Sharika Roland

People have used that word to describe me all my life. Or wild or loony or nuts.
I am used to it.
But here is a different perspective for future reference.
It is hard to be an artist and fit into regular society. Because we are spending most of our time in the right side of our brain either making art or and this is the most consuming, thinking about it.
I do sort of go into a trance when I am thinking about art or even an idea surrounding art. It is a space that is not here.
Like right now. I am trying to write but the wave is covering me so I have to skip the punctuation and capitalization and even spelling sometimes to get it out.
I hate editing it because it is not it. It is it trimmed up. I dont like it trimmed up so that is why it looks like this.
If the trance place that I end up when I think about art is crazy, then that is what I need to get by. I dont know how to do anything else but paint.
Valentino said that it was a good thing he could make a dress as he was quite incapable of much else.
Well we are in the same boat. Valentino and me.
He had a flurry of dogs about his feet all the time too.
maybe the dogs are there to protect us strange beings from the outside world.. Eek where are my chihuahuas ?

How important are you? Everyone is as important as they want to be.

The price of importance is this:  You have to be empty of yourself and full of others. This is the highest good that  anyone can do. If you know this you will not slack off and think you don’t matter. If you don’t matter it is your fault.   You are self centered and weak. Selfish is always weak.

Importance is not something you aspire to be it is something you can become in an instant. You just decide to be important. Pour yourself out for others do your very best always and plan to avoid wasting time. If you see time as not wasteable then you will give EVERYTHING the attention big living needs.  Some people think important people were made by someone else, some kind of luck of the draw.

A child can be important. A very old person can be important. In truth, we all have the ability to be important. This is an important year. It’s the only one we have right now.  Go use it up with all your might.

images courtesy of US Army

I told you a story about a cartoonist that would absolutely panic after finishing a cartoon. He would think that there were no more cartoons in him. He had no idea what was next. Well that is what it is like being an artist. You do get this sense of dread at a blank canvas. You don’t want to do the same thing you just did. But it should look similar but not too similar. It has to be fresh but not too fresh. or weird. or ugly or bizarre.

But that is the nature of the beast, you have to die every time you do anything creative. You die and it lives. It is more powerful than you and smarter than you and way way way more creative than you. IT is the process, it is available to anyone who bothers to throw themselves down the stairs and let “IT” go.  If you don’t do this you can do nothing. The biggest thing is remember remember remember, It is not you. You are only doing it. You are just there.

Does this sound hard to get? Well that is because I am talking about “IT” You cant talk about “It” you can only experience it. It is what I wait for all day/ everyday.

I am an artist. and if you call yourself that then you know exactly what I mean.

Today I saw a card while I was Christmas shopping that looked so great.  The store keeper was talking about art, and my husband mentioned that I was an artist, so the shopkeeper said “oh, what do you do?”  I showed her my website and she told me I should send my work to papaya.  So I did.

So that is the beginning. After looking at the site I was in love with them and wanted to be doing what they were doing and I got this idea:  “well, just do it.”

So because one thing led to another, who knows what else will happen.  I will keep you posted but in the meantime you should check out their website.  It is pretty amazing.