Keeping Motivated

It can be difficult to keep motivated and optimistic.  It is not uncommon for me to be somewhat unmotivated after a big burst of creative productivity.  I pushed to get three large paintings completed, several pieces framed, labels made, statement written, and catalog updated for the Saline Mills Studio Sale.  This left my studio in a mess.  I have picked up and put away most items.  I have also been making labels for two narrow drawer units that hold tools, pencils, pastels, bookmaking supplies, etc. Taking the time to clean and organize helps me to think clearly.  It helps me to keep the negative thoughts at bay and allows the creative thoughts to flourish.

This week I am working on some fun projects for Christmas gifts.  I am making some sock monkeys for my favorite two and a half year old for Christmas.  He loves the ones that I have at my house so I thought I should make him a few for his room.  They will look happy sitting on his new big boy bed! This afternoon I am making dog biscuits.  Christmas treats for my dog Hugo and my daughter's dog Cooper.  The neighbor's will get some for their dogs along with a print of a Khamsa that I drew.  If I have time I will bake some Christmas cookies as well.  Christmas Eve day my daughter and grandson and I will bake more Christmas cookies.  We will bake our favorites along with a few new recipes to try.  Gingerbread men and sugar cookies will be frosted and decorated.  A favorite no bake cookie, chocolate haystacks will make their appearance.  Split Seconds, a butter cookie with raspberry jam glistening on top are on the list.  I also want to try a new recipe for ginger Pinwheel cookies.  If there is time I've always wanted to make black and white cookies.  Ambitious I know but I do have my helpers this year.

The flurry of Christmas activities and projects has claimed some of my studio time but that is all right with me.  Making Christmas gifts and baking Christmas cookies are part of the fun. Christmas wouldn't be the same for me if I didn't bake.  I love making cookies and sharing them with my family and friends.  I have lots of ideas for artwork that will wait until after Christmas.  I am motivated and optimistic about the direction that my art working is taking.  My optimism wavers when I start to think about generating an income as a full time artist and how to market my art.  Then I remind myself that this is my time to do this.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a most Happy New Year.

I actually wrote this last week.

1. I am beginning my new life as a full time artist. New starts require a lot of energy and a lot of delicious, warm, coffee! Thus the new background! Part of being a full time artist is creating a business. I am almost finished with my web site. I have set an intention to write on my blog once a week. I set an intention to teach art at Cook Art Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan and other like minded organizations. I am also going to be offering classes in my home. I would like to teach adults here at my house. I am thinking of changing the name of my art endeavors/business from Blumandala Studio to Morris Avenue Studio. Feedback is welcome. I would like to have studio work days where adults who would like a creative outlet could come and work with other like minded people. I would have a theme for the day. I think I am going to invite the artists on my street to my first art encounter, Coffee and Collage! For my first event I would not charge it would be more to get to know each other while having fun. Participants would bring some supplies and tools but I would also have supplies handy. If my supplies were used then a flat studio fee will be charged. I would have coffee, tea, and sweets. Participants would bring their own lunch. My other idea is to have a show of my work in my house next year. A year would give me time to create enough work and to get further involved in the local art scene. Which brings me to my next intention: getting more involved in the local art scene. On Division Street there are galleries I need to explore. There is an exploding art scene in that area of town and I think that my work would fit in well there. Another intention is to get regular exercise in addition to walking.
   I must keep fit in order to do what I want to do.
   Another intention is to continue meditating everyday. I am currently on day 15 of a meditation program from Deepak Chopra that is free. I have found it to be very beneficial. It is helping me change my outlook on life. It is helping me see that I still have a lot to look forward to and that good things can and do happen. Not getting a job that I really wanted made me sad and depressed. I found that I couldn't face working retail again. I am so thankful for Cook Art Center and Steffanie who hired me to teach there. I love the center, it's staff, and the students. They really want to be there and love coming to class. Working in my studio during the day and teaching in the afternoons and evenings is perfect. I still have some low moments but overall I feel confident and happy with being a full time artist. My dream of being a full time artist has come true! Now to make it successful!

