury. And he was clinically insane, without the same level of coping or medical help available to those of us today, so societally I think the odds were against these guys being able to work through their ennui.
Or perhaps they really were just sparks of genius that have gone out of existance. I don't know.
In the case of Johnny Cash, I think he was fortunate enough to live through the time periods that dicatated that you made it big and then you faded away-and he was blessed with enough internal flexibility to recognize the opportunities he had when he had them. He went back to what he cared about-the guitar and the lyrics and the music and the act of doing what he did. It stopped becoming about what his previous songs had become and kept being about what he was probably chasing to begin with-the passion for playing the guitar.
I could be wrong-there is such a thing as doing things purely because you are an opportunist and you're blessed with the talent to pull some things off better than others and there ya go, paycheck at the end, a little bit of fame, some comback action and your equation for success is completed. But I prefer to think that some of the really ingenious, creative people out there, aren't quite that....corporate...in their creations.
So, to bring all this to an end-talent will carry you a long ways, so will love of fame and the desire to be the center of attention-but when it comes down to it, you have to care about what you're doing and that takes work. It's a lifestyle and not an "it" that is always out of reach or always threatening to dissappear. You either have the drive to keep caring or you don't.
It's the whole "the unexamined life is not worth living" thing-you have to care enough to peek under the rock and let that curiosity drive you to express what you see in whatever way comes naturally.
I'll put my soapbox away for now.
It got me thinking, which is always a good thing and I think I have to post. For those of you who would rather just have me tell you what the original post was about, too bad! Go read those two really great blogs! I'll wait........
done yet?
Alrighty...
I think I have to beg to differ on some of this and I have to offer a "new" idea or two of my own.
Creative folks like to talk about "it"- the magic, the thing that keeps them going, their muses, etc. They (we?) talk about it like it's a tangible, concrete object that we've somehow inherited or found lying in the gutter. We look at it like it's a big secret that only a select few of us have managed to find...and then when they lose "it" they either hang up the brushes, or they put up the pens or walk away from their novel or whatever. Some of the more attention starved ones choose to openly mope about how they used to be this or that and some tend to go sit quietly in a corner and wait it out and some choose to kill themselves.
So this is where I start to get a little...argumentative.
I don't think that there is a magic inherent to artists-at least not in the sense that most people consider. I think it comes down to something more universal-perhaps passion, or perspective. I say passion because a person without at least a shred of passion could very easily fall into the same holding patterns as all these artists who chose to end their lives early. Any person, mind you, without at least some interest in what the next day holds, or what the next month holds or the next minute holds, can find themselves considering some pretty drastic measures, just to shake things up a bit. People express their passion or at least interest in life in lots of different ways, some creatively, some not. We're all familiar with this-you dress a certain way, you order a decadent dessert just for the fun of it, you go on vacation to a place you love or a place you've never been, etc. etc.
Some people choose to paint. Or write. Or draw. Or sing. Or write music. They choose to express their passion or interest or opinions in things/life in a more direct way. I argue that it's when they become jaded towards their life or their environment that they begin to think they've lost the ephemeral creative "it".
You see it all the time. Artists stop creating because they stop caring. It happens to people all the time, it's just more noticeable by the time you've gotten famous enough to see your name in print, in lights or on an award or two here and there. It's also different because when you break through the fourth wall the exists between those who are famous and those who are not, everyone has an opinion on what you're doing. So if you have a bad day or year or month and you put work out anyway and it doesn't jive with the perception of what your work should be, people start to accuse you of losing "it" when really, maybe you just didn't care about the flowers as much this year as you did last year for whatever reason.
So let's say an artist stops caring and therefore stops creating. They haven't lost the spark that makes them creative, or talented. They could still sit down and draw the pants off anyone that challenges them probably, or outsing the best contestant on American Idol (idle...) or whatever-but they don't. Because they're over it.
Sometimes this can feel like they've lost their spark when really they're just bored. Thinking of the magical, artistic "it" lets people off the hook-it makes it seem like they have some special vision that makes the world more interesting or more exciting to them-so much that they just have to sit down and paint a picture of it in an attempt to convey that magic. I think the reality is that staying engaged in life enough to where things really do seem that intriguing takes work. Lots of work.
