Why bother? Why not.

I am one of those artists who struggles to put her energies in the right places.  There are always so many new and wonderful projects to start, that I get choice-lock.  So many fun and enlightening things to read, so many friends to check in with, good food to try and make to keep this body going...
and suddenly it's time to go to bed.

And then I find myself only using my studio for a computer room.  Or a catch-all.  And that's just bloody depressing.  Especially when I'm looking at (and let's be honest, feeling green with envy because of) skilled artists who are making a good show of it online.

It's good to remember that I can't do it all.  (Thank you Alyson Stanfield!)

It's good to remember that there will always be artists whose careers I aspire to, and that maybe I'm one of those to someone else.  We all struggle sometimes.

It's good to remember that no matter how horrid humans are to each other, or how horrid you might feel, there are always humans putting in a stake for good.  And that my art is one of those stakes, because apparently it (often*) makes other people feel good too, not just me.

                       *sometimes it freaks them the heck out.  But that's good, because it's important to                                     widen one's experiences.

And now that I've done what needs doing today, I'm going to get off this computer and use the next four hours for actually making art.

The view from over my laptop screen:  Two easels, each with two paintings in progress.  Time to get cracking!

Incubating ideas

Last night I attended my second meeting with the 'Pollinators', kindly hosted by Sidney E.  This is a group she invited me to take part in, where working artists can bring their in-process-work in for feedback and ideas.  As with the first night, the Mode-de-Monstre work that I brought received the best response.  Sculpture keeps coming up as a response when I show my drawings, and Wylie mentioned an iron pour that takes place in Burlington.  My response has been rather giddy.  I got out my roma plastilina clay when I got home, but it's tricky to work with (and my hands stank all night.)  This is something I'll probably need to talk with some other sculptors about.

I'm also halfway through a class with Alyson Stanfield of artbizcoach.com and it's simultaneously overwhelming and energizing.  Tons of "to do's" are threatening to topple over onto me, so thank goodness arkonbey has stepped up to the plate and is, well, washing the plates.  Ladies and Gents, my man makes dinner and he does the dishes.