New ideas

'The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones.' John Maynard Keynes.

How true that is. It is difficult for us to leave behind our old ideas because they are comfortable. Taking on new ideas means being uncomfortable for a while because we are learning to think differently. We can't just go by reflex. But when we have new information it is necessary to make sure that we look at it and modify what we might already think. 

In some ways it's like trying to escape the gravity of a planet - it takes a lot of energy. But we have to put that energy in if we want to continue to grow. Without growth we are stagnant, and who wants that?

Making a living or making a life.

They don't have to be mutually exclusive, but you have to work hard to make sure that the focus stays where it should be. 

And as I seem to be enjoying doing flowers at the moment, here is another bouquet for you. This one has tissue paper shapes for the flowers and the vase and some loose painted outlines. 

 

Bouquet

 

In a world where people are quick to hand out criticism, here is a bouquet for you. Just because.

Money and how to use it

 Money is like s**t - if you pile it up it stinks, but if you spread it around you can grow things. (Paraphrased from Question 7 by Richard Flanagan).

I love this analogy. Making your money work for good, for the benefit of others, is so much more fun - and rewarding - than just piling it up.  Sure, we need a certain amount to live on, but really, how much is enough? My own experience is that when we use our money to help others, there is still enough.

Obstacle, stepping stone, or hurdle?

 

When that thing pops up on your path, you need to ask yourself whether it's an obstacle, a stepping stone, or a hurdle.

Some things are there to stop us. There may be a way around them, but they stop us for a time and cause us to think and reevaluate. Maybe this isn't the path we need to be on. Maybe the way round will take us in a new direction that we hadn't thought of.

Some things that look like a bump in the road are actually a means to the next thing. They help us over difficult terrain, giving us some firm ground to move over.

Or maybe that thing in your way is a hurdle to sail over. It proves to you that you can do more than you think. 

Common courtesy

Is common courtesy too hard?

It seems like it might be for some people. I sent in two expressions of interest for exhibiting possibilities and received absolutely nothing in reply. Not even an email saying that my interest had been noted and they'd get back to anyone who was successful. These are people that are asking for artists to contact them, not people that I'm cold-calling. You would think it would be possible to at least acknowledge receipt of an email. I don't mind not making it into an exhibit - that's all part of the life of an artist - but the lack of response is disheartening and rude. 

So please, if you're dealing with artists - or anyone! - at least acknowledge emails. I don't need my ego stroked, but common courtesy would be nice. 

New framed work

 

So last week was incredibly busy with all the Easter services going on, plus the creative prep for them. I set up my blog posts for the week and let everything upload automatically, so my apologies for not visiting anyone's blog or replying to comments last week. I just needed to get on with doing my own stuff.

And this is one of the things that I did. It's on a plastic vinyl material that someone gave me a big roll of. I taped off the edges, gessoed it, and let loose with a brayer to start with, which is why there are some great textures that you can see in the close-ups below. 

I find myself doing lots of stripes at the moment, and particularly like the ones at the top of this piece where I dragged a mark-making tool through the black and into the pink and made an accidental notan. 

What new thing are you doing in your art at the moment?