It's the same problem most adults have I think-you look at kids and most things are new and exciting because well, they haven't lived long enough to figure out the tricks behind the magic-as adults we come to expect certain things-cause and effect. Beautiful sunsets, etc. If those things are going to remain surprising and engaging, we have to choose to treat them as though they are new and exciting and different. It takes a great deal of effort sometimes I think to remind ourselves to stay engaged. Whether that means that we're going to wake up every morning and just make an effort or whether that means we're going to wake up and sit down at our respective Muse Centrals and "do" something with what we see or feel, is entirely up to us.
The other thing that you need to consider is that people have different desires to do things. I'll use my friends as examples. I have friends who are artists and friends who are creative and friends who are practical and all these things....each one of them is plugged in and engaged in life-they just desire to express that connection differently than, say, me. So some of us choose to paint and play with silks because we get really excited about the colors of the sunset last week-some of them choose to sit down and code some really complex computer languages because they just care how things work. But we're all plugged in to life. If my computer coding friends woke up one morning and suddenly didn't give a damn, they wouldn't lament that they had lost their ability to create code. They wouldn't think of it as having lost their "it". They would probably either relax and wait until something new developed technologically that got them excited or they would go back and revisit some of their older stuff to see if they could make it better or whatever.
Two more points and then I'll move on I promise:
One of the points that Steve brought up (which you all know 'cause you read his post...ahem. (c: ), is that perhaps Hemingway should have waited it out, spent less time concerning himself with what was, etc. etc. I couldn't agree more, but I think it has to do with social context. At the time that Hemingway and Jack London and all them were having their breakdowns, it wasn't socially acceptable to talk about your feelings, really (maybe moreso with Jack London's time, but he was a notorious drunk who, I think, personally, just got lucky...and wasn't real stable to begin with..), and I don't think the same essential skills of socially taking a break, or working through a tough period, etc. etc. had been instilled.
I'm reading "Lila" right now by Robert Pirsig and he talks about how the rebels following the Victorian era who were against all the stuffy reason, logic, manners and pomp of the times were able to rebel against it without any negative impacts on the overall society because they had been raised with an inherent social structure. They had a certain level of moral quality (his words, not mine) instilled in them and therefore the overall societal structure didn't suffer because of their personal rebellion. So fast forward to today-we have all that inherent, societal "talk it out", "processing," "closure", "becoming more centered" , dialogue programmed into us, whether we want it or not really, and therefore are better equipped to just wait out the tough periods, or change our focus, etc...Picasso didn't have that luxury. And he was clinically insane, without the same level of coping or medical help available to those of us today, so societally I think the odds were against these guys being able to work through their ennui.
Or perhaps they really were just sparks of genius that have gone out of existance. I don't know.
In the case of Johnny Cash, I think he was fortunate enough to live through the time periods that dicatated that you made it big and then you faded away-and he was blessed with enough internal flexibility to recognize the opportunities he had when he had them. He went back to what he cared about-the guitar and the lyrics and the music and the act of doing what he did. It stopped becoming about what his previous songs had become and kept being about what he was probably chasing to begin with-the passion for playing the guitar.
I could be wrong-there is such a thing as doing things purely because you are an opportunist and you're blessed with the talent to pull some things off better than others and there ya go, paycheck at the end, a little bit of fame, some comback action and your equation for success is completed. But I prefer to think that some of the really ingenious, creative people out there, aren't quite that....corporate...in their creations.
So, to bring all this to an end-talent will carry you a long ways, so will love of fame and the desire to be the center of attention-but when it comes down to it, you have to care about what you're doing and that takes work. It's a lifestyle and not an "it" that is always out of reach or always threatening to dissappear. You either have the drive to keep caring or you don't.
It's the whole "the unexamined life is not worth living" thing-you have to care enough to peek under the rock and let that curiosity drive you to express what you see in whatever way comes naturally.
