Art and the economy

My father told me a couple of weeks ago that he has no plans to cut back on his spending because he thinks spending is good for the economy. I’ve wondered about his words off and on ever since because practically everyone else I know has cut back.
When people tighten their belts, artists, writers, musicians, dancers and so on feel the pinch first. In a way it’s understandable because we tend to think of engaging in creative pursuits or buying their “products” as a luxury. But this makes life challenging if you’re a member of the clan.
At the moment I’m attempting to stockpile art for my show in the fall, so I haven’t been trying to sell anything. But I must admit I’m worried about what the economy will be like in October, and whether or not people will buy anything then.
One thing I can definitely say is that I am getting fewer writing projects from mainstream publications now. The number of magazines is declining, and those still publishing are opting for shorter articles. When you get paid by the word as I usually do, this is discouraging. Some magazines haven’t changed their rate for a decade, and others have even lowered it. There are also publishers who use what’s happening in the economy as an excuse to take advantage of freelancers.
Recently I received an email about writing a 500-word technical article that would have paid me $10. No, this isn’t a misprint. The editor’s thinking was that I could re-sell my writing. While I have done this in the past, it can take months of networking to find a new market, and editors naturally don’t want to pay you what you received for the original article.
When you’re dependent on freelance work and selling art for your financial survival like I am, it’s easy to feel fearful. But you have to work at overcoming this because it’s crucial to cultivate resilience. I decided yesterday that what I needed was an image to look at while I worked …an image that would remind me to stay positive and to be proactive—instead of focusing on the negative, as I’m prone to do.
I immediately thought of the angel wing I’d bought from Colette Copeland back in February and I put it right in front of my computer. Every time I looked at Colette’s creation today, I smiled. Engaging in this activity makes me feel much better than reading yet another depressing report about the state of the economy (and then dwelling on it).
Who says art is a luxury? In my opinion, I believe it’s a necessity.

Georgia O'Keeffe

If I had to pick a favorite flower, it would probably be the iris because it reminds me of Georgia O'Keeffe. She painted dozens of flowers from the iris to the poppy and lily, and what I love about her images is that she usually zoomed right into the most interesting part of the flower. In her own words: “I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could.”
I saw a documentary on O'Keeffe once and the most interesting part was the tour inside her studio. Before she began a new piece, all her brushes were chosen and her paints mixed in advance. I guess she must have taken Gustave Flaubert’s advice to heart. “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

What It Is

It’s been over a week since I posted here, which is probably the longest I’ve gone since I started blogging. To be honest, I’ve been in a creative rut for a while now, so it’s been hard to stay positive. When the way you’ve been doing things isn’t working, you can’t keep doing them and hope things will change anyway.
I hate feeling like this, but on the whole it’s proving to be a good thing. Sometimes you have to reach the bottom of the trough before you can become more buoyant and start making sense of it all.
In What It Is, cartoonist Lynda Barry writes about pursuing good drawing for 30 years and how all the joy went out of it for her. She finally realized that when she drew she was being held hostage by two questions: Is this good? And ... Does this suck?
A light bulb went off in my head when I read her words because I could see I’ve been doing the same thing myself and it’s been holding me back. (Does anyone ever get a positive answer to either of those questions, I wonder?)
Barry believes that focusing on images is an ideal way to break the mesmerism. Or as she describes it: “We’re not having the experience in order to make an image; we’re making an image in order to have an experience.” She doesn’t present you with recipes for making finished stuff though. Through provocative collages, illustrations, insights and exercises, What It Is encourages you to liberate your creativity by making it your own.
In my opinion, this is a must-have book for any artist or writer, whether you’re feeling blocked or need a push to go more deeply into your craft.

The Museum of Bad Art

I kind of like these two dog paintings—particularly the one on the right. They’re part of the permanent collection of MOBA (the Museum of Bad Art), which is located online and in the basement of two Boston-area movie theatres. All you have to do is buy a ticket to Slumdog Millionaire or Star Trek and you gain free entry to the latest exhibits.
Looking at all the paintings in MOBA’s online galleries, I couldn’t help wondering what the difference is between "outsider" and so-called "bad" art. Maybe Outsider Art is bad art that sells? In any case, my opinion is that art is art whatever the level of skill and number of sales.
To see a Canadian painting that’s part Of MOBA’s permanent collection, check out this article in today’s Toronto Star.

Happy Birthday Mum!

