Titled

Poise amid the Hoopla

I've got a lot of hoopla.  It's like I'm living in a circus.  With all that is going on, I will keep my head up, and maintain my poise.  Even my little ids have managed to tame the wild beast and maintain balance.

...untitled

Alcatraz

Well, I can't say that I did "it," but I did something.  Our escape from Alcatraz was canceled due to San Francisco fog.  We did an alternate swim, which took us plenty into the ocean.  It was exciting and wonderful to swim with the water tossing me about.  I came a long way for this race.  I learned how to swim for one thing.  And, I conquered a colossal fear of the open water.  There was a lot of time spent thinking about how I could get out of this, but I am so glad I stuck with it.  Now, I have to do it again next year!  After talking about it for a whole year, it is pretty unsatisfying not to be able to say I did the real thing.  So, I have one year to get fast enough to out swim the sharks.

P.S. Thanks brother and sister for being so great!  Sari stuck with me the whole swim, even though she is way so much faster than me.  After the race, we biked across the Golden Gate and then some, and ended the long day with a short run so we could call it a tri.  We had a lot of fun.

Lions Roar

"Have I not in my time heard lions roar?"

She said in her best Shakespearian. 

She was staring into the lion’s mouth,

Stale meat breath and sharp yellow teeth. 

She was afraid, but in her heart she knew:

There is safety in valor.

She held on tight and moved in closer.

 Open eyed, the vapor hit her face.

She was staring into the lion's mouth.

After, she will say in her best, 

"Have I not in my time heard lions roar?"

Here is What I've Done.

I've painted a few new paintings and reworked some older ones.  I put a couple boxes in the mail today. Destinations:  Atlanta, Georgia and Park City, Utah.

Constantine reworked

I've swam long and hard, even done three open water practice races.  I think I am ready to escape from Alcatraz.  I'm off to San Francisco in a couple days.

Lake Pleasant 2k

Me and Kristin, my race-buddy

I've made 25 fleece hats, wood-burned the handles of 17 marshmallow roasters, made a dozen corn-filled sleeping bag warmers, and done every needful thing (I hope) that a young women camp director does to be prepared to camp and make sweet memories with lots of fun girls.

Up to Long Valley I go as soon as I get back from frolicking with the sharks.

Plus, I made 26 paper flowers to make our campsite beautiful.  

I can't believe June actually came and is here already.  A day or two after I get back from camp we make our annual pilgrimage up to Utah.  Once there, we will run Ragnar Wasatch Back, then relax by the pool, cook up some crazy Cul-de-sac of Fire extravaganzi, and ride our bikes off into the sunset.  I have somehow managed to keep my head on straight, and crossed everything off my list up to this point.  Even granola and trail mix for my travels.  So, here we go.

Found my Camera... few.

Sunday Drawing

Courage.

4

My baby turned four!

H.B. Ezra Petunia.

Country Road

Did a ten mile run this morning.  Threw some John Denver on my ipod before I left and it shuffled into place (right between Jack's Mannequin and Relient K) with the sunshine literally on my shoulders.  I had a moment, luckily I had phone with me to capture it.

Did You?

What I really do with my time:

Lest you think I'm in my studio painting all day.

On Mothers

The fierceness that comes with the role of mother is all consuming.  We love our children with such tenderness and vigor, and we toil constantly for their well being.  The realization that I am the mother-figure in these little people's  lives inspires me to work hard, aim high, and accomplish great things.  It is my greatest honor to be called mama.

Saturday

Seconds away from the finish line of my first triathlon. 

SheROX Tempe triathlon sprint.

I crazy love my new bike. 

For my New Gallery

I'm really excited about the new paintings I'm working on.  My deadlines are coming up, I'm working so hard!!  I love the energy summer brings. 

2000 meters

Pardon me while I conquer the world.

On Connecting with an Audience

As an artist, I spend a majority of my time hulled up in my studio, lost in my own head, wrapped up in my own thoughts.  So, how can I take this inward focus and turn it outward with the intention of my art connecting with an audience?

1. Define the audience.  The artist aught to know who her audience is.  I know that my work has a tendency to capture the hearts and understanding of women.  I think it is a safe bet that her audience will be a lot like herself, so that's a good start.  She should not paint for her audience, but with her audience in mind.

2. Create a message and a thing of beauty.  My dad always says, "If you want to sell paintings you can't paint camel bottoms."  Sage advice from he who consistently maintains aesthetic appeal.  The artist has to achieve a delicate balance between being honest, sincere, and original and being relevant, unambiguous, and able to relate to.  The purest art has something to convey.

3. Disappear.  Do the work to translate an emotion or idea into an image, then step away and let the art speak to the viewer.  During the process of labeling, packing, and shipping off a painting, I detach myself; I no longer want to be present once the piece is on a wall.  I love when the viewer finds her own meaning, whether it is in line with mine or not.

The successful artist is not lost in her own world, she is observant and deeply connected to yours.

4 Plates

Audacious

Bibelot

Operose

Hugger Mugger

Feeling like a Circus around here.

