I just received a phone call from Lydia, a new acquaintance and wonderful lady. She wanted to let me know that she saw our jewelry work at Viktor's Blue Rose Salon in Woodstock when she was there getting her hair done recently.
She adores the guys too and offered them suggestions on display for our work which is always appreciated. I have a feeling that not only is she one heck of a smart 'money' girl but she has a keen eye for the 'how to' as well.
I've been meaning to blog for a couple of days now but have been feeling under the weather which is bad around here this week, it's been overcast and showering for days.... and predicted to continue well into next week.
She was just what I needed, bright, cheery and full of positive news. Thanks Lydia.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Coincidence - I think not
A couple of weeks ago when I met with Gerald, of Viktor and Gerald, he said to me "Nothing happens by coincidence." I had been musing about that for the last little while.
At a recent area book sale I grabbed "The Celestine Prophecy". I know that this book has been around for awhile, and I also know that it was recommended to me years ago by Aunt Pat.
Finally cracked the cover on it yesterday, finished it about 01:30 this morning. Not entirely sure what to make of it other than to say that people have often been placed in our path when we have needed certain types of information and they have been more than willing to share. I identified with it.
Stick with me here, this is going somewhere...
The basic premise is the old adage "ask and you shall receive" which leads to the old corollary "be careful what you ask for, you might just get it".
We all know someone who knows someone and if we follow the trail long enough or ask the right person, we are all no more than 6 people away from knowing someone else. This kind of '6-Degrees of Separation' reality takes some of the coincidence out of our lives too.
I'm not proposing that our destinies are preordained for whatever life of misery, poverty, disgust, etc. that we might be experiencing. It is just possible however that if we only took the time to talk to the people that we meet, that cross our path, that they might have an answer to a problem that would help lift us out whatever misery we are currently experiencing.
The point of this rambling, if you haven't already drawn your own conclusion, is that we should try to be open to the possibility that we will meet someone who can help us and in turn, the people that we meet may need our help and that every human transaction holds the gift of learning. The catch is that we have to ask.
The other thought is that if you have stumbled upon this blog, it was for a reason, and there is something here that you can use. Hope that you find it.
At a recent area book sale I grabbed "The Celestine Prophecy". I know that this book has been around for awhile, and I also know that it was recommended to me years ago by Aunt Pat.
Finally cracked the cover on it yesterday, finished it about 01:30 this morning. Not entirely sure what to make of it other than to say that people have often been placed in our path when we have needed certain types of information and they have been more than willing to share. I identified with it.
Stick with me here, this is going somewhere...
The basic premise is the old adage "ask and you shall receive" which leads to the old corollary "be careful what you ask for, you might just get it".
We all know someone who knows someone and if we follow the trail long enough or ask the right person, we are all no more than 6 people away from knowing someone else. This kind of '6-Degrees of Separation' reality takes some of the coincidence out of our lives too.
I'm not proposing that our destinies are preordained for whatever life of misery, poverty, disgust, etc. that we might be experiencing. It is just possible however that if we only took the time to talk to the people that we meet, that cross our path, that they might have an answer to a problem that would help lift us out whatever misery we are currently experiencing.
The point of this rambling, if you haven't already drawn your own conclusion, is that we should try to be open to the possibility that we will meet someone who can help us and in turn, the people that we meet may need our help and that every human transaction holds the gift of learning. The catch is that we have to ask.
The other thought is that if you have stumbled upon this blog, it was for a reason, and there is something here that you can use. Hope that you find it.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
P.S.
I finally got the e-mail/letter from the Fredericton Arts Alliance that I have been waiting for, unfortunately it didn't say what I wanted it to.
Sadly the arts groups are all suffering this year from a lack of funding. The FAA isn't the first group that we belong that has had to shorten programs to scrimp their way through the summer.
So in a nutshell I am mildly disappointed that the application for a week long residency wasn't approved.
Oh well, next...
Sadly the arts groups are all suffering this year from a lack of funding. The FAA isn't the first group that we belong that has had to shorten programs to scrimp their way through the summer.
So in a nutshell I am mildly disappointed that the application for a week long residency wasn't approved.
Oh well, next...
untitled
For a moment I have to revert to the seemingly cliche art title of 'untitled'. Sometimes the work that we are doing does not seem to have a particular focus nor does the body of work seem to have a theme nor does it suggest it name so for now it is 'untitled'.
I had the good fortune to spend a day with my good friend Dave, just jabbering away about everything and nothing.
