Updating the art world, and all my watchers

I have been on a bit of a photography kick for a while, and done quite a lot. Not all of it has been macro, but much of it has. I have also started doing some drawings and such. I really need to get going on my website, but I am a little stuck on that. I have several designs, and multiple ideas, but just how to implement them is bum-fuzzling me to an extent I haven't found all the answers yet.

Well as for new photos, I am downloading them to the computer right now, and will have them posted in this message (or maybe a msg or two after to break it up so it isn't hard to read and flow - depends on how many actually work out as I hoped).

I am also writing this blog while I am working on several other projects.

The Carousel Horse (Spring) is just about ready. It has gone through several incarnations, but I am just about done to publish it in it's final state. Just a little more work on the fine details.

The Carousel Horses (Fall/Autumn, Winter, Summer) are in the planning stages, but as soon as I get Spring done I am going to start a new one. It's a toss up of whether it will be Winter, or Fall, but I have lots of great ideas! I hope to have all three of these done by the end of the month of April. I technically have until the end of May, but I REALLY want some down time to work on another project that this one sparked - a Carousel Horse for every month of the year, and tossing in an extra one for Birthdays.

I have some pencil drawings I have been working on. They are going well, but been tossed on the back burner for the Carousel Horses project(s). I will come back to them shortly.

You know, inspiration can come from so many places, one just has to be prepared to use the inspiration they have been handed. I have recently found some such inspiration, and will be creating a series of environmentally based pieces inspired by the art of another artist. (more information on this to come)

OK, so the photos have downloaded, and the ones that don't need cropping are going to be posted in the next msg because there are so many, but the ones that need cropping will be posted in a following msg, because I need time to do the work, and I am too excited to wait to post any of them for the others.

I do hope you enjoy my work.

Be the Energizer Bunny ...

And keep going and going and going.

Success is not a lack of failure, it is a lack of laziness. There are several ways to look at this.

1. Invention is 99% persperation and 1% inspiration. You have to sweat over something to make it worthwile and therefore to make it succeed.
2. The little engine that could. When you come to a mountain, keep telling yourself you can do it. Keep saying, "I know I can".
3. The tortise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race, but the speedy trend followers will burn out way too soon.
4. Practice makes perfect. You can't improve, learn, or experiment without time, effort, and eneregy.

So don't let the time investment run you off. Just go at it. Step by step. Keep moving, keep trying.

Also keep everything you do. It may inspire something new one day, AND you can see your improvement and successes.

Now, I am keeping this one short because it is important for you to take that first step and get out there and get working. Find something, do something, make something, just keep on doing it, or something different. Just don't get discouraged or stagnant.

Anything worth while is worth the effort!

Don't Meddle in the Affairs of Dragons...

For they think you are crunchy and taste good with catsup.

Well, I haven't posted here in a while, not because I forgot. OH no, I didn't forget. It is because I have been beating my head against the table screaming out my creative woes. I have been struggling and drowning in a problem.

I want to create a dragon. A very unique dragon. I see it in my head, but can't seem to figure out how to make the parts come together. So, I decided to make one of my own, building it up piece by piece, and then designing a pattern from that. Then the question was how to begin. OI! So many ideas running through my head and no real means to get them into the proper medium.

So I decided to work on an animal I knew better. An equine. Well, that is easier and harder in some respects. My real problem is how to handle the armature. I want it to be an artist doll (not a toy).

I am going to be building an armature, bulking it some with tape (probably floral to be honest, but we will see when I get that far), then further bulking with yarn, and finally ending with fabric being pinned to get a pattern onto the "model". The actual piece will be possibly (depending on my moments inspiration) glued, sewn, stuffed, trapuntoed (sp?), needle sculpted, gessoed, painted, etc. I really want to give a shot to oil pastels on the fabric structure!

If I can get a horse figured out, then I can move on to the dragon I have in mind.

I hope everyone would be interested to see the outcome as I work it through.

The horse is to be named "Cainwyn Cyra" and will be nicknamed if someone so desires "Cierrah". She is a fantasy creature being, you will understand when you start seeing her creation.

Seems I owe the blog some inspirational entries as well. Those will be on the way shortly.

Create your own success

Huge ideas don't always change the world. Little ideas are not always insignificant. Therefore, your idea does not have to be huge to change the world. Little ideas do that too!

Let’s take some very good examples from history.

Most people already know most of the history examples, but it is good to be reminded of them every so often to keep our perspective.

