Artist Guide 01 ......Get Scary!

01 - Commit to Something Scary

---

A lot has happened in my life over the past few months, but I'm used to being busy so on the surface my day-to-day activities didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. 

But, I had noticed changes. I'd been spending fewer hours working each day, fewer days each week.

Initially, I attributed the shift in my work schedule to trying to live a more balanced life. But, after some honest analysis, I realized that many of the things on my "to do" list where things that required me to go outside my comfort zone. 

There were phone calls and follow ups that I was putting off. I needed to contact and get in touch with some people I didn't know well, and speak with others who work in areas of the art world I'm less familiar with.

Furthermore, many of the "to dos" I'd been avoiding revolved around making decisions and commitments about events or activities that will take place 6 or 10 months even years from now.

As crazy as it sounds, I found I was avoiding, worrying about, or putting off the things I should be doing because I was afraid, or unsure if I would be up to the task.

What a waste of energy! Fortunately it's a problem with an easy solution - commitment followed by action. 

Are there things in your art practice you could be doing to move your business forward? Well, here's the easy solution, rest assured, if you do nothing, it is guaranteed that nothing will happen and your dreams will simply remain as dreams.

Just do it. Commit to something big, something new or even scary, something you might not be ready for, and get ready and bear in mind the words of Herman Melville, (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation”

It doesn't matter what the commitment is but boils down to one thing, to take a step outside of your comfort zone:

• to approach 3 new galleries over the next month,
• to book a stand at an art fair or open your studio an extra weekend this year,
• to start a blog or newsletter,
• to start  a new series of work, or focus on a new style or technique,
• to teach a new class, give a talk or write an article

It doesn't matter what you commit to, just that you commit - and take action toward making it happen.

• Write down your decision and tell others about it.
• Schedule time in your diary to research galleries, fairs or events, then chose one and apply.
• Register a Blog and start familiarizing yourself with the format,
• Layout a newsletter or start writing content,
• Outline a workshop or topic you are interested in speaking or writing about.

You don't need to know all the details, or even what the end result will look like, just commit and get started.

Everything else will take care of itself.

Twixt Twa

I posted 2 images this morning, taken through the windows of where I live, one looking coastwards, a matter of 4 miles to the West and one Eastward toward the Western Edge of the Lower Fells, the contrast was not so much one of landscape but of the sky.  To the West of me illuminated gunmetal blue indicative of a seasonal thunder and lightening storm and to the East, blue and clear sky through the broken cloud painted by the sun, there is but 8 miles between the two and here I sit, equidistant between the two or, as is the local dialect, 'twixt twa'.

This has not always been the case for me, I have always been a warm weather person and often escaped the English winters for sunnier climate, my argument and basis for a life of exploration and discovery, Spain, Tenerife, Saudi Arabia, India, Greece et al how, I wonder, did I ever find retirement living in this sometimes cold and unforgiving environment.

Should I choose to ponder this question I would for sure spend too much time searching for some credible answer and time is too valuable to idle away on questions that are simply not relevant, life is like that, a series of ideas, dreams, plans and decisions all requiring questions and answers.

Though Life is good at the moment to remain so requires constant housekeeping and questions of health, finances and of work, without which there can be no progress, time, energy and, for the best result, a whole brained attitude is needed, finances aside even composition is a left brained activity.

I have now abandoned wax and the Polycaprolactone, I asked and expected much from these materials and though both were interesting in their own right it is a case of horses for courses and despite the fun of experimentation both proved to be unsuitable for the kind of work that I needed it to do, nothing was wasted and much learned.

The studio continues to evolve in preparation for the Polymer Clay work as does the Biomorphics Group which continues to grow, in 3 weeks I launch the contributors Galleries, 300+ albums of biomorphic art in a variety of medium and design from artists around the globe, these are my immediate plans for the future, until then I return to Chicken Wire, T-bags and polish, my tried and tested work of which it is always good to return to between changes of practice and direction, not unlike the weather I sit in the middle, 'twixt twa' and simply enjoy what is.