I'll put my soapbox away for now.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Just a few words before I go
Where I'm not entirely sure. I am ready to go home but that is a loaded word with only shadows. So we'll see.
Just a few notes and then I'm getting some real sleep.
1. Had some good news about the store that has my jewelry for commission in their shop in Weston, MO-some stuff sold. It hasn't been down there a full month (we had to pull inventory for a weekend here and there) so I'm pretty happy.
2. I jumped off the cliff and signed up for this huge Women's Life Expo that is coming through the KC Convention Center-a chance to sell my jewelry and my art to thousands of people-specifically women. Wish me luck.
3. I am reassessing my previous ability to cope with things. Perhaps I have found my limit for bullshit.
I found a marked improvement in my German. Makes me feel pretty good in a way-now to fill in the holes.
Estonia is my new secret. It was a really wonderful time and overall a great experience. I got a good dose of learning to be with just me---which was a little dull at times honestly. I guess I'm not as engaging as I thought hehe. Regardless-I wouldn't trade it for anything. I developed my skills as a drawer and rediscovered my passion for Oil Pastels. And I did a silk painting that I am quite pleased with. It has flow, it has a good composition, I paced myself and let it guide me--I feel alright about the process. Which is what I'm all about anyway.
Tallinn is a fantastic city full of great people. Witnessing the precursor to their Independence Day was something that I will never forget. People can belittle patriotism all they want but coming from a people who literally spent almost 7 centuries being owned by everyone else it's a truly humbling experience. They held a Singing Festival in honor of the Singing Revolution. There is something pretty cool about standing in a crowd of 300,000 listening to them sing songs about freedom. I dunno-maybe it's just me and my love of history but wow.
I started to make some more jewelry, which is good since I have this big ol' sale coming up in October. Lots of things to balance, now if my brain can just keep up with me so I don't go crazy and lose all the ground I've covered so far, we'll be alright.
Anyway.
That's all for now. I'm going to try and get some sleep and shake whatever it is that is making me run a fever and have a swollen throat.
And the writing continues. I hope to have Chapter 6 pushed to an end if not the end by Sunday.
Thank god school starts soon for the kids.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
I figured it would make a good post...
Ok, so this was sparked by my apparent need to ramble about this topic given the length of my comment on Lisa's blog. Ahem.
For those who haven't been there yet, you should read her post about poetry. And then come back and read mine.
I have issues. I'm picky. I'm opinionated. I am not comfortable with the general populace's idea of "creativity" nor am I comfortable with my own.
I have an excessive amount of sarcasm and cynicism coupled with a ridiculously loud inner child.
I hate people who claim to be "artists" and then make junk. I repeat: I'm opinionated. I'm not defining junk by your level of skill. Technique does not alone make one an artist. I know some really technically sound people who make junk art.
I'm also not talking about that wishy washy bullshit that the people I can't stand call "meaning". Art either reaches people or it doesn't. Images, words, all those things have a way to impact people. Technique is one of them, granted but I will argue until I die that even the crudest, most simplistic technique can have just as much impact on someone as anything done by the great artists of our time and before.
I have a friend who is an amazing photographer. This person has done some really great stuff. Problem is, this same person gets "talky" when they get going about their art. They are really intelligent and they are really good at talking about their work...to the point that they take any of the spirit the work possessed and kill it with a barage of nonsense and "art speak". It's sad. What's even sadder is that other people lap it up like it was milk dribbled from a golden breast. A lot of head nodding, mm-hmming and all that other stuff. Makes me wonder what they're really thinking.
Maybe I sound jealous. Or self-conscious. I might be. Probably. But really...at what point does it go from being a thoughtful explanation about what you were really thinking or feeling or wanting to express to filling the space to distract from the fact that maybe the piece just didn't manage to say what you thought it would so you feel like you have to say it yourself?
If anyone else managed to follow that overly complicated thought pattern, please, let me know. We'll have coffee.
I think the problem I have with most artists or poets or with myself is that crossing of the line from sincerity to bullshit. I hate it when people glamorize anything to the point that it just becomes another trinket to throw on the meaningless propaganda pile.