This is the memory box I decorated to hold all the cards, letters and photos my mother received today at her birthday party. Believe it or not, Mum just turned 90 and she is still driving, throwing dinner parties, playing bridge, going to the opera and her book club plus volunteering one day a week in the gift shop at her local hospital. I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the picture: she’s amazing. She does more at her age than I do at mine, and she does it with such style. I’ve decided that I want to be just like her when I finally grow up.

To Twitter or not to Twitter?

Remember when posting to your favorite Yahoo group was a big deal? Nowadays it’s hard to keep up with all the ways you’re supposed to communicate (and participate) online. It’s almost like having a full time job.
I have to admit I’m fascinated by people who Twitter and Tweet though. I mean, how do they remember to do it? And is anyone really interested?
It seems like they are. I read a newspaper article recently about Twitter, and the writer mentioned that his first post was: “Just ate half a sandwich.” Within a few moments over 50 people had tweeted back to say: “That’s great!”
I thought this was absolutely hilarious. I guess you can’t say much when you’re limited to 140 characters, but somehow I thought the whole process would be more haiku-like. For example:
Should I feed the dog?
No. I’m going to take a nap.
Oh, oh. Too late.
She read my mind.
However, I don’t think I’ll be setting up a Twitter account anytime soon. In my opinion, I do way too much thinking and obsessing about myself anyway, and it probably isn’t fair to drive my friends crazy with it too.

Back from Boston

I’ve been to Boston several times in the last ten years, and one of the things I love about the city is its architecture, especially the Victorian brownstones in the Back Bay area, and all the amazing churches like Trinity, Old South and The First Church of Christ, Scientist.
But I was tempted to title this post: Don’t Fly Delta because of the experience I had coming back. Have you ever heard of an airline moving your flight forward not once or twice but three times, and then notifying you by phone after you’d actually arrived at your destination? If my friend Jackie hadn’t warned me how unreliable Delta could be, I would never have checked.
Once I arrived at JFK in New York, I had to wait for eight and a half hours for my flight to Toronto. In addition to several delays, there was a security breach (Delta’s fault), which involved all of us being removed from the plane, and subjected to yet another security check including a full body pat down. When we were finally taken back to the plane, two people headed for Washington were put on our flight by mistake. Delta’s solution to all this? A mini bag of peanuts for everyone who had been “inconvenienced.” Next time I’m going Air Canada.

Beginnings

We all know there’s such a thing as writer’s block, but how about fear of starting a new journal? Actually, fear is probably the wrong word to use here because it’s more like the I might wreck it so I’ll wait until I know I can do something fabulous with it syndrome. In other words, you just keep putting it off until you’re feeling perfect, which as we all know is basically never. Enough of that, I thought to myself. I’ll just jump right in and do whatever. Whatever turned into a big question mark for me, so what else could I do but go with it?

Liberate Your Inner Writer

When Artful Blogging asked me to write an article for the Summer 2009 issue, I knew immediately that I wanted to do something about writing. When I first started my blog, I thought coming with interesting visuals would be the hard part. But as it turned out, my main challenge was writing entries.
Of course you can do what you want to when you blog, so I seriously considered dropping words altogether. And just when I thought I’d made up my mind to go this route, a huge snowstorm hit our area.
Now you’re probably wondering what a snowstorm has to do with all of this. Well, what happened was that I saw two of my neighbors leaning on their snow shovels deeply involved in conversation across the street. What was so interesting to them that they would stand around talking instead of shoveling, especially when the snow was coming down so heavily?
That’s when I realized that I had to keep writing. One picture may be worth a thousand words, but it’s good to hear (or read) at least some of them too. My article: Liberate Your Inner Writer covers a few of the ways I’ve found that make blog writing go easier for me, and, hopefully, for you.

