So here it goes, some actual (kinda, sorta) art-related news:
I will admit (reluctantly) to not having done any artwork since before vacation. Not a scrap. Not a doodle, drawing or even the beginnings of a painting are mine to show for the past several weeks. It’s not an artistic dry spell – no artist’s block or anything like that to contend with. I’ve just been, well, pondering is the best way to put it. Most of my life is spent in either putter or ponder mode, and the artistic side of me is currently running at full ponder.
What have I been pondering? Well, not so much what I want to paint…that problem of having ideas float in and then away has been somewhat alleviated by my making a conscious effort to record them as they come along. It’s been more an extended period of consideration regarding the future and where I want this whole “art thing” to go.
I won’t bore you with all the ins and outs of my thought process on this subject. I’ll just skip to the end and list some of the things I’ve come up with.
That abstract autumn painting I’ve been futzing with forever? Gone. (Well, not gone, just off the easel and shoved out of sight in the closet.) I’m not getting any more done on the thing, so it can just get itself out of the way.
No more buying canvases (or paint, or paper) until I use up some of the ones I have! Jeez… I do make an exception for brushes, however. Brushes have a long history with me of not being findable when I need them, or somehow deteriorating into some mangy six and a half bristle horror when I’m not looking. If I need a new brush, I’m buyin’ a new brush.
Art shows! The artists’ guild I belong to takes a break over the summer months and starts up again in September. Any show they have in the 2005-2006 season, I’m signing up for. (Provided I get at least a month’s notice. These folks are nice, but they have trouble getting everybody on board their e-mail lists sometimes.) Also, I’m going to blow some money on application fees for the 2005 Colorado Arts Festival and the 2005 Cherry Creek Arts Festival. (I phrase it that way because they want $450 and $700, respectively, in booth fees…money I don’t have now and don’t imagine I will have then.) But I think there is enough to be gained in experience (if not, perhaps, self-confidence) to make it worthwhile. And finally in this category, EBSQart.com has at least one show each month from August through December that sounds interesting. I am committing to doing at least one piece for at least one show per month. (September and December have two shows each.)
Oh, and last but not least…business cards. I’ve come up with a nice, professional business card design, and found a local place that won’t charge me an arm and a leg to print them. According to the household budget, it will be a few more weeks until I can put the order in, but then I’m going to start throwing business cards at anyone who will take one. I’ll start carrying thumbtacks around in my purse so I can stick a card up on any unsuspecting bulletin boards I can find.
Well, that’s the plan in a nutshell. Paint more, and get more organized. Everybody wish me luck.
