Monday, March 28, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Deadlines
Deadlines
Sometimes it feels like the only way I will get a project completed is if I'm working against a deadline. Otherwise my projects have the tendency to start and become abandoned due to picking up other projects. My stress increases as I notice the piling up of abandoned projects cluttering my studio and I feel I’m not a working artist anymore but rather a procreating artist.
One of my friends gave me a suggestion when I told her about my frustration over incomplete projects and she told me to get into the studio every day even if it means neglecting household chores. As much as I'd like to forget I have dirty dishes crusting up in the sink or the presence of my vacuum needing to get those cobwebs down, I cannot disregard my home. Hiring a cleaning service is not an option either as it's my responsibility to respect my dusty home.
Speaking of responsibility and the idea of this post, deadlines, I need to be accountable for my artistic progress even if it means losing a few hours of sleep. I have access to competition listings/call for entries yet every time I look at them, I freeze resulting in stalling my art down to a halt. With admission of my fear of deadline now out, it is my intention to create a deadline each week and this deadlines must be a completed project of some kind, something tangible, something I can be proud of to say, "Why yes, I did make this!"
I should not be afraid of deadlines as I need to embrace them for the creative productivity will be the result. Instead of working against a deadline, I need to work with it and I know I will be a happier artist (still stressed but happy to be productive).
Sometimes it feels like the only way I will get a project completed is if I'm working against a deadline. Otherwise my projects have the tendency to start and become abandoned due to picking up other projects. My stress increases as I notice the piling up of abandoned projects cluttering my studio and I feel I’m not a working artist anymore but rather a procreating artist.
One of my friends gave me a suggestion when I told her about my frustration over incomplete projects and she told me to get into the studio every day even if it means neglecting household chores. As much as I'd like to forget I have dirty dishes crusting up in the sink or the presence of my vacuum needing to get those cobwebs down, I cannot disregard my home. Hiring a cleaning service is not an option either as it's my responsibility to respect my dusty home.
Speaking of responsibility and the idea of this post, deadlines, I need to be accountable for my artistic progress even if it means losing a few hours of sleep. I have access to competition listings/call for entries yet every time I look at them, I freeze resulting in stalling my art down to a halt. With admission of my fear of deadline now out, it is my intention to create a deadline each week and this deadlines must be a completed project of some kind, something tangible, something I can be proud of to say, "Why yes, I did make this!"
I should not be afraid of deadlines as I need to embrace them for the creative productivity will be the result. Instead of working against a deadline, I need to work with it and I know I will be a happier artist (still stressed but happy to be productive).
Monday, March 21, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Recognizing Passion
Over the years I’ve experienced many highs and lows in my art process and through the numerous lows, I still find the passion to get out of my frustrating artistic sinkhole and find my art nirvana. The passion is found in the journey, the discoveries, and even the eye-opening tribulations which then influence me to another path and another way out of a dead-end project.
I was at a conference the other day and the key-note speaker suggested we can’t plan our destination because we need to experience each step in life to find where we are supposed to go to find our success. One door will open another and though artists often find themselves opening a door just to see a brick wall, it’s what some call a “character builder” but I see it as an opportunity to explore elsewhere.
At first glance, I thought it was odd to capture a series of pepper photos but Edward Weston followed his passion, perhaps after visiting a farmers market and coming across a table of odd looking vegetables, and discovered the possibilities. Weston found the inner excitement and explored the lines and shapes we take for granted each day though his camera lens. Artists need to be constantly exploring the joys as well as miseries of creative discovery and I keep a journal for all of my passionate musings (and unfortunate failings).
What about the suffering artist? I’ve had many tribulations over the years that allowed me to understand my limitations for example I know I cannot draw. My crude scratchings don’t even look like they were done deliberately messy and lacking all sense of proportion and I’m fine with that as I am focused on my talents and leave the drawing abilities to others who deserve my amazement. My greatest tribulation I have yet to conquer is time management as this stress not only affects my output but also my emotional well-being in finishing a project.
So whether an artist seeks a workshop to find or maintain the artistic passion, it’s well deserved for the creative soul. Even if the artist takes a few vacation days from a non-artsy job, it is the desire of every artist, including myself, to refresh the stale enthusiasm of her art. I didn't know it was such a cliched saying but back in high school my health teacher stressed this thought and it's been stuck in my head ever since then to guide me in life:
Success is a journey, not a destination.
Here is another favorite quote I keep in my purse:
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the close door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. ~ Alexander Graham Bell.
I was at a conference the other day and the key-note speaker suggested we can’t plan our destination because we need to experience each step in life to find where we are supposed to go to find our success. One door will open another and though artists often find themselves opening a door just to see a brick wall, it’s what some call a “character builder” but I see it as an opportunity to explore elsewhere.