The Lynne Perrella Experience

While I was looking at my photos from Artfest this afternoon, I realized that I hadn’t written a post about the workshop I’d taken with Lynne Perrella. But this probably has more to do with procrastination than oversight.
Over the years I’ve taken quite a few art classes. Most of them of them have been focused on incorporating new techniques into a finished project, so this kind of workshop is usually easier to write about. However, a show-and-tell really doesn’t do Lynne Perrella justice because she’s on a different wavelength entirely.
Even though Lynne shared plenty of techniques with us, what you take away from her is an experience rather than a how to. Personally, this is my favorite kind of class. I figure you can always pick up techniques from a book, and while you may not do them well, at least you have a starting point. But once you’re given a window into the mindset and practice of an artist you admire, you gain the kind of inspiration that stays with you long after the latest technique has galloped off into the sunset.
Lynne herself is an interesting mix of the controlled and the spontaneous. If I could describe her method of working, it would be that she has a definite way of proceeding, but will deviate from this in a heartbeat if takes her to where she wants to go. And where she’s always headed to is that place where she expresses herself best by staying engaged in the process.
Of course I went off on a tangent myself and didn’t finish the class project as usual (see a snippet above). In my opinion, another couple of days with Lynne would have been ideal. But it was the Artfest workshop I gained the most from, not only in terms of what I could do with my own art, but also how important it is to stay tuned into your own vision of things and to stick with it.
P.S. If you want to see more from Lynne Perrella’s class and other Artfest stuff, visit my friend Janne’s blog and check it out.

Self Portrait

This photo of me as a child was one of the first things I worked on when I started learning Photoshop. I rarely use images of myself because I find other people more interesting visually. But I like this picture because I can see my present self in it, albeit with no wrinkles!
Of course I know a lot more about Photoshop now than I did seven years ago. Still, I did manage to use the Threshold command properly and to add wings, But now that I understand about layers and digital painting, I had to color me up and put in a background.
If you would like to use the canning label, you can download it for free from the Graphic Fairy’s blog.

For Leslie

The April theme for our ATC group was music. Even though I couldn’t make the meeting on Friday night, I thought I’d join in digitally anyway.
While I do have a jukebox stamp that would have worked well here, somehow I kept thinking about this image—In a Garden: Corfu, painted by John Singer Sargent in 1909. When I finished my ATC, it immediately reminded me of Leslie, music muse and ardent reader …so girlfriend, this one is for you! (After all, there are few things more enjoyable in life than reading and listening to music, especially when you're doing them together).

Homage to Vegas

John was so intrigued by this mini Las Vegas sign that he had to make a video. It really made me laugh and I hope you do too. Just turn up your volume before you begin.
P.S. Yes, I did a little gambling and actually made five dollars!

Moo Challenge #49

One of the things I love about Photoshop is that I seem to be able to do it anytime, even when I’m feeling jet-lagged like I am right now. So—home is where the heart is—this week’s theme at Make a Moo or Two seemed tailor made to get me back into the swing of things creatively.
I decided I would do everything from scratch digitally, and as I was working (or rather: playing) away, I realized that it would probably be much easier to accomplish this in Illustrator, an Adobe program I basically know nothing about. Maybe one of these days I’ll give it a go, but somehow it makes more sense to build on what I already know instead of thinking that I need to learn something new in order to express myself.

Back to Reality

How can I describe the Las Vegas experience? I think the clichéd expression: What a trip! says it best. Where else can you take a helicopter journey into the primal majesty of the Grand Canyon, and then visit scaled down versions of Luxor, Paris, Venice and New York? Half of you longs to go on your own personal vision quest to the Grand Canyon or desert for several days. The rest of you can’t wait to load up on tacky key chain rings, mugs and T-Shirts emblazoned with the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas logo.
Emma and I had a wonderful time together. We visited as many over-the-top resorts and casinos as we could fit in, went to Cirque du Soleil, shopped (mainly window), relaxed by the pool and trekked out to Viva Las Vegas Stamps which has more rubber stamps than I’ve ever seen before in my life. Most of them are designed by the owner Stampo who takes his Bichon Frises and cats to work with him every day. Speaking of cats, there is a lion exhibit at the MGM Grand that we were fascinated by. And did you know that the Las Vegas area is the biggest producer of kitty litter in the world?
One night we went out to dinner with several of Emma’s friends who were in Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Then we drove down the strip in Mustang convertible (top down) and headed off to the top of The Palms—55 stories up—to go clubbing. I had a pretty good idea that I would be old enough to be everyone’s mother there, and I was right. Instead of it being a weird experience though, I actually had a lot of fun.
But the best part of Las Vegas was spending all that quality time with Emma. When you love someone, you can never get enough of her (or him). Thanks for the trip baby. It’s something I’ll never forget.