Poetry can be amazing. It can also suck. A lot. The same is true for art in general.
My greatest fear as a person who happens to accidentally be creative from time to time..I don't want to be one of those "fake artists" who end up doing all the talking for their work when it should be doing the talking for themselves. I think there's a level of spiritual comfort, trust, love, etc. that has to happen before the art we create can start talking for itself. I know that a lot of the time all the talking the artist does is a way to get there...I respect that. Just don't insult my intelligence or my ability to detect bullshit.
There are people out there who criticize abstract artists and classicists alike. I'm not talking about a specific genre here really...anything can be intellectualized to death.
I think it boils down to intention. Whether that's a known intention or not, if a person is capable of sitting down and capturing whatever it is they're doing with a pure enough intention, a sort of "art for art's sake" (blanking on the terminology for that thinking) but without all the hype, then the art will do what it's supposed to do. Communicate. Which, in my opinion, is a natural and completely unavoidable by-product of creating. Sorry to all you people out there who really wish you could make art about "not saying anything at all" That's actually saying something. I'm looking at it, I'm a conscious (most times...depends on how much free wine you've offered at your opening) viewer thinking about what I'm looking at and that, to me, is the basis for communication. Whether it goes any further than that, is irrelevant.
I've been guilty of being a over talky artist. I've "given" worth and merit to a piece that sucked and was laying quiet as a dead church mouse on the canvas because I was too afraid to admit that what I'd made was, well, a good effort and a valiant try and all those self-affirming things, but that really it just didn't work. My heart wasn't in it, my intention was to get attention instead of just make what I was feeling, something went wrong.
It's ok. It happens. I am blessed and honored to know some truly creative and artistic people. What I find interesting is that most of them, when asked about what they do or why or how, can give the basic answers but that's it. Their work really does speak for itself. It's an amazing thing.
Tim has a quote in his resource for writers that I'm going to (hopefully somewhat accurately) quote here: "Don't let the writing get in the way of the storytelling. It's just the method you're choosing to use to convey your story." I feel the same way about art.
Don't let your (insert media here) get in the way of what you're actually doing. It's just the method. Not the thing itself.
Arthur Dove has one of my favorite quotes "We cannot truly express the light in nature because we have not the sun. We can only express the light we have in ourselves."
Phew.
Ok. That's over with. Please, disagree with me. :D
For those who haven't been there yet, you should read her post about poetry. And then come back and read mine.
I have issues. I'm picky. I'm opinionated. I am not comfortable with the general populace's idea of "creativity" nor am I comfortable with my own.
I have an excessive amount of sarcasm and cynicism coupled with a ridiculously loud inner child.
I hate people who claim to be "artists" and then make junk. I repeat: I'm opinionated. I'm not defining junk by your level of skill. Technique does not alone make one an artist. I know some really technically sound people who make junk art.
I'm also not talking about that wishy washy bullshit that the people I can't stand call "meaning". Art either reaches people or it doesn't. Images, words, all those things have a way to impact people. Technique is one of them, granted but I will argue until I die that even the crudest, most simplistic technique can have just as much impact on someone as anything done by the great artists of our time and before.
I have a friend who is an amazing photographer. This person has done some really great stuff. Problem is, this same person gets "talky" when they get going about their art. They are really intelligent and they are really good at talking about their work...to the point that they take any of the spirit the work possessed and kill it with a barage of nonsense and "art speak". It's sad. What's even sadder is that other people lap it up like it was milk dribbled from a golden breast. A lot of head nodding, mm-hmming and all that other stuff. Makes me wonder what they're really thinking.
Maybe I sound jealous. Or self-conscious. I might be. Probably. But really...at what point does it go from being a thoughtful explanation about what you were really thinking or feeling or wanting to express to filling the space to distract from the fact that maybe the piece just didn't manage to say what you thought it would so you feel like you have to say it yourself?
If anyone else managed to follow that overly complicated thought pattern, please, let me know. We'll have coffee.