At first glance, I thought it was odd to capture a series of pepper photos but Edward Weston followed his passion, perhaps after visiting a farmers market and coming across a table of odd looking vegetables, and discovered the possibilities. Weston found the inner excitement and explored the lines and shapes we take for granted each day though his camera lens. Artists need to be constantly exploring the joys as well as miseries of creative discovery and I keep a journal for all of my passionate musings (and unfortunate failings).
What about the suffering artist? I’ve had many tribulations over the years that allowed me to understand my limitations for example I know I cannot draw. My crude scratchings don’t even look like they were done deliberately messy and lacking all sense of proportion and I’m fine with that as I am focused on my talents and leave the drawing abilities to others who deserve my amazement. My greatest tribulation I have yet to conquer is time management as this stress not only affects my output but also my emotional well-being in finishing a project.
So whether an artist seeks a workshop to find or maintain the artistic passion, it’s well deserved for the creative soul. Even if the artist takes a few vacation days from a non-artsy job, it is the desire of every artist, including myself, to refresh the stale enthusiasm of her art. I didn't know it was such a cliched saying but back in high school my health teacher stressed this thought and it's been stuck in my head ever since then to guide me in life:
Success is a journey, not a destination.
Here is another favorite quote I keep in my purse:
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the close door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. ~ Alexander Graham Bell.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Technology vs. Centuries of Craft
The recent technology engulfing bibliophiles are the electronic readers. Whether it’s the Nook, the Kindle, the iPad, or any other electronic creation, these devices are the future and this has made the physical book appear antiquated and clumsy.
I am a proponent of books as well as advancing technology but somehow these two should not be married, let them be good friends instead. I am a bookmaker and I love to make blank journals not only for the accomplishment of going through the techniques in its creation but also for the possibilities of filing the pages with creativity and inspiring thoughts. As I write this passage on the computer, the sense of achieving a thought-provoking post is limited by the typeface I choose. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of creating my own typeface with my hand on paper with the well-chosen inked or graphite instrument. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the feel of the hand cramp of quickly jotting down a great idea before it ventures off into the Land of Incoherent Sentences.
The texture and smell of a book, unless it’s that horrible moldy stench, is a thrill to my senses. The weight and construction of a book are tactile qualities a slab of plastic cannot match. The heft of a collection of stories by Douglas Adams can prepare a reader for a lengthy adventure while the “Art and Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland, highly recommended to all artists, has an entirely different feel. I thought the 122 pages of Bayles and Orland would be a quick read but as I began to make notes in the margins and add my favorite inspiring quotes between chapters, the skinny book became larger than its shell. I love how books can change my expectation - and besides, making notes in an e-reader? Maybe that function will be in a next generation upgrade as well as the ability for authors to handwrite a personal dedication and sign their books… no, I don’t think an upgrade can adjust for this book personalization.
As I mentioned before, I am a bookmaker, a term usually needing explanation to some and it seems the more I need to explain, the more I think the bookmaker is becoming a lost artistic trade in society. I make the book fabric, the paper for the inside covers, design the text layout, print the pages, and bind everything together with a needle and thread. I used to think my craft was being overwhelmed by the factory glued spines and flimsy covers but now it is the e-readers that are pushing the traditional bookmaker into an abandoned corner.
I am a proponent of books as well as advancing technology but somehow these two should not be married, let them be good friends instead. I am a bookmaker and I love to make blank journals not only for the accomplishment of going through the techniques in its creation but also for the possibilities of filing the pages with creativity and inspiring thoughts. As I write this passage on the computer, the sense of achieving a thought-provoking post is limited by the typeface I choose. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of creating my own typeface with my hand on paper with the well-chosen inked or graphite instrument. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the feel of the hand cramp of quickly jotting down a great idea before it ventures off into the Land of Incoherent Sentences.
The texture and smell of a book, unless it’s that horrible moldy stench, is a thrill to my senses. The weight and construction of a book are tactile qualities a slab of plastic cannot match. The heft of a collection of stories by Douglas Adams can prepare a reader for a lengthy adventure while the “Art and Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland, highly recommended to all artists, has an entirely different feel. I thought the 122 pages of Bayles and Orland would be a quick read but as I began to make notes in the margins and add my favorite inspiring quotes between chapters, the skinny book became larger than its shell. I love how books can change my expectation - and besides, making notes in an e-reader? Maybe that function will be in a next generation upgrade as well as the ability for authors to handwrite a personal dedication and sign their books… no, I don’t think an upgrade can adjust for this book personalization.
As I mentioned before, I am a bookmaker, a term usually needing explanation to some and it seems the more I need to explain, the more I think the bookmaker is becoming a lost artistic trade in society. I make the book fabric, the paper for the inside covers, design the text layout, print the pages, and bind everything together with a needle and thread. I used to think my craft was being overwhelmed by the factory glued spines and flimsy covers but now it is the e-readers that are pushing the traditional bookmaker into an abandoned corner.
Monday, March 7, 2011
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