7 posts tagged “art”

I haven't been updating much because I've been working in the studio every spare minute to get ready for my turn as the featured artist at the gallery where my work is.  I just finished setting up all my artwork in the window and everybody tells me it looks great.  Hopefully it will sell some jewelry and stuff. 

doing the work was pretty challenging because I was fighting the limitations of my body, particularly at the end when I was trying to steal time anywhere to get the work finished.  I found that I couldn't work the way I used to, where I would sit all day at the table dabbling in clay.  Now I can only sit at the table for a few hours and then I have to lie down or at least move to an easy chair.  If I wasn't using a special back chair (the kind you sort of kneel in) I wouldn't be able to do it at all.  The back chair gives me lots of mobility from my hips up, so I can turn and reach things without getting up or straining my upper body.

As I've been working I've been gradually cleaning out and organizing my studio so it is a better place to work.  I haven't really done much work in the studio in the last couple of years, so it is good to finally start getting use of the room for what we bought it for. (My studio is a FROG that we had to pay extra for...something my hubby reminds me of from time to time.

The big project I've been working on since September is finally finished.  The last of the artists have packed up and gone home.  It seems to have been pretty successful for everyone. 

I should feel relieved, but I'm so tired that it is hard to focus.  Yesterday I was a little depressed.  I've been the point of contact for all these artists for months, so my phone and email was busy all the time, especially the last few months.  Now the phone is quiet and the emails are infrequent.  There's always a letdown after the show is over, at least for me.

I will make myself look on the positive, though.  I will have more time to work on what I want to work on, without having to constantly feel that I am a week or more behind schedule.  (Well, that might not change....I'm still me.)  I have a feature coming up at a gallery that I'm in, so I need to make a lot more work and come up with a theme for my feature.  I'll take a couple of days to rest, and then I need to start working on that.  It will be fun to have my major job be working on my art for a change.  It doesn't pay as well, but there are other compensations.

2009show

2009showa

I hate it when meds don't work as they should.  I took a sleeping pill Saturday night because my fibro has been acting up.  I figured getting up every couple of hours during the night wasn't helping.  I woke up an hour or so after taking the pill and then overslept and missed my morning medicine.  That put me off kilter all day and I spend most of the day dosing in bed.  Not that I didn't need the rest, but what happened to Sunday?

In other news, one son is trying to set a world record in dragging out his homework assignments and another is getting ready to graduate from college and possibly move out. 

I'm up to my eyeballs in organizing the show again this year.  I wish I had more time to work on my own art, but this brings in some much-needed dollars that I couldn't guarantee by art sales in this economy.

Here's hoping you have a happy week!

Phase one of the big project is finished and I can take a break for a while.  I want to get to work on my art, but right now my body says "no!" 

I hope to get some preparations done on the computer while taking good care of my neck and hoping it will let up on my hands.  We're having a cold snap here (finally had to turn on the heat last night) and that isn't helping, I'm sure.

I have been studying some new techniques for polymer clay and I am eager to get busy on new designs.  I need to get back to work on my art for the sake of my sanity.  I miss it so much and I need to replenish the stock of items that I have sold. 

I had a creative project to work on this week.  I had the concept in my mind weeks ago and I just couldn't get started.  Finally, with my deadline approaching, I got the work done and it turned out great.  So why is it so hard to get to the creation phase?

My process for art and for writing is that I usually have to let ideas develop by mulling over them for a few days or longer.  Snatches of text or bits of image will flit trough my mind and then, when I'm ready, the creation process goes easily.  I just wish there wasn't so much delay between conception and completion.

When I was doing technical writing, I knew that I needed an inspiration to write and if I didn't find one and forced myself to write, everything I wrote would end up being scrapped when I finally did get inspired. Of course, I had to have done my research so that when the inspiration hit I had the facts at hand. The problem with that process is that it causes so much stress and drama as the deadlines approach.  Some people enjoy, even crave the drama, but I don't, at least not anymore.  I'm too limited in my work time to feel comfortable risking failure because inspiration didn't arrive in time.

What's the analogy of my old writing process with design work?  What can I do to get over the fear of the blank screen before me?  How can I get over my fear of failure and enjoy creating? 

I don't really have any answers to all these questions.  Just questions.  I need to get the answers and I'm sure they're out there somewhere.  I will just have to search them out.

What are five things that make you unique?
Submitted by RA<3TA.

my brain   My brain got me out of my small town and got me where I wanted to be most of the time.
my art      My art is a necessary outlet and allows me to express what words can't say
my attitude   Good or bad, it is all me
my history  Where I've been and what I've done has made me what I am, either because of it or in spite of it.
my legacy   My two wonderful sons, almost grown up.

I'm having very mixed feelings this morning for some unknown reason.  I feel hopeful about getting busy with some new jewelry techniques, but at the same time I feel a touch of sadness.  I can't identify the reason for the sadness at all.  I'm trying not to dwell on it.  Instead, I will concentrate on the happy anticipation of doing work I enjoy.

Overall I am OK, but I have been having vision problems that are associated with my medications.  The choice is easy--I'd rather take the meds and have some blurry vision from time to time than to live in constant pain the way I did before the meds.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm in constant pain, but the meds take it down to a level where I can deal with it most of the time.  The pain doesn't go away at all, it just  has to whisper and talk  instead of shouting.

I have to go to the dentist today.  I hope when I get back I have the energy to do some work.  I think that will cheer me up.