Off to Las Vegas

I don’t know whether or not I’ve mentioned this on Artopia Update before, but Emma gave me a trip to Las Vegas for Christmas, and the two of us are off first thing in the morning to fly to Sin City.
I am super excited about spending five days with Emma. We’re booked on a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon—something I’ve always wanted to do—and also visiting Viva Las Vegas Stamps and going to Cirque du Soleil.
It hardly took me any time to pack. All I did was open my suitcase and toss in a pile of clothes. Not like Artfest, that’s for sure. I even had time to do this week’s challenge at Make a Moo or Two, which is “eggs.” I love eggs because they seem to be full of possibilities to me.
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you here when I get back on Monday.

The Encaustic Class

Wax the Casbah was the only Artfest workshop where I managed to finish both of the in-class assignments (see above) …although the one on the right could use a little something extra now that I think about it.
I don’t know whether or not encaustic is something I’ll pursue because I’m sure you need way more than one day to get the hang of working with wax. I’ve never done anything with glass, but judging from what David says, wax is like glass in that you must adjust to it rather than it adjusting to you.
What I enjoyed most was the painting. I’d taken a full set of Claudine Hellmuth’s new Studio Paints with me, and as I hadn’t used them yet, I decided that I’d christen them at Artfest. I just love them!!! Nice and buttery with great coverage, and they really worked well with my set of Portfolio Oil Pastels.
Waxing the painting was more of a challenge. I tried a number transfer on the left hand piece but applied too much heat and it fragmented. When I asked Judy Wise what I could do to correct it, she laughed and said: “You’ll have to learn to love it.” I think this might be my new mantra …i.e. I’m going to love it anyway.

The Clayboard Class

I’ve never been very good at following verbal instructions when I’m taking a workshop. What often happens is that I hear (and see) what I’m supposed to do, then I immediately wonder how I can give things my own spin and go off on a tangent. I get so involved that I ignore what everyone else is doing (even the instructor), and I usually end up with something completely off base. That’s what happened here in the Clayboard workshop at Artfest, so I wasn’t very happy with what I “produced.”
Sometimes I think my main role in this kind of experience is to make everyone else feel better about what they’re doing! Not only was I the slowest person in this class, but I also failed to use most of the techniques that Mary Beth Shaw showed us—like how to mix colors—and I could certainly have benefited from that if I’d been paying more attention.
One thing I did notice was that I spend way more time on composition than other people do, instead of just going with the flow. While there are times when this works to my advantage, in this case, the means didn’t justify the end.
Martha told me that she always follows exactly what the instructor says so that she can pick up new techniques and use them properly. I just wish we’d had this discussion before Artfest instead of on the plane coming back.

I'm Back (sort of)

I don’t know about Martha, but I’ve felt wrecked all day. Our journey home started at 8 ‘o clock yesterday morning from Fort Worden, which is about 2 hours northwest of Seattle, and our plane landed at 11:30 last night. (I took the photo above from behind the dorm where I was staying just before we left). Although I never mind traveling on my own, it was certainly a lot more pleasurable sharing the experience with Martha. We gabbed, traded reading material, had takeout McDonald’s in Chicago and even took pictures of a mouse running around the terminal there.
Both of us had a fantastic time at Artfest. I know I enjoyed it even more this time than I did in 2006. Most of the anticipation I experienced beforehand revolved around the workshops I knew I’d be taking, but I’d forgotten how much fun it is socializing with so many like-minded people especially Brenda, Anita, Antoinette, Adriana and Tammy. There were serious discussions, hi-jinks and lots of laughter. One high point was meeting the poet Susan Wooldridge and getting to know her. Another was going to the journaling bonfire night on Thursday. I’ll post a couple of photos of what I did in the workshops and tell you more about them soon.

Artfest Bound

Well, I’m finally packed for Artfest and off at the crack of dawn. The picture on my blog today is on the front of the little booklets I’ll be trading with other people there. (This year’s theme is sea monsters).
I’m really looking forward to seeing Brenda and Martha, and participating in the three workshops I signed up for: Wax the Casbah with Judy Wise, Lynne Perrella’s A Face in the Crowd, and Spontaneous Intent Clayboard with Mary Beth Shaw.
I swore when I came back from Artfest last time that I wouldn’t do any painting classes if I went again because of all the supplies involved. But here I am with a truckload of paint ...even though Jeanne encouraged me to exercise restraint. Hopefully I’ll actually be able to finish something and then share it with you.
See you next Monday and have an artful week.
P.S. If you live in the Toronto area, don’t forget to visit the One of a Kind show to see Carmi's new fleet of book assemblages and cards. Check out her blog for pictures and more information.