The everything includes the CD is he working on recording. I am looking forward to the end of the summer as that is the predicted completion date for it. To me, he has a wonderful voice and good solid guitar skill, and I already know that I am biased. It will be largely comprised of his own compositions and that is a departure for Dave in his recordings where he has already worked with a few other artists and recorded a lot of folk music. I think that this work will be edgier and a lot more fun to listen to.
We tossed about some philosophical discussion on life, hinted at a few collaborative ideas and discussed nothing in the form of how, with summer heat and humidity approaching, that antiperspirants make for unsightly gobs of sticky greyish-white goop in one's arm-pit hair.
There is something to be said for taking time for a lot of coffee, which is far cheaper to rent than beer, with an old friend. It leads to a lot of off the wall topics, a lot of belly laughs, and a clearer head for going back into the studio to get the jobs done that are immediately pending. It's also good to have already planned the next escape from the studio and in effect the initial pursuit of a possible project.
I had the good fortune to spend a day with my good friend Dave, just jabbering away about everything and nothing.
The everything includes the CD is he working on recording. I am looking forward to the end of the summer as that is the predicted completion date for it. To me, he has a wonderful voice and good solid guitar skill, and I already know that I am biased. It will be largely comprised of his own compositions and that is a departure for Dave in his recordings where he has already worked with a few other artists and recorded a lot of folk music. I think that this work will be edgier and a lot more fun to listen to.
We tossed about some philosophical discussion on life, hinted at a few collaborative ideas and discussed nothing in the form of how, with summer heat and humidity approaching, that antiperspirants make for unsightly gobs of sticky greyish-white goop in one's arm-pit hair.
There is something to be said for taking time for a lot of coffee, which is far cheaper to rent than beer, with an old friend. It leads to a lot of off the wall topics, a lot of belly laughs, and a clearer head for going back into the studio to get the jobs done that are immediately pending. It's also good to have already planned the next escape from the studio and in effect the initial pursuit of a possible project.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Brave Moment...
...And it was fun too.
For the first time in years I put a brush to canvas. It was not easy.
I have had the paint, brushes and canvases for well over a year and I have periodically ranted about wanting to try painting again. It was good to play in the paint - acrylic - cheap but very functional when you know that this isn't your main gig.
I learned something that helped today too.
The reason that I shied away from visual art, since I could draw OK and could use oils OK was that in my mind, my mother was better, but she didn't paint much and often voiced disatisfaction with some branch or other of the family tree in regards to art. I got turned off and also I didn't want to appear to be competing with her - and maybe that's an only child/daughter hang-up. My mother liked to work on landscapes and painted in a realistic but not photographic fashion. I am very uncomfortable with realism, besides I have a lot of doubt in my ability and I am hung-up on all of this.
But what I learned is that if I pick really contrary colours to work in: green and blue for flesh for example, that the whole activity becomes a lot more fun; after all it is hard to take a green/blue nude seriously.
The three small canvases, I think they are the standard 5x7, will be signed and dated, probably tacked up on the studio wall and will be replaced with several more blanks.
I know that the 'paintings' are NOT gallery quality, at least in my humble and self-detrimental opinion, but I'm still pretty proud of them because it's real progress. It took a lot of time and a good bit of bravery to try something that I gave up on 20 years ago.
Now I wonder what else I can rediscover and try again?
For the first time in years I put a brush to canvas. It was not easy.
I have had the paint, brushes and canvases for well over a year and I have periodically ranted about wanting to try painting again. It was good to play in the paint - acrylic - cheap but very functional when you know that this isn't your main gig.
I learned something that helped today too.
The reason that I shied away from visual art, since I could draw OK and could use oils OK was that in my mind, my mother was better, but she didn't paint much and often voiced disatisfaction with some branch or other of the family tree in regards to art. I got turned off and also I didn't want to appear to be competing with her - and maybe that's an only child/daughter hang-up. My mother liked to work on landscapes and painted in a realistic but not photographic fashion. I am very uncomfortable with realism, besides I have a lot of doubt in my ability and I am hung-up on all of this.
But what I learned is that if I pick really contrary colours to work in: green and blue for flesh for example, that the whole activity becomes a lot more fun; after all it is hard to take a green/blue nude seriously.
The three small canvases, I think they are the standard 5x7, will be signed and dated, probably tacked up on the studio wall and will be replaced with several more blanks.
I know that the 'paintings' are NOT gallery quality, at least in my humble and self-detrimental opinion, but I'm still pretty proud of them because it's real progress. It took a lot of time and a good bit of bravery to try something that I gave up on 20 years ago.