Hard to think of little slips of paper with glue on them as huge. However these little slips of paper changed the world (and likely the course of some businesses) once they came on the market. Post-it notes (and all the derivatives) trace their origins to a chemistry accident. Spencer Silver was searching for a super sticky adhesive, and well, we all know that though post-it notes hold, they are not permanent. Mr. Silver did not go any further with his “failure”, but he didn’t throw out the result either. Then a friend (Art Fry) and fellow 3M employee needed a non-permanent bookmark for his hymnal. He got together with Silver, and now they are both credited equally with the invention of Post-it notes. They didn’t do well in market tests the first time around, but two years later when they were released to the public they were a huge hit. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Not many people think of chewing gum as a big idea. However you would be hard pressed to say the inventor of chewing gum didn’t change the world. Chewing gum was developed from a failed attempt to make rubber bicycle tires, toys, masks, AND boots from the chicle from the Mexican sapodilla tree. Every experiment failed. Had Thomas Adams not tossed a spare piece into his mouth and start chewing on it in frustration he would not have known he enjoyed the taste. In short order he decided he could improve it by adding flavor. Not long after that, Adams opened the first chewing gum factory. Then in 1871 his gum began selling in drugstores for a penny a piece.

This was not the end of Thomas Adams ingenious ideas. Adams sold the gum under the name Adams Sons and Company with the slogan “Adams’ New York Gum No. 1 – Snapping and Stretching”. In 1888 his Tutti Frutti gum became the first gum sold in vending machines. They were located in the New York Subway. The firm was the most prosperous producer of gum by the end of the century. Further by 1899 Adams Sons and Company was a gum producing monopoly through a merger with the 6 largest competitors in the U.S. and Canada, and achieved great success as the maker of “Chicklets”.

Where would we be if Thomas Adams had tossed the remainder of his lot of chicle into the East River as he had originally planned before popping a surplus piece into his mouth?

Thomas Alva Edison, the greatest inventor of all time, had more than a few failures. For example, in the process of inventing his 1093 successful patented inventions for things like the lightbulb, the motion picture camera, and the phonograph, he also tried to make a successful run at building things out of cement. He started the Edison Portland Cement Co. to make things like pianos, cupboards (for his phonograph), and houses. Unfortunately the price of cement was too high, and these ideas never caught on. All was not lost though – his company was chosen to build Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

In his work to improve the electric light bulb (contrary to popular belief he did not invent it, instead he improved on a 50 or so year old idea that had been previously a failure for general home use), he had to invent at least 7 other patented items, refine them to “perfection” and pull them all together into his work. These were:

1. The parallel circuit
2. The durable bulb
3. Improved dynamo
4. Underground conductor network
5. Constant voltage devices
6. Safety fuses / insulation materials
7. Sockets with on/off switches

He didn’t let these stumbling blocks or any of the failures as he invented each stage along the way knock him off course. Instead he kept steady, focused, and inspired.

As a race we tend to be impressed by those we have never met. We put them on pedestals, think their life must be grand, and wish we were more like them. Movie stars, authors, artists, business people, athletes, musicians, etc. all have the same struggles, the same challenges, the same fears, the same vices we do. If we don’t make ourselves our own heroes then we are putting our energy, our minds, and our respect in the wrong place. Who is going to respect us, if we don’t first respect ourselves? We have to be the first one in line, tooting our own horn.

Besides, most of the people we are putting up there in a deity spot don’t deserve to be there. Pro-athletes do drugs, drink, commit crimes, and generally tend to think they are above the laws, as do the Hollywood bunch. Why? The answer is pure and simple, because we allow them to. When they do something wrong we give them a slap on the wrist, tell them not to do it again, and the value of their name, merchandise and image goes up. Authors, artists, musicians, etc. live lives that seem to be riddled with so much pain that they tend to (once again) turn to drugs, alcohol, crime, and the same follows through. The more tortured they want you to think they are the more self-detrimental activities they get into. Why would we want to immolate that?

In order to be anything that is your source of happiness, it does not take drugs, alcohol, crime, or a tortured soul. It takes standing up for something you have a passion in. Stand up for your self. Invent yourself. Make you what you want to revere. That is the true success.

Pick your happiness, visualize it, and do everything you can to bring it to fruition. Make it your reality, or someone will make your reality for you.

Edison is quoted as saying “I haven’t failed, I have found 10,000 ways that did not work.”

What can we glean from these examples? Never throw out a non-success. You never know where it might lead you next!

Ignoring and Ignorance

Don’t let people tell you whether you are good or not at what you want to do. There are many reasons why this is not only unnecessary, but also detrimental. No one has your best interests at heart, no matter what they say, who they are, or how much they love you. They are looking out for their number one (them) and you need to do the same (you). People who have no vested interest in you have exactly that, and may as well be talking from their foot (or some other part of the body), because they have no clue about you, your talent, your interest, your viability at whatever it is you do, will do, want to do, can do, or dream of.

Stand on your own two feet. Be your own person; be willing to make a difference. Then and only then will you know if you are good at what you do or not.

Don’t let the fear of failure cause you to fail. Those who can’t find the courage to take even a baby step will never know the happiness, joy, and freedom it can provide. True failure is caused by inaction. Anything else is a learning experience, a trial run, an attempt, but never a failure. You cannot fail if you at least try.