   ReplyDelete

My Grandson Graham spent two days with us this week.  He is so much fun to be with.  He is funny and creative.  He likes to learn new words and finds some of them to be hilarious to say.  Like the word funnel.  That totally cracked him up.  One of the things that I miss about teaching art full time is learning from children how not to be afraid or over think during the art making process.  They begin working and go with the flow. Graham will be three in April and loves working in the studio with me.  A couple of weeks ago he stuck twigs into a hunk of clay creating a wonderful sculpture.  Yesterday, in celebration of Mama and Daddy coming home from Chicago he decorated a party hat that we made out of paper.  He would rummage around the marker box looking for the color he wanted to use. He would push the markers around saying, ummm, ummm, ummm, until he found the one color that spoke to him.  Then he would announce, that one!  He used mostly blues and blue greens.  Then he grabbed a red and added a few touches of that color.  Markers were followed by a few flourishes with a purple crayon.  Next he wanted to cut paper and glue pieces on top of his line work.  He really liked working with scissors and was very good at cutting little pieces to add to his party hat.  He was very happy with his hat and couldn't wait to show it to his Mama and Daddy.

When things are going well in my studio that is the way I feel.  I don't know if anyone will like my work.  I don't know if they will understand or feel the same joy and satisfaction that I did in the making of it.  I love working with color, shape, and lines.  Even if I create something that is representational for me it is still mostly about the process.  The color relationships, the feel of the brush on canvas or paper, the energy of drawing and line work, or putting in place the last piece of a collage.  Then stepping back to take in the finished piece.  I am learning to be like Graham; fearless, free from self judgement, absorbed in the process, and happy with the finished work.

I am taking a giant leap of faith by becoming a full time artist but I feel that this is what I am supposed to be doing.  My mantra these days: Leap and the net will appear!

This weeks post: reflecting on the weekend's art show

This past weekend I drove from Grand Rapids to Saline Michigan where I participated in a group show.  My brother-in-law started inviting friends, neighbors, and community members to his first in home art show 50 years ago!  It has always taken place the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I haven't been able to attend them every year because of our life as a Marine Corps family. We attended when we could.  Through the years the topic of conversation before the show always included speculation about the weather.  In Michigan at that time of year one can always expect the unexpected.  Heavy, drifting snow, cars slipping and sliding up and down the hill to their house, rain, freezing rain, warm and sunny, and sometimes even several of those conditions in one day.  It is after all Michigan.  Some years the house would be bustling and overcrowded with guests and others a little more low key.  When Charlene and Taylor (my sister and brother-in-law) married the show included Char's art work.  Over the years other artists brought their work.  One could find watercolors, handmade baskets, homemade stools out of tree trunks, jewelry, Christmas ornaments, collages, and more.  There would be coffee made, plates of homemade cookies and sweet breads.  The children who were present loved that part the best. I took my work down this year and even sold a few things.  It was good to get feed back on my work.  The best part was sharing the 50th anniversary with my brother-in-law.  I met new people and saw old friends, some that I haven't seen for a long time.  I enjoyed connecting with the other artists.  It is always good to talk to other artists and hear how they are managing to make a living as an artist.  Most have other sources of income but not all.  All of the artists had one thing in common: an overwhelming desire/need to create. To allow their ideas to come to life and to share them with others is not always an easy thing to do.  And yet we do.  Today I rested and watched the cold rain outside my window.  Thankful that we had beautiful weather for the show.  Tomorrow I begin again but this afternoon I am thinking about all of the other artists who work alone. Who dare to share their creations. I wonder how many artists in Grand Rapids, right now, are looking out at the same bare branches and rain that I am. I wish them well.

St. Patrick's Day

Today Doug and I took Hugo to Shaggy Pines dog park.  We walked the loop through two fenced in grassy fields where dogs can run and play then through the wooded areas around the now fenced off and drained pond.  Hugo kept to the fence line sniffing the wonderful smells that were left by whatever creatures had recently passed through the adjacent woods and fields.  We walked the loop two times which totaled about two miles.  Blowing fiercely in our faces, the wind was brisk at points during our trek.  The sun was shining, the snow was melting, and the black Michigan earth was wet and muddy.  At the end of our walk Hugo spotted his friend, Forrester.  Like Hugo he was once a resident at Mackenzie's Animal Sanctuary.  They were there at different times but when they first met it was as though they were greeting a long lost friend.  They spotted each other across one of the fields and then ran like crazy towards one another.  Sniffing and wagging their tails so happy to see each other and then they began playing.  Each time they see each other it is the same.  It is a joy to watch.  After we said good-bye to Forrester we went into the club house to rinse the mud off of Hugo.  We ended up giving him a bath.  Hugo doesn't like getting a bath and it was a struggle to get him into the tub.  Once home our very shiny, clean, and minty smelling boy Hugo slept soundly.  I made a Tunisian cod soup for dinner that was deliciously warming.  Doug and I watched a little TV and so ends another weekend.