300 Plates 

Art Access Gallery

17 May 2010

Sunday Drawing and a Treat

I love Sundays

Almond pulp/cherry-chocolate cookies

On Friendship and a Sunday Drawing

I liked my dear friend Elise's comment about inspiring creativity in each other (she does the same for me).  In the middle of a paragraph describing eccentrics, Dr. Weeks threw in this line: Many of them are loners.  I think it can go either way.  I have wondered if it is too much to ask for an ambitious artist, LDS, raw-foodie, home-birthing, soccer coach who has daughters and loves to run, bike, swim, race and get fully absorbed in a good book to move in next door?  It would be lovely if our chickens could play together.  I sometimes forget that other people aren't as totally excited about something as me that is probably a bit outside of the norm, let alone have any idea what I am talking about.  "You know, because it didn't go over 118 degrees, so, you know, enzymes and stuff."  Note to self: Blank stare = no idea what I'm talking about, must change subject immediately.  On the other hand, mulit-hobbied people can have friends with a vast variety of interests.  A rucksack brimful of topics of conversation at the ready.  Loner is sounding more and more appealing.

I am very lucky to have a husband who is easy going, open minded, and willing to try new things.  He seriously had no idea what he was getting into when he married me.  I was just twenty!  I didn't even know who I was yet.  We were talking this morning about how different we are now, eleven years later, and how different we would probably be if we hadn't been influencing each other for all of our adult years.   I like that we got to grow up together.  I think it helped soften the blow.

On Drive

I've been working on writing a very serious business plan.  My online research for this project (not to be confused with self-indulgent, time-sucking internet surfing) has brought up some interesting ideas and intriguing people.

For example, I discovered a new word: entelechy.  Derived from the Greek word for "having a goal" or "the supposed vital principle that guides the development and functioning of an organism."  Psychologist Deirdre Lovecky said, "Entelechy is a particular type of motivation, need for self-determination, and an inner strength and vital force directing life and growth to become all one is capable of being."

Tim Burton said, "The tricky thing about being in the entertainment industry is that basically no matter how much money is involved, how good the life is, the thing that still compels you is that thing inside."  It's what my dad calls the "burning in the belly."

I think the key to propelling the driven is curiosity, which compels creativity and activates drive.

On Eccentricity

From Medieval Latin eccentricus, derived from Greek ekkentros "out of the center."


Dr. David Weeks', famed for his scientific studies on eccentricity, gives us this list of 15 qualities, possession of at least 10 of which qualifies one as an eccentric: 

nonconforming; creative; strongly motivated by curiosity; idealistic (wanting to make the world a better place and the people in it happier); 

happily obsessed with one or as many as six hobbyhorses; aware from early childhood of being different; intelligent, opinionated and outspoken; 

convinced that you are right and the rest of the world is wrong; non-competitive (not in need of reassurance or reinforcement from society); 

unusual in eating habits or living arrangements; not particularly interested in the opinions or company of other people except to convert them to your point of view; 

possessing a mischievous sense of humor; single; eldest or only child; a bad speller. 

Where do you stand?  I'm not going to claim that I am intelligent, but hello hobbyhorses!  I have at least as many as six, most of which I could, on any given day, get completely carried away with.  Bad speller, yes, but that is what gets me my rockin' scrabble scores.  I call it creative spelling, Gavin calls it cheating (I always win).  Unusual in eating habits, afraid so.  I've got at least eleven of Dr. Weeks' "qualities," twelve if being the youngest of many counts like being the oldest.  They tend to have similar traits, so I think it should.


So, what does this mean?  Dr. Weeks says eccentric people "have these happy obsessive preoccupations, and a wonderful, unusual sense of humor, and this gives them a significant meaning in life. And they are far healthier than most people because of that."  I'll take that, sounds lovely.  


I have to say, when I got excited at the prospects of being eccentric, my sweet husband gave me a loving reality check.  Family, kids, my LDS faith, this is where I do most of my conforming.  Conform can feel like an icky word, but keeping one foot on the ground allows me to raise socially healthy kids, have friends, and be able to help others on their journey, among other good things.  I won't get carried away, but I might do a little day dreaming.  

my wheatgrass juice/sprouting factory

On Creativity

As a career artist, creativity is one of the most essential tools in my box.  I’m always seeking out my next idea, which will marry a concept with an image to become something beautiful and meaningful.  This activity is my favorite part of the process.

The great thinker, Edward De Bono, who calls creative people “weirdoes," says this of them:  "They are strongly motivated to be creative. They put their energy in trying to create. Creativity is a top priority not just a peripheral luxury. ... If you spend more time trying to be creative you will be more creative. ... They are not satisfied with the things the way they are. They continually seek to do things in a different way.”

I’m not sure about being a “weirdo,” but I like being understood for having a strong motivation to be creative.  It reminds me of my rant in the interview I did for Today’s Mama where I went on about needing to take the time to create, as if away from the real stuff.  It’s too bad I feel that way, like my artistic endeavors are selfish.  We call that mama-guilt.  I would much rather look at it as a growing process, essential to my being, and a good thing all around. 

De Bono goes on to say, “The worship of weirdos implies the impossibility of creative skills for everyone else. This is directly contrary to my own belief that creative thinking is a skill that can be learned, practiced and used deliberately." Same, in fact I am trying to implement twenty minutes of drawing into my morning routine in order to grow my creativity.  "This 'opposite' of complacency is very important and powerful. ... They enjoy thinking. They enjoy being creative. They enjoy having ideas. Most people do not enjoy thinking at all." 

Can this be true?  Who doesn’t enjoy thinking?  I love thinking, thinking’s my favorite.  A friend of mine was wondering how I love to run so much.  She said, “You must enjoy your own company.”  Actually, I do.  I love being alone, lost in my thoughts; I could spent vast amounts of time there.  

Sunday Drawing

Winner

Chickens!! 

 We let the chickens choose the winner.  And Stella's beak holds... Katie!  Email me your address and I'll send the drawing to you right away.  Enjoy!