I think the problem I have with most artists or poets or with myself is that crossing of the line from sincerity to bullshit. I hate it when people glamorize anything to the point that it just becomes another trinket to throw on the meaningless propaganda pile.
Poetry can be amazing. It can also suck. A lot. The same is true for art in general.
My greatest fear as a person who happens to accidentally be creative from time to time..I don't want to be one of those "fake artists" who end up doing all the talking for their work when it should be doing the talking for themselves. I think there's a level of spiritual comfort, trust, love, etc. that has to happen before the art we create can start talking for itself. I know that a lot of the time all the talking the artist does is a way to get there...I respect that. Just don't insult my intelligence or my ability to detect bullshit.
There are people out there who criticize abstract artists and classicists alike. I'm not talking about a specific genre here really...anything can be intellectualized to death.
I think it boils down to intention. Whether that's a known intention or not, if a person is capable of sitting down and capturing whatever it is they're doing with a pure enough intention, a sort of "art for art's sake" (blanking on the terminology for that thinking) but without all the hype, then the art will do what it's supposed to do. Communicate. Which, in my opinion, is a natural and completely unavoidable by-product of creating. Sorry to all you people out there who really wish you could make art about "not saying anything at all" That's actually saying something. I'm looking at it, I'm a conscious (most times...depends on how much free wine you've offered at your opening) viewer thinking about what I'm looking at and that, to me, is the basis for communication. Whether it goes any further than that, is irrelevant.
I've been guilty of being a over talky artist. I've "given" worth and merit to a piece that sucked and was laying quiet as a dead church mouse on the canvas because I was too afraid to admit that what I'd made was, well, a good effort and a valiant try and all those self-affirming things, but that really it just didn't work. My heart wasn't in it, my intention was to get attention instead of just make what I was feeling, something went wrong.
It's ok. It happens. I am blessed and honored to know some truly creative and artistic people. What I find interesting is that most of them, when asked about what they do or why or how, can give the basic answers but that's it. Their work really does speak for itself. It's an amazing thing.
Tim has a quote in his resource for writers that I'm going to (hopefully somewhat accurately) quote here: "Don't let the writing get in the way of the storytelling. It's just the method you're choosing to use to convey your story." I feel the same way about art.
Don't let your (insert media here) get in the way of what you're actually doing. It's just the method. Not the thing itself.
Arthur Dove has one of my favorite quotes "We cannot truly express the light in nature because we have not the sun. We can only express the light we have in ourselves."
Phew.
Ok. That's over with. Please, disagree with me. :D
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Blogging for boredom...
I'm bored. I know, it's cliched.
I had a pretty good Tuesday actually. More specifically, it's been a productive week so far and we're only two days in...this is good.
I did a lot of research about some different Calls for Artists and the such and found some really cool sounding stuff. There is an art pool in San Francisco that is looking for artists to do some commissions for the San Francisco Airport Terminal 2 that they are remodeling. I think some large scale Fiber pieces would be perfect. They want 10 images of your work. I have ten images, I just have to beef up the fiber element of it since I either usually end up selling my fiber pieces or not photographing them because they are difficult to do justice. Unless you have a professional, which would be nice, but I'm all out of those at the moment. I do have a really nifty camera though so that might help (c:
I ordered some cool new dye stuff from my favoritest (hehe) website ever, Dharma trading company. Good stuff. Love their products and their website is great. Anyway, I ordered some stuff and it's being rocketed towards me as we speak (I'm sure...) and it should be here in a few days. I can then turn the upstairs laundry room into a dye kitchen for about an hour and hopefully have the basis for some cool new art stuffs. We'll see how it goes. I have been wanting to sit down and play with some stuff for a while. Mess around with some watercolors or something. I dunno. Silkpainting is a great way to get some cool results too.
I have promised myself that I am going to go back to the writing process at the end of the week. Life has a strange way of hitting you with things all at the same time and while I have no real excuse, its been its own process getting back into the country and all. It happens. I'm ok with it.
