SA LA LA Land!

It is real!

A couple of months ago I was complaining that several expressions of interest that I had sent off received no response whatsoever. One, though, did get back to me, and is about to come to fruition on Tuesday July 30th. Each August Adelaide is host to the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA). This year I will be exhibiting my Storms of Life series alongside 24 other artists in the Adelaide CBD. The exhibition will be called SA LA LA Land, and the venue is ARTHUR, a not for profit venue in an old art deco building. It is a bar and a music venue most of the time, but is turned into an art gallery for August, with paintings, sculpture, and installations in a series of rooms upstairs and downstairs.

It didn't feel real until I dropped off my canvases this morning and saw the wall they will be displayed on. I'll be taking photos at the opening night on Tuesday, so look out for that post :)

Your fire

Don't let anyone put out your fire.

We all like to weigh in with our opinions. We might not like to admit it, but it's true. However, we need to be careful in what we say, because it is easy to steal someone's joy and put out their fire. And on the other end, I've had times where someone has said something to me and I could feel something inside me shrivel up and die. 

So watch your own words, and don't take the words of others too much to heart.

Not tidy

Life is not neat and tidy. 

And neither is this page! But for some reason I love the messy swirls and the drips. The untidiness of life can be what gives it flavour as we randomly meet up with people as we walk in our neighbourhood and maybe stop for a coffee or hot chocolate together. Those unexpected meetings; the path that goes in a slightly different direction from the one you expected; the promotion you didn't get but you end up enjoying a new job even more - things don't always slot together as we expect, but we need to embrace the drips and messy swirls of life. Who knows, they may be way more interesting than what we had planned.

Aiming

What are you aiming for?

Aim: to point or direct at a target; have the intention of achieving.

What's your target, and what do you want to achieve? Once you know your target, you can aim in the right direction. Without the target, you can practice, but you won't make any useful progress because you'll be making a scattershot approach. Once you're aiming in the right direction, you can hone your skill with practice. When all your arrows are going in the same direction, you can improve and also map any tiny amount of progress. Being able to see progress helps us to keep at it.

When it doesn't work out

 

Sometimes it just doesn't come together.

This page just wouldn't come together for me, so I drew some leaves on it and called it done. The great thing about journalling is that you just turn the page and start again. A lot of things in life are salvageable in one way or another if we have the right attitude. Most of the time it's not a complete disaster once we get over the shock/disappointment/dismay.

Different styles

 

Different styles can clash.  Not just artistically, but if you, like me, are a planner, and you have to work with someone who wings it at the last minute, it can be stressful. 

That's how it is with a project I'm working on at the moment. The person who is last minute is the one who set up the project. I have no power to change anything in this particular situation, so I'm taking deep breaths and letting it wash over me. If the project doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world. 

So tired

So tired of all the violence. 

Attacks on schools. Attacks in shopping centres. Domestic violence. And that's before we even think of the wars that are happening, both civil and international. It makes the soul sad. 

All the colours

Let all your colours shine!

Your own way

Do it your own way.

We've been looking a little at the life of David at church in the last few weeks. The famous fight with Goliath inspired this page. David is dressed in Saul's armour, because that's how soldiers fight, right? But David is a shepherd, not a soldier, and Saul is head and shoulders taller than David. The armour doesn't fit, and David simply isn't used to wearing it anyway. Neither does he know how to wield a sword.

So David does it his own way, with a sling and a stone.

How often do we try to do whatever it is we're doing in a way that someone else tells us is 'right'? Really we need to be like David and know what works for us, what we are comfortable and practiced with. Of course there are times where we need to learn new things and not stubbornly stick to old ways, but let's apply some wisdom.

Breathe

Breathe in the pauses.

This page has two 'storms' with a golden space between, and made me think about how things sometimes seem to come in quick succession. We need to make sure we take the time to breathe in the pauses. Taking time to catch your breath is so important, especially when things seem out of control. Those few seconds of pause can make all the difference.