Now I wonder what else I can rediscover and try again?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Viktor & Gerald
Good things happen when you don't expect it...
As you know from the last post we were in Woodstock a couple of weekends ago for a Women's show and we got a nice award. Tanya, the organizer, also placed a new exhibitor next to us and told us the "you will really like them." We do.
Viktor is a superb stylist and he and his business partner, Gerald, have just opened their new salon and boutique in Woodstock. So far the feedback has been terrific for them and they are so pleased with the positive and warm reception that they are experiencing in their new town.
Long story short, David and I hit it off with these two; and Gerald, who had a bit more chat time available than Viktor (who had scissors in hand) that day, was pretty taken with our jewellery work and they decided then and there that they wanted to carry our work.
Now we have always been pretty particular about who has carried our work as we try to place it with folks who "get it" or that we've known for awhile. Besides not every store owner or gallery rep gets it. These guys did & quickly.
We are very pleased to say that Viktor's Blue Rose Salon and Boutique will be featuring our work along with other fabulous finds very soon as Gerald just picked up the order today. So if you get to Woodstock, stop into the salon on Main Street and say "Hi" to two really great guys.
...and I do like nice surprises.
As you know from the last post we were in Woodstock a couple of weekends ago for a Women's show and we got a nice award. Tanya, the organizer, also placed a new exhibitor next to us and told us the "you will really like them." We do.
Viktor is a superb stylist and he and his business partner, Gerald, have just opened their new salon and boutique in Woodstock. So far the feedback has been terrific for them and they are so pleased with the positive and warm reception that they are experiencing in their new town.
Long story short, David and I hit it off with these two; and Gerald, who had a bit more chat time available than Viktor (who had scissors in hand) that day, was pretty taken with our jewellery work and they decided then and there that they wanted to carry our work.
Now we have always been pretty particular about who has carried our work as we try to place it with folks who "get it" or that we've known for awhile. Besides not every store owner or gallery rep gets it. These guys did & quickly.
We are very pleased to say that Viktor's Blue Rose Salon and Boutique will be featuring our work along with other fabulous finds very soon as Gerald just picked up the order today. So if you get to Woodstock, stop into the salon on Main Street and say "Hi" to two really great guys.
...and I do like nice surprises.
Monday, May 19, 2008
From our latest press release
JEWELRY ARTISANS WIN "BEST IN SHOW AWARD"
During a brief presentation on Saturday May 10th. Cynthia and David Ryder were given the Best In Show award for Woodstock's 3rd Annual Women's Show. Miss Woodstock 2008, Caitlin Doucette, and show organizer and promoter Tanya Dixon presented the trophy.
The Ryder's have been participating in the growing Women's Show event since Ms. Dixon introduced the show in Woodstock, NB in May 2005. This year, over 100 exhibitors were present, promoting everything from real estate sales to motor scooters to salon hairstyling, so the annual competition for Best in Show, an award that recognizes a nice looking booth presentation and a good product, is stiff.
The Ryder's stated that they "are really delighted to win this award as our booth has undergone a lot of redesign work since Christmas and this does let us know that we are headed in a good direction. Also, this show has been growing in success for us as well as Tanya, and as it becomes established, a regular clientele is forming for us. The ladies here in Woodstock are very accepting of our handcrafted jewelry style and now we are finally getting a "look" with our booth that suits the quality of work we are doing."
During a brief presentation on Saturday May 10th. Cynthia and David Ryder were given the Best In Show award for Woodstock's 3rd Annual Women's Show. Miss Woodstock 2008, Caitlin Doucette, and show organizer and promoter Tanya Dixon presented the trophy.
The Ryder's have been participating in the growing Women's Show event since Ms. Dixon introduced the show in Woodstock, NB in May 2005. This year, over 100 exhibitors were present, promoting everything from real estate sales to motor scooters to salon hairstyling, so the annual competition for Best in Show, an award that recognizes a nice looking booth presentation and a good product, is stiff.
The Ryder's stated that they "are really delighted to win this award as our booth has undergone a lot of redesign work since Christmas and this does let us know that we are headed in a good direction. Also, this show has been growing in success for us as well as Tanya, and as it becomes established, a regular clientele is forming for us. The ladies here in Woodstock are very accepting of our handcrafted jewelry style and now we are finally getting a "look" with our booth that suits the quality of work we are doing."
Monday, April 7, 2008
Help
Help is an interesting word. We can either get help, have help or be a help. Each use indicates a level of need or giving by those involved in the help process.