All of us have mountains we have to summit. Think about how you want to feel when you take your last breath. Do you want to feel accomplished, strong, confident, determined, and unique? Do you want to feel weak, timid, scared, and tied to the grindstone of life, just taking whatever gets handed to you whether it is on a silver platter or a rock covered in moss? I want the former, and I think you do too. So regardless of what may come down the road, find an inspiration, chart a path to get there, and go. Just put one foot in front of the other, and keep moving in the same direction. If something happens to throw you off track, pick yourself up, re-orient, and keep on moving. Otherwise you can’t get back on that track that you want.This applies to everyone, regardless of what your goal.

If you want to be a wealthy business person, an artist, an accountant, a bum, a college graduate, a high school graduate, anything, you must chart a path, and stick to it, and not be thrown off by the hiccups along the road. It isn’t always paved in asphalt and smooth as glass. There are areas, sometimes pothole riddled, gravel, dirt, or even barely a trail that keep it from being easy. Maybe you are going to be the trailblazer. Just keep your eyes on the compass, keep your head about you, and keep moving. Once you stand still, your dead (metaphorically speaking) because if you are on a smooth sheet of asphalt there are a lot of high speed vehicles coming your way, and if you are a trailblazer "there are predators in them there woods".

This is not to say constructive criticisms should be ignored. We all have things we can learn and assimilate, but if something isn’t your style, don’t be bothered by it. Speak in your own voice, but you don’t ALWAYS have to reinvent the wheel.

I have a painting I did which I named Miss Interpretation. You can see it to the left. You will notice there are a lot of strong garish colors. This piece was some while I was earning my Bachelor of Art degree in Visual Arts from TWU. This piece was done as a color study, and teaching myself to do figure integrated landscapes. (Can you see the woman lying on her back making the hills behind the three women in red?)

I then wanted to do a piece that was of a woman dancing, and I wanted it to be rising out of a campfire flame. Well at this stage in my education I was subjected to the requirement of having my professor approve everything I wanted to paint before I was able to paint it. I showed her a sketch of the piece, which didn't really do it justice as it was more of shorthand for myself and she refused to let me paint it. She said it looked like a "pre-pubescent male's wet dream". She hauled me down to the West Gallery where this piece was hanging for judging in the Voertman's Juried Art Show, and said I needed to do paintings like this that made statements. I corrected her saying that piece was nothing more than a color study and trying to work out problems with making figure integrated landscapes. She said I should never tell anyone that, and I should say instead that this is a piece that makes a comment about women and their rise to power in society. How they were treated like property (the horse), then seen as background props (the landscape, and have to live hiding themselves from the world (the woman wrapped up in the strange burke looking thing), and now have their own property, their own space, their own existence (the woman in the front with the pot).

I wasn't as strong then as I am now. If I had been I would have painted the painting anyway. Instead, I just renamed the piece to the name it has today "Miss Interpretation" which carries with it ALL the history in the piece.

I will paint my painting one-day, maybe soon. It may be the best seller I have. It may not. I may end up with women angry with me. I may end up with men angry with me. I don't care. I want to paint it, and I will paint it.

You have to learn to tell the difference between constructive helpful words and negative hateful words (no matter how sweet and innocent they may sound). Every time someone says you should or shouldn't do what you want, or should change what you have, will, or want to do think about what they are saying. Examine it closely. If it doesn't fit your plans, throw it aside. If it is something that you want help with, have questions about, or are not happy with, take it with a grain of salt. If you know your hands are not right for the proportions of your figures and you want to get better, and someone points out that they are too small, or you have too many joints, or what ever, take it and learn from it. If the way your hands are drawn, sculpted, painted, or designed are done that way for a reason, and you WANT them that way - screw the rest of the world and their opinions. No one is exactly like another, and we all have the right to artistic license.

Ignore the ignorance lest you become ignorant!

Why/How/Where/When

I don't claim to know all there is to know about everything in the creative field. However, I do claim to have some amount of grasp (as tiny as it may be or seem) on the way I am creative. Generally, my creativity comes in a small, slow, steady stream that is encouraged forward in similar to the way gravity forces water to run downhill. It just kind of happens all the time and as long as I am open to the ideas and the possibilities, I can dip into it, just as though I were ridding lazily in a canoe on some lazy river and I just lean over and touch the water. Every once in a while, I get into creative fits, and instead of being like a lazy stream it is more like Niagara Falls or Victoria Falls, as evidenced by my recent hiatus. I can’t do anything but create, think, note, draw, paint, sculpt, tinker, etc. These don’t come often, which is a good thing, because I tend to forget to eat, sleep, clean, cook, let the dogs out (which is why they now have a dog door), or anything. I get tunnel vision.
Well, during my latest creative fit (which is what I refer to them as), I stumbled across another blog while I was looking for research on how to tackle a problem I had stumbled across. The person who wrote this blog had a very unique perspective on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which unknowingly I have been trying to live by all my conscious life. I was very impressed by what they had to say, and I decided that just in case anyone was curious about my viewpoint I would post a series of blogs regarding the subject. You can take or leave them as you wish, but I think they are worth reading.