Le Temps Perdu

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Art, inspiration, woodblock prints, works in progress, process, overcoming obstacles, personal history, lost time, productivity

Recently an art colleague commented on how productive I am in my studio practice. It’s true that I do get a lot of work done. But it’s also true that this is a fairly recent phenomenon. I sometimes think about this and lament about all the time I spent in the past doing other things. Why didn’t I always get this much work done?

The way this question usually presents itself to me is in the form of self-criticism accompanied by lots of (usually metaphoric) head-slapping. Geez, I’d be so good at this if I’d always worked so hard. Why was I so lazy/distracted/misguided for so long?

I’ll never get any of that time back.

This is true of the hours I wasted on stupid tv programs and bad novels.

It’s true of the time I spent waiting for a bus, standing on lines at the supermarket, and driving in traffic.

It’s true of the time I spent trying to impress people who didn’t really care about me, trying to fit in where I’d never be likely to belong.

…sigh…

But it turns out that those aren’t really the reasons I wasn’t as productive in my twenties and thirties as I am now. After all, I still sit in traffic and watch stupid tv shows and read bad novels.

I think the main reason I didn’t get as much work done when I was younger is that I had to use so much creative energy trying to get my life going. We all have to. It takes work to find a partner, have a child, set up a household. It’s a big investment of energy over a lot of years to find a rhythm of life that lets you work and lets your family function around you.

So I wasn’t wasting time…I was preparing the ground. That’s what we were all doing.

So no more head-slapping (about le temps perdu anyway). Productivity now happens because of all the other stuff that happened first.

Good to know.

sometimes it all comes together

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Art, creativity, inspiration, portfolio, printmaking, Seattle print arts, studio, woodblock prints, works in progress

Don’t you love it when you work hard all week unsure how it’s all going and then on Friday, like magic, it all comes together? I just love that!

I was finally able to start printing my chandelier series. So exciting. I printed the first chandelier on white and also on a silver ground. The silver was hard to photograph so you’ll have to take my word that it turned out well. The metallic ink was a little hard to work with but it looks so cool that I think it’s worth mastering. Also, purple dresses! It was a good week in the print shop.

And I worked on some new pieces as well:

Oh, and if you are in or near downtown Seattle on Sunday please come by the Seattle Print Arts Portfolio Show. There will be 25 of us there with our print portfolios ready to show work, talk about printmaking and swap art tips. Work will be for sale. The show is in SODO at 1941 First Avenue S., Seattle (1/2 block south of S. Holgate). Do stop in and say hello.

Have a lovely weekend…here’s hoping for some sunshine!

“I’m so awesome!”

Tags

affirmations, inspiration, journaling, kids, overcoming obstacles, painting, personal history

When you spend a lot of time around six and seven year old kids (as I do) you begin to delight in their enthusiasm for everyday life. The smallest things are a cause for celebration.

“I saw a city bus!”
“I had macaroni for lunch!”
“I get to ride my bike after school today!”

Of all the ways the kids exclaim over life, though, my favorite is the unabashed pleasure they take in their own success.

“I’m so awesome!” (after solving a math problem)
“I’m so good at art!”
“I’m the best runner ever!”

These exclamations are shouted for all the world to hear, in voices full of delight, happiness and pure self-satisfaction. No worries about who might hear or whether or not it’s polite to toot one’s own horn.

What happens to us, I wonder, as we grow up that steals away this excitement at our successes? Why do we adults shy away from proclaiming our achievements from the rooftops? Or, if not the rooftops, our own houses when we are alone?

So I’m giving myself an assignment. When I cook a good dinner, or have a good day in the studio, or tell a joke that makes someone else laugh I’m going to throw my arms up in the air and yell, “I’m so awesome!”

If we all start doing it, maybe the rest of the grown ups won’t think we’re so crazy. Maybe we’ll even start a movement. I think a little more celebration can only be a good thing.

Thanks for the inspiration, kids!

how does art help the world?

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Art, business plan, helping, inspiration, journaling, making art, painting, personal history, serving the world, works in progress

my John Singer Sargent woodcut underway

I’m still working on my business plan. Some of it has gone quite easily, but there are some exercises that are really challenging.

One of these asked: “how does your product or service serve the world?” My immediate reaction to this was to start sweating and think, “oh no, my art isn’t helping the world. I’m not teaching art to inner city kids or donating all the money from my art sales to feed the homeless…” Panic, guilt, shame…

I do care about those causes, of course. But the truth is that I’m not a very good “in the trenches” kind of person. So maybe there is another way I am serving the world with my art. (think, think….)

So here goes…. I do believe that art helps the world because:

Art provides meaningful connections between artist and viewer and also between the viewers themselves.

Art provides social commentary and can spark ideas that can directly change the world.

Art makes people laugh and experience a whole host of emotions.

