Tis the NEW YEAR!!!
Jan. 1st, 2003 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avadYappy New Year to all!
Back from visiting La Familia for Xmas in Florida....back to my home sweet home...
My love has hurt his back ,:( ,Badly, and so we spent New Years Eve in relaxed solitude, foregoing the festivities and instead....some TLC, ice packs, heating pad and BOOKS!
On the drive back from the airport we had made a pitstop at Borders (yes, my FAVORITE) and indulged with the help of gift certificates we received from my family (they KNOW!). I bought Richard Dawkin's 'The Selfish Gene' and he bought 'Vital Signs 2002- by The Worldwatch Institute' and a calendar of maps of the Ancient World. yay. sipped on a latte, intoxicated my eyes with browsing through Phaidon's 'Heaven and Earth'- a book high on my most covetted list- gorgeous images from microscopic to satellite to Hubble... *sigh* just ridiculously beautiful and inspiring.
Also picked up a CD: Heather Nova's 'Oyster' which I only had on a dub tape for so many years and love to sing my heart out with.
So, this New Year brought with it a very important change. My safety net is gone. The job I've had for about eight years now, every year, half the year...is gone. The store closed down. Period. Finito. And it's funny because every year I've wondered if I'm ready yet to let go of it...to really trust in myself and be a full-time artist. Yet I kept going back...year after year. An artist friend of mine always taunted me, "So did you quit yet? When are you going to do it? You'll never make the next step until you quit that job and dedicate yourself full-time! You can do it!" and I would hem and haw,not feeling ready to give up the steady income, but loving his confidence in me and feeling that yes he was right. And I just watched happily as my art career seemed to rise steadily and slowly while I went about things at my very slow pace.
And now it seems life got impatient and threw me out of my nest. Fly, damnit, you overgrown bird! What the hell are you waiting for? You've got fifty journals full of ideas for artworks, enough inspiration for an army of artists. Get to work! Get organized and express this stuff already!
I do feel so lucky and blessed, knowing this is IT, this is what I'm meant to do- at least part of it anyway- I've got other ideas as well but they seem to be born along with the artwork.
SO I'm starting the new year in full swing, working hard on the art downstairs, hammering and taking breaks...creating a new and intricate and dense weave of nails.....
I'm going to buy some more materials tomorrow so I can feel freer about starting another piece (right now too many ideas are competing for the one piece of blank wood that's prepared and waiting).
It's scary and exciting. Full-time artist. No safety net. No steady income. But it's time to do it. And see what happens.Whoohoo!. And all the while, keeping up with my 10% vow. So as I grow I help others grow. 10% to the peace corps volunteer projects, things I really believe in and love contributing to. Building schools, libraries.... I've got all these projects taped up on the fridge. And if my own lack of a steady income is not motivating me enough to get down to the studio and work, these things are. And that is what my New Year is about! :)
Back from visiting La Familia for Xmas in Florida....back to my home sweet home...
My love has hurt his back ,:( ,Badly, and so we spent New Years Eve in relaxed solitude, foregoing the festivities and instead....some TLC, ice packs, heating pad and BOOKS!
On the drive back from the airport we had made a pitstop at Borders (yes, my FAVORITE) and indulged with the help of gift certificates we received from my family (they KNOW!). I bought Richard Dawkin's 'The Selfish Gene' and he bought 'Vital Signs 2002- by The Worldwatch Institute' and a calendar of maps of the Ancient World. yay. sipped on a latte, intoxicated my eyes with browsing through Phaidon's 'Heaven and Earth'- a book high on my most covetted list- gorgeous images from microscopic to satellite to Hubble... *sigh* just ridiculously beautiful and inspiring.
Also picked up a CD: Heather Nova's 'Oyster' which I only had on a dub tape for so many years and love to sing my heart out with.
So, this New Year brought with it a very important change. My safety net is gone. The job I've had for about eight years now, every year, half the year...is gone. The store closed down. Period. Finito. And it's funny because every year I've wondered if I'm ready yet to let go of it...to really trust in myself and be a full-time artist. Yet I kept going back...year after year. An artist friend of mine always taunted me, "So did you quit yet? When are you going to do it? You'll never make the next step until you quit that job and dedicate yourself full-time! You can do it!" and I would hem and haw,not feeling ready to give up the steady income, but loving his confidence in me and feeling that yes he was right. And I just watched happily as my art career seemed to rise steadily and slowly while I went about things at my very slow pace.
And now it seems life got impatient and threw me out of my nest. Fly, damnit, you overgrown bird! What the hell are you waiting for? You've got fifty journals full of ideas for artworks, enough inspiration for an army of artists. Get to work! Get organized and express this stuff already!
I do feel so lucky and blessed, knowing this is IT, this is what I'm meant to do- at least part of it anyway- I've got other ideas as well but they seem to be born along with the artwork.
SO I'm starting the new year in full swing, working hard on the art downstairs, hammering and taking breaks...creating a new and intricate and dense weave of nails.....
I'm going to buy some more materials tomorrow so I can feel freer about starting another piece (right now too many ideas are competing for the one piece of blank wood that's prepared and waiting).
It's scary and exciting. Full-time artist. No safety net. No steady income. But it's time to do it. And see what happens.Whoohoo!. And all the while, keeping up with my 10% vow. So as I grow I help others grow. 10% to the peace corps volunteer projects, things I really believe in and love contributing to. Building schools, libraries.... I've got all these projects taped up on the fridge. And if my own lack of a steady income is not motivating me enough to get down to the studio and work, these things are. And that is what my New Year is about! :)
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no subject
Date: 2003-01-01 10:31 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-01-02 10:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-01-02 06:04 am (UTC)Good luck with being a full time artist; of course the fear factor will be there but it will be a wonderful opportunity to realise all your ideas!
Re:
Date: 2003-01-02 10:32 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-01-09 03:57 pm (UTC)It's nice to see the work in person because it's quite tactile and 3-dimensional which is hard to really appreciate in pics. If you'd like I can add you to my e-mail or regular mailing list and let you know when I have exhibitions and where and hey, you never know, one day you might be around? Or I might show closer to you.
As for the last question, yes, I'm pretty lucky in that I've been selling a lot of the pieces. I've never supported myself completely on that and that's why I'm both excited and nervous about my stable (part-year)job ending. But I've been having a lot of interest in my art lately and I think with the extra time I can now really produce more pieces and try to show in more places. :)
Re:
Date: 2003-01-09 09:27 pm (UTC)I'm working on putting together a real site- but it will probably be quite a while before it happens. But for now, this 'online portfolio' gives a pretty good sampling of my work. Let me know what you think! :)
Re:
Date: 2003-01-11 10:32 am (UTC)By the way, I checked out your site and your boyfriend's site (both very cool) and left you both e-mails from there- did you guys get 'em?
peace.