Lately, I've gotten help, been a help and had help. I also recently quite my job as CEO of my universe. Mind you that is a hard job post to forget and it's habits rise fairly frequently in day to day activities. I need and have a lot of help in dealing with this welcome vacancy in my life.
I still firmly believe that we are all 100% responsible for our lot in life. We either choose to accept or ignore the opportunities that are tossed in our path. It's like deciding whether or not to pick up a dropped penny. The only problem with being CEO of my universe is that I took responsibility for every dropped or ignored penny rather than just accepting that sometimes somebody else drops them and that I have no control over when and where they fall. It's too big a job with to much false responsibility that gets in the way of looking after what I really can do.
Recently a buddy, who is a musician/artist, and I decided that maybe it would be a good idea if a group of us like-minded individuals got together for bi-monthly gab sessions to compare notes on what works and what doesn't in our art/business worlds. Snagging the name from a magazine I read, we call it the Brain Squad, rather than a Mastermind group. It's a matter of rebelling against semantics and some of the 'new agey' verbiage that goes with the term Mastermind, that we grabbed at brain squad, after all two heads are better than one, so what about 5 or 6.
The catch with this little group is that we have to be committed to showing up at the meetings, hold everything discussed in confidence, share information and sources, and be encouraging as well as honest. So far it has a really good feel to it and it's great to be in room with others who are trying to be proactive about their art/business too and who are not looking for the problem in every idea but ideas in every problem.
My personal opinion is that for most of us that work at art, however one wants to define work and art, is that there is always someone or two or more, who is important to us, but who just never seems to "to get it". They appear to be supportive, try to be encouraging, but if you tell them your good news, theirs is better. If you have a problem, theirs is worse. If you have a headache, they have a brain tumour.... In their attempt to be supportive they are often undermining your confidence and creating some amount of doubt in your abilities and it's not like we don't suffer with confidence and ability issues as it is.
Our hope is that the brain squad can help each of us overcome some of the doubts/fears that creep into our art-lives, and that by keeping the meetings to a bi-monthly schedule that we all stay a bit more focused, and that because of improved focus that we will more readily spot the dropped pennies and actually be in a position to pick them up and use them, and if we can't use them, we can at least pass them on and help somebody else.
Cheers!
Lately, I've gotten help, been a help and had help. I also recently quite my job as CEO of my universe. Mind you that is a hard job post to forget and it's habits rise fairly frequently in day to day activities. I need and have a lot of help in dealing with this welcome vacancy in my life.
I still firmly believe that we are all 100% responsible for our lot in life. We either choose to accept or ignore the opportunities that are tossed in our path. It's like deciding whether or not to pick up a dropped penny. The only problem with being CEO of my universe is that I took responsibility for every dropped or ignored penny rather than just accepting that sometimes somebody else drops them and that I have no control over when and where they fall. It's too big a job with to much false responsibility that gets in the way of looking after what I really can do.
Recently a buddy, who is a musician/artist, and I decided that maybe it would be a good idea if a group of us like-minded individuals got together for bi-monthly gab sessions to compare notes on what works and what doesn't in our art/business worlds. Snagging the name from a magazine I read, we call it the Brain Squad, rather than a Mastermind group. It's a matter of rebelling against semantics and some of the 'new agey' verbiage that goes with the term Mastermind, that we grabbed at brain squad, after all two heads are better than one, so what about 5 or 6.
The catch with this little group is that we have to be committed to showing up at the meetings, hold everything discussed in confidence, share information and sources, and be encouraging as well as honest. So far it has a really good feel to it and it's great to be in room with others who are trying to be proactive about their art/business too and who are not looking for the problem in every idea but ideas in every problem.
My personal opinion is that for most of us that work at art, however one wants to define work and art, is that there is always someone or two or more, who is important to us, but who just never seems to "to get it". They appear to be supportive, try to be encouraging, but if you tell them your good news, theirs is better. If you have a problem, theirs is worse. If you have a headache, they have a brain tumour.... In their attempt to be supportive they are often undermining your confidence and creating some amount of doubt in your abilities and it's not like we don't suffer with confidence and ability issues as it is.
Our hope is that the brain squad can help each of us overcome some of the doubts/fears that creep into our art-lives, and that by keeping the meetings to a bi-monthly schedule that we all stay a bit more focused, and that because of improved focus that we will more readily spot the dropped pennies and actually be in a position to pick them up and use them, and if we can't use them, we can at least pass them on and help somebody else.
Cheers!
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