Days

 

The days follow on.

It's been a week since I last posted because I ended up working three days instead of one in the bookshop last week. Suddenly I had less time and the days flowed together, leaving me tired after all that 'peopling'. It made me realise why I don't want to work full-time. All the other things I do don't just disappear because I'm out of the house more. The washing still needs doing, I still have a bunch of admin stuff to do, and there is a lot less energy available when I get home. 

Sometimes it's good to get out of your normal routine just to realise that they way you live your life - in my case, slowly - is justified.

Company

 

Travelling together.

The three white marks on this page made me think of people walking. We walk through life with company. Not always the same people, but with companions nonetheless. Companions help us up when we fall, and we do the same for them. They provide sounding boards for ideas, help us to talk through problems, and we carry our burdens together. Some of our companions are lifelong - family, for example - or very long-term, such as a spouse or close friend. They know a lot about us and have walked through difficult times with us, as we with them. Others are only around for a season, but we walk alongside one another as long as we are on the same path. 

So how good a travelling companion are you?

Acorns

 

It still amazes me what massive things can grow from such small seeds.

This page started with some rings of avocado stone ink, and one of them looked like a tree to me. The colour led me to the red oxide paint that I spread across the middle of the page, and when I applied a sponge to wipe some off, for some reason it only came off in a more or less circular region. I added all the other elements and my eye kept being drawn to the 'gap'. It felt like a burrow, a small gap in the earth. It made me think of seeds buried, especially as there was already a tree on the page. 

The wonder of large plants growing from small seeds never leaves me. And it applies in other areas as well. Small ideas, small acts, an off-hand comment, they can all grow into something enormous and worthwhile. So don't dismiss them when they spark something in you.

Specialist

 

Specialist language. 

Many jobs have it. The acronyms, the phrases that are thrown about as if everyone who hears them knows exactly what you mean by them. And maybe they do in the office/lab/warehouse/courtroom etc., but when you use them in everyday conversation they don't mean anything. 

I guess I'm wrestling with my 'exhibition rationale'. I wrote something, and a friend turned it into 'art speak'. There are key words and phrases that make it sound more 'arty', but I wonder if it really helps people who are viewing the art to understand it better or not. And if not, who is the specialist language for? Is it to facilitate or to exclude?

Tangled

 

Tangled lives - we rarely live in straight lines.

Sometimes we move from A to B by the shortest route - the straight line - but often there are twists and turns, leaps and pauses. There are the chance crossings with others that provide a step up where we might otherwise have turned a different way, or taken longer to reach the same place. We make plans, but how often do they follow through exactly?

Straight lines might be neat, but the twists and turns are where we meet interesting people, where we meet the unexpected. They can be the biggest places of growth for us.

All the other parts of art

 

The other parts of art - the artist bio, the CV, the exhibition rationale. All those things that go into an expression of interest. As artists, we want to make art. But if we want others to see it, we need to learn about all the other parts of art. 

We need to learn how to express in words what we naturally put down in colour and shape and composition. We need to put ourselves forward where we would naturally hide behind what we make. 

I'm hoping that the more we do the other parts of art the easier it gets, but I'm not sure if that will be the case. 

Anyway, back to my exhibition rationale. It's only 300 words, but they're taking an awfully long time to craft. Let's hope all the work I'm putting in bears fruit. But if not, I'll at least have had some practice.  

Smell

 

Enjoying my sense of smell today - eucalyptus and the bakery.

Walking to work on Friday morning was one of those mornings where the eucalyptus trees were particularly fragrant. Then the yummy smells of the bakery wafted past. It's just a ten minute walk but I really enjoyed it and it set me up nicely for the day.

What smells make you happy?

The right time

 

Waiting for an opening.

It may not be the way most people do it, but I've painted my series and now I'm waiting for the right opportunity to exhibit. I'm hoping it will be for SALA (South Australian Living Artists) which takes place every August, but there may not be a venue. I'm waiting and praying and I know that the right opportunity will present itself at some point. Right now I need to be patient. The work is done, and although I could be impatient for a chance to show it all off, I'm not. I find that I'm content to wait for the right thing to come along. 

Each day

 

Take each day as it comes.

There's no point worrying about what might happen until it does, otherwise you're attempting to live a life that isn't yours. 

Yes, we all have low level stress about things, but we mustn't let worry about something that might never happen take over all our thoughts. When my husband goes out on his motorcycle I don't worry that he will be in an accident, because he could just as easily be killed walking down the road on the footpath. 

Life happens. Let's face it as it does, not in case it does.

Me time

 

Caring time out alone is essential.

Especially when you are as introverted as I am. 

Especially when you have visitors for the next four weeks.  

Then a six week gap and more visitors for another four weeks.

I love them, but these are the times when I really value my studio :)