Art brings beauty into a world full of stress and pain and difficulty.

Art is a link between generations and passes our stories on to the future.

So maybe being in the trenches isn’t the only way to help make the world a better place. Maybe the art-makers and storytellers are helping too.

What do you think?

in the print studio

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Art, creativity, inspiration, printmaking, process, studio, woodblock prints, works in progress

trimming paper to size

silver ink! (you’ll see what I used for next week)

a block ready to go through the press

prints drying on the rack

inky hands

a finished print

This week in the studio

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Art, book covers, commissions, inspiration, inspiration board, painting, printmaking, studio, this week, woodblock prints, works in progress

So good to be back in the studio this week! I have a lot of work at the moment, which is great…definitely keeping me busy and well out of trouble. Here’s what the week looked like:

There was sunshine

sketching a Sargent painting to make a woodcut from it

re-energized my inspiration board

a very blue palette for an illustration commission

blocking out another commission

all 8 chandeliers ready to be printed

I’m also hosting my first ever Etsy sale in honor of Mother’s Day so if you’re in the market for a gift…consider giving art (mine or anyone’s). Have a lovely weekend, all!

Mother’s Day Sale

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Art, art sale, for mom, Mother's Day, sale, woodblock prints

Need an affordable, one-of-a-kind gift for your mother this Mother’s Day?

Are you a mother who would like to treat herself to something small but special?

Are you just an art lover who likes a good sale?

Come visit my ETSY shop where everything is on sale through Mother’s Day. You don’t have to be a mother to save. Just use coupon code happymom2013 and save 10% on everything you purchase.

Accidental Answer (or watch out for that lightning bolt!)

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Books, creativity, inspiration, lightning bolt, Literature, meaning, novel writing, overcoming obstacles, personal history, vacation, works in progress, writing

Back from vacation and all I can say is “ahhhhhhhhh……….” We were in San Diego at the beach, the pool and Seaworld. It was a lovely stepping-out of the every day routine. A chance to rest my eyes by seeing the completely different palate of Southern California. And (thank you, small son!) the opportunity to catch up on some sleep.

It’s interesting what happens in your creative life when you get the chance to have breaks like this. There is renewed energy for working, of course. But sometimes there are accidental benefits too.

For example, during this vacation I had an accidental, unlooked for lightning bolt of inspiration about a project I haven’t worked in a long time. In 2004/05 I wrote a novel for kids called Broadway Alice. It takes place in the 1920′s and is about a girl who runs away from home to a theater in New York City to try to become a Broadway star.

I loved working on this manuscript. I did lots of research about the twenties to get all the period details right. I toured backstage at Seattle Rep to get the theater details down. I loved the characters I invented and how they interacted. It was all going really well.

Until I got to the ending. I realized when I tried to write the conclusion of the story that I’d written Alice into a corner I couldn’t get her out of. I couldn’t figure out how she was going to conquer that final obstacle to get the life she wanted.

After months of trying different endings, I regretfully put Broadway Alice on a shelf and she has been there every since. Until this week, while in sunny San Diego, thinking about nothing at all, a lightning bolt of accidental inspiration crashed down on me and I knew what the ending of this novel should be.

It’s crazy. I don’t believe in inspiration. I believe in hard work.

Of course, I still have to write the ending and re-write/polish the entire manuscript so it’s not as though the hard work disappeared with this flash of an idea. But I have been wondering what to make of an idea dropping out of the sky like that, especially about a project I’m not even working on at the moment.

Maybe it’s just that the idea came when it was ready to come. Maybe I needed a long break from that book before I could make any more forward progress. If nothing else, maybe it’s another lesson in the value of setting work aside to ripen; of not insisting that everything be finished on a rigid deadline.

And, of course, it’s certainly a reminder of the value of a good vacation.

let the sun shine in!

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inspiration, personal history, sunshine, vacation

This is just to tell you, gentle readers, that I’m on off vacation this week in search of some sun. I will be sending golden rays and warmth to you wherever you are.

Back soon!

Come see some art!

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Art, creativity, gallery shows, inspiration, printmaking, selling art, solo show, studio, woodblock prints

I have several shows coming up in the next few months and I want to invite all of you who are in Seattle to come see my prints live and in person.

First comes: little x little: Miniature Print Exhibition Columbia City Gallery, April 24th to June 9th. I’ll have three prints in this show which features members of Seattle Print Arts. Columbia City Gallery is at 4864 Rainier Avenue South.

Next comes my solo print show at Mountlake Terrace Library, June 1st. – June 30th. I’m planning to show lots of work there, including my chandelier series.

Another really fun way to see my art and that of some other great artists is to come to Georgetown Art Walk which takes place the second Saturday of every month. I particularly recommend Heart of the Attack which is a great guided tour of the Georgetown Art Walk.

Come out and see some art!