Commitment

Yesterday, blog day, was the date of my parents’ wedding anniversary. I am not sure why it came to mind. They had celebrated fifty years together just before my dad died. I also bumped into an eighty-eight year old at the pool who said she and her husband who is eighty-nine will be celebrating their sixtieth in October. Over the weekend I shared a little about our thirty years of togetherness, Martin and I, with a young man who was just married last September. It all comes down to commitment.  Every once in a while my commitment to writing my blog gets displaced. I was about to plunge into the exercise when I discovered my computer was trying to connect to the internet in order to send a submission I thought had been sent on Thursday last week. I left it overnight next to our router hoping it would be done by morning… Technology.  I checked it this morning and kept poking at it over breakfast. Finally completed the missive is only four days late… with the correct date on it. Who knows? My commitment to my studio is waylaid at present as well. Life gets in the way. I do plan on getting in the doors tomorrow. Today bookwork, another commitment, is taking precedent. I priorize my commitments according to need and my life seems to work best on the wave principal. Studio time comes in clumps, bookkeeping comes in clumps. I have always loved the sea. Life is good.

Beating the Clock

Fundraisers can be a lot of fun. I do work best under pressure. Perhaps beating the clock is a little too much pressure though. I was asked to perform in front of the attendees at a local school which was raising funds for their foundation. There is a tricky balance between what can be accomplished in two to three hours and what needs to be done before hand. How much do I do? How much do I leave undone? First things first, I selected a support. I am a stubborn… determined individual who is slowly learning how to hear what the still small voice each work or series of works has to say. The series “Eve” was completed before I was willing to let it go. The panel I selected already had several layers applied and I knew I would not return to the theme. All I had to do was seal the surface…. Not so. In my earlier experiments I had used drywall compound to texturize the surface, a very unstable substance, especially when being shipped from one place to another… So, first things first became scraping off the plaster along with all the other layers. Sealing, adding and allowing to dry six layers before adding the drips and drops of ink took several days. I decided to add the transfer images too, leaving them overnight to dry. Was that enough? We would soon find out. I got there early in order to set up. Lots of plastic sheeting everywhere to protect the floor, the table and I decided to work away from the walls. I am messy! Someone mentioned I had only two hours in which to work. Keeping one ear on the proceedings I decided when enough was enough about one minute before my painting went on the block. All very exciting. Life is good.

Learning Curves

A friend of mine suggested that I send out last minute invitations to the meet and greet I held at Galerie PAVA last weekend. Manipulating photos onto a card, taking screen shots and reorganizing my mailing lists into specific groups are all making the publicity side of this business easier. Someone else suggested I send out a press release to entice the news media to visit the show. I was wondering what on earth I could say to pique the interest of the journalists when I remembered the fundraiser with which I am involved… Another piece of advise came from the web where it was suggested that I dig deep and reveal my heart’s desire with regard to my art. There are a few logistic hitches of course; that comes as part of the learning curve package. The fundraising event takes place on Thursday night and this is the long Easter weekend when nothing much happens in the business world. Yes, the notice is unsuitably short. And, yes, the exercise is worth doing if only to improve for the next opportunity. I was in a hurry. Quickly writing out the English version I tried a web translator and handed the “French” version to my very busy husband to verify. Much to my surprise he was unable to read it as my writing tends to be poetic and the translation was very literal. He complemented my competence in French by saying I could do much better and it would be more easily verified if I did. Okay. I can write better French than Google. Sigh… Once done he also showed me some examples of other press releases and I added a short two sentence note summing up who I am, contact info, and upcoming events. Whew!! We will see if all this effort brings any results. In any case, it is one more step into the world of professionalism. Life is good.

P.S. The fundraiser is for École Ste.-Jeanne-d'Arc (8505 68A St) in Edmonton, AB. I will be creating a mixed media painting during the evening for live auction. I have about three hours to complete the work before it goes up for bidding. Always exciting. Doors open at 7pm.

Creativity

Someone told me recently that I move through life in constant creation. There is not a moment when my mind is idle from fanciful imaginings. Lately I have been imaging in unusual ways. Creating includes sewing curtains and talking to contractors. The messy business of deconstructing and reconstructing will soon begin. I am refashioning my sacred space. There is a danger in losing my way through the rubble. I am thankful for the many opportunities I have to submit proposals for exhibitions and to participate in local group showings. Today I will organize yet another cover letter and the varied documentation which accompanies each tender.  I will practice the songs for Holy Thursday celebrations. As I do not have the skill to play a musical instrument my practice will consist of memorizing the verses… I am thankful for deadlines too. The show in November in CAVA demands production. This time it will be watercolours. The studio schedule begins next week. This week I am recreating comfortable spaces for our renters. I take pleasure in creativity, no matter what form it takes. Life is good.

Teaching Again

It has been a while. The Redwater Art Society reminded me how much fun it is. I threw a phenomenal array of mixed media techniques at them before we sat down for lunch. The afternoon was spent putting some of the techniques into practice. Throughout the process we lost track of the colours with which we began. Some of us had quite a bit of paint on surfaces other than the canvas! Oh, that is right, we never did get to the canvas… Control, or lack of control, ruled the day. I was asked several times if a certain colour or procedure would be appropriate. I always replied in the affirmative. Anything goes when fun is king. I suspect the constant flux in my life is teaching me how to accept what I cannot change, how to release expectations that really get in the way of being present to the moment, and how to savour the laughter, the joy and the affirmation of our common creativity. We are all artists in one form or another. Delight comes when we can include all forms. Life is good.