I had my kung fu class tonight which is always a really nice outlet for things. I am really aiming to get my next rank before I go back to Europe. I want to be able to move on and work on some different things and it's been a bit too long between rankings I think. I also feel much more ready, much more like a martial artist than I have in the past. One of those life lesson things I've learned or have begun to learn I believe while I was traveling around having to not only depend on me but trust me. They seem like the same thing but there are shades of meaning that seperate them.
I have let a few other things slide in the recent past...not so much a good thing, but I'm working on it. At the moment I'm waiting to get some more money in so I can sit down and repost a lot of my jewelry to my Etsy site...at the moment there's nothing up there I don't think. Which isn't good. Things like that need to stay active and that requires having objects to show. I think I am going to start doing my commission pieces via them to generate some sales and show a number under "sold" pieces. Perhaps that will help my store become more recognizable by the search engines so I get more traffic. I need to do some marketing too...but that costs money sometimes. (c: I have some nifty postcards, I just have to make sure they get up around town.
If any of you know, need or want some cool jewelry, wedding stuff, last minute gifts, give me a hollar, I can email images of my work and or direct you to a site that will show you my work upon request. :D
I'm going to be posting my reading list in a few days here I think, I've just about finished up my last book for this part of the month. May I spent scattered and not doing much of anything except trying to get back in the swing of things (only to leave again in July but whatever..)
I had a pretty good Tuesday actually. More specifically, it's been a productive week so far and we're only two days in...this is good.
I did a lot of research about some different Calls for Artists and the such and found some really cool sounding stuff. There is an art pool in San Francisco that is looking for artists to do some commissions for the San Francisco Airport Terminal 2 that they are remodeling. I think some large scale Fiber pieces would be perfect. They want 10 images of your work. I have ten images, I just have to beef up the fiber element of it since I either usually end up selling my fiber pieces or not photographing them because they are difficult to do justice. Unless you have a professional, which would be nice, but I'm all out of those at the moment. I do have a really nifty camera though so that might help (c:
I ordered some cool new dye stuff from my favoritest (hehe) website ever, Dharma trading company. Good stuff. Love their products and their website is great. Anyway, I ordered some stuff and it's being rocketed towards me as we speak (I'm sure...) and it should be here in a few days. I can then turn the upstairs laundry room into a dye kitchen for about an hour and hopefully have the basis for some cool new art stuffs. We'll see how it goes. I have been wanting to sit down and play with some stuff for a while. Mess around with some watercolors or something. I dunno. Silkpainting is a great way to get some cool results too.
I have promised myself that I am going to go back to the writing process at the end of the week. Life has a strange way of hitting you with things all at the same time and while I have no real excuse, its been its own process getting back into the country and all. It happens. I'm ok with it.
I had my kung fu class tonight which is always a really nice outlet for things. I am really aiming to get my next rank before I go back to Europe. I want to be able to move on and work on some different things and it's been a bit too long between rankings I think. I also feel much more ready, much more like a martial artist than I have in the past. One of those life lesson things I've learned or have begun to learn I believe while I was traveling around having to not only depend on me but trust me. They seem like the same thing but there are shades of meaning that seperate them.
I have let a few other things slide in the recent past...not so much a good thing, but I'm working on it. At the moment I'm waiting to get some more money in so I can sit down and repost a lot of my jewelry to my Etsy site...at the moment there's nothing up there I don't think. Which isn't good. Things like that need to stay active and that requires having objects to show. I think I am going to start doing my commission pieces via them to generate some sales and show a number under "sold" pieces. Perhaps that will help my store become more recognizable by the search engines so I get more traffic. I need to do some marketing too...but that costs money sometimes. (c: I have some nifty postcards, I just have to make sure they get up around town.
If any of you know, need or want some cool jewelry, wedding stuff, last minute gifts, give me a hollar, I can email images of my work and or direct you to a site that will show you my work upon request. :D
I'm going to be posting my reading list in a few days here I think, I've just about finished up my last book for this part of the month. May I spent scattered and not doing much of anything except trying to get back in the swing of things (only to leave again in July but whatever..)
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