There is always a rush of inspiration before any of the shows and the Spring Originals is coming up soon, 16-19 April at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa.
It has been a busy time in the studio in between time away in Halifax to deliver some long awaited custom work, which was well received, and booking a visit back to the gift shop at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia for May. As well as just placing work this week with Old Orchard Crafts, just outside Fredericton, we will have work at the AGNS gift shop in May.
I have been building earrings the last couple of days and will spend the next week filling in gaps in the inventory. So lots more pendants yet to go.
Unfortunately I am missing inspiration for a call for entry, but that happens sometimes, when a theme is not making a piece clear in my head. There's a still a couple of days yet before the deadline so maybe...
At least some inspiration, and perhaps a touch of panic as the realization that we'll be one the road in two weeks has hit, is making for some great work for the spring shows, including the one in Woodstock on the 9th of May.
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Saturday, March 28, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Analogy
You have been driving a car down a one-way dead end laneway that narrows so that there is no turning around, and then you discover that the car does not have reverse. That stuck feeling sets in. That realization that you have spent so much time driving down the road, not taking turns, making decisions that could have taken you down other lanes. You have stayed the chosen course only to discover that you have dead-ended yourself and there does not seem to be a way out of it.
Unfortunately, this is how we sometimes live our lives. This is what seems to happen to us and we reach that dead-end in a job, a relationship, indebtedness, and a combination of the normal and mundane. We suddenly realize we are trapped and feel that we have no recourse, no way out, no answers, and no rescue.
What are you going to do when you find yourself there?
Some people seem to give up and stay with the car, stuck and complaining and accepting that there is no way out. Some people get out and push the car backwards until they can turn at the last turning point. Some people listen and realize that there are lanes that run parallel to the one they are on, and scramble through the pucker brush to the other road and hitch a ride.
The worst thing that we can do is give up. Pushing backwards to the last turning point or making the effort to push through the brambles and shambles to another road is the most progressive. Either of the two latter choices will net a change in the circumstances. Neither is easy, but neither is change.
What would you do, face down the challenge and the fear of the unknown roadway or sit at the dead-end?
Unfortunately, this is how we sometimes live our lives. This is what seems to happen to us and we reach that dead-end in a job, a relationship, indebtedness, and a combination of the normal and mundane. We suddenly realize we are trapped and feel that we have no recourse, no way out, no answers, and no rescue.
What are you going to do when you find yourself there?
Some people seem to give up and stay with the car, stuck and complaining and accepting that there is no way out. Some people get out and push the car backwards until they can turn at the last turning point. Some people listen and realize that there are lanes that run parallel to the one they are on, and scramble through the pucker brush to the other road and hitch a ride.
The worst thing that we can do is give up. Pushing backwards to the last turning point or making the effort to push through the brambles and shambles to another road is the most progressive. Either of the two latter choices will net a change in the circumstances. Neither is easy, but neither is change.
What would you do, face down the challenge and the fear of the unknown roadway or sit at the dead-end?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Resistance
Recently a friend asked me why I don’t write, as in write more, or write professionally, rather than just the occasional piece of prose, poetry or blog post. He told me that it was as important to my soul as my work as an artisan.
I didn’t disagree with him, but in a way, I blew it off by responding that I do write, for myself and my own pleasure. Then I got to wondering why I never did pursue the writing career that I once thought that I wanted. What stopped me?
It is the very same thing that has stopped me from pursuing other interests and… my own resistance to the effort.
Coincidently this same friend mentioned a book to me last December by Steven Pressfield: The War of Art. In this book, Pressfield addresses the concept of Resistance as the enemy to our creative processes. It is the enemy and it is often confused with external factors and influences, like family and other work.
The resistance is the same thing that is causing me to procrastinate in even writing these few words. It is the unspoken fear of the blank page, the “what if I can’t fill it?”
The realization is that writing is like the jewelry work that I do and it is based on discipline and interest. It is the willingness to go and sit at the bench for a designated period of time everyday, regardless of the results. Some days the work is phenomenal, it flows and pieces just seem to happen effortlessly. Other days I can walk in, sit, and stare at the tools and the silver, I will pick up stones and beads and touch them carefully, searching for a spark of inspiration. Sometimes there is not any and those are the days that I start by making simple earrings. At least by making the effort to do something, I am succeeding in overcoming resistance. I am working and I am working as a professional and I am seriously playing.
The question now becomes, what else do I want to seriously play at?
I didn’t disagree with him, but in a way, I blew it off by responding that I do write, for myself and my own pleasure. Then I got to wondering why I never did pursue the writing career that I once thought that I wanted. What stopped me?
It is the very same thing that has stopped me from pursuing other interests and… my own resistance to the effort.
Coincidently this same friend mentioned a book to me last December by Steven Pressfield: The War of Art. In this book, Pressfield addresses the concept of Resistance as the enemy to our creative processes. It is the enemy and it is often confused with external factors and influences, like family and other work.
The resistance is the same thing that is causing me to procrastinate in even writing these few words. It is the unspoken fear of the blank page, the “what if I can’t fill it?”
The realization is that writing is like the jewelry work that I do and it is based on discipline and interest. It is the willingness to go and sit at the bench for a designated period of time everyday, regardless of the results. Some days the work is phenomenal, it flows and pieces just seem to happen effortlessly. Other days I can walk in, sit, and stare at the tools and the silver, I will pick up stones and beads and touch them carefully, searching for a spark of inspiration. Sometimes there is not any and those are the days that I start by making simple earrings. At least by making the effort to do something, I am succeeding in overcoming resistance. I am working and I am working as a professional and I am seriously playing.
The question now becomes, what else do I want to seriously play at?
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