Category: Creativity

I was painting my new studio yesterday and was thinking how exciting it is to move. Any change in scenery is good.  Even if you are moving to a smaller space or a darker place, it doesn’t matter because it will be different. I love moving. I love moving . MOst people hate it but I love it.

It makes me appreciate time. My old space was good to me and I met so many wonderful people but time moves on and so do I.

I think if you stay in the same place too long you start to not see it anymore. When you move you see everything. The memories come back and the dreams start going. If I had my ideal life I would move every year. That is why I want to get an airstream so I can take off when time allows. We only have so much time on this earth.

That said I have been at the same church for 12 years now. A record breaking long long time for me. The reason is new people keep coming so its ok. And they are kind to me and I have not gotten kicked out yet so its all good. But I still think you should not get too attached to where you live to spice things up a bit .

image by prawnpie

Sometimes we wait for something to happen that will shake us up. I know people that expect something outside of them to come into their lives and then everything will happen. That has never never never been my experience.

Here is the truth. Things will happen when you walk toward them. You have to buy the ticket to Europe, you have to quit your job, you have to jump into the water.  If you wait for someone or something to push you in – being fired, becoming ill, or some other difficulty that brings change – it will never never never be the best thing.

Your best time is when you have to use COURAGE to do something different. Courage makes its own space for  extraordinary things to happen.  And the moment you say, “I can’t do it now because…” you stick yourself in the dreaded wasting-time pattern.

You are not getting younger, stronger, smarter, or better by being in a holding pattern. You are wasting fuel. Go forth and do great things today right now right this minute!

Go.

I have been going walking /running with my friend every day now for a week. We go four miles and try and shave off time each day.

While pounding the pavement we talk about how to get faster and better and faster and better. The sky and water push out all the cares of the rest of the day for the hour we spend exercising. What a relief to have a friend to go with and focus with. It is so much easier to do the work when she is by me doing the same thing. She is a type A personality and I love to surround myself with type A’s. They push me and prod me to not be lazy.

This friend I have I have had since I was 13. She was more ambitious than me and ran circles around me for years. But now we are older and she is in a different place. She is not in charge of 200 employees like she was for 20 years. She is on to the next level of life and I am so glad she is going to be spending all this time with me. She inspires me and makes me think I can do more. Yes I can.

Everyone should have one person at least in their lives that push you ahead of what you think you can do. They are bootcamp and yell at the scared part of you to take a hike and make way for the fierce courageous part of you that wants to live out everything, every possibility and develop every skill that you have. You should do a good job on life as you only have one. You better make God glad he made you.

photo by this person

I love to visit New York. The fierce competition for business makes the level of achievement and quality of products there unique.

Competition makes us try harder and refine refine refine our plan till we are the best. You have to be the best or you are invisible and go out of business. Any business in New York that has been there a long time is not only great but constantly getting better.

A trap of success is success. You might get some but then you have to do more. You always have to go to the next level. competition is the friend of the artist. It is the best thing for everyone.

So with that said, I hope ten artists move right by me and are fantastic and I hope I am the worst one . That would be the biggest most wonderful push. Bring it on!

I am so blessed to have friends that wanted to help out with the dinner party. I thought they would help but when push came to shove, the dinner party was a lot of work and I had to talk to my guests so could not even be in the kitchen. So much for my idea of serving each person.

Jenny and Susie worked feverishly in the kitchen and brought out the food and I sat with the guests and tried to be with each of them. The conversation was wonderful. It seemed like everybody was sharing lots of themselves, and that was totally what  I wanted.

Sometimes when I am completely open, other people will be the same. This life is too short to not be open.

The party was pretty much euphoric for me. Even though I did not know everyone really well, it did not matter. We were doing something new. We were being with art and talking about art and we were doing a new kind of gallery.

Paintings have a way of coming into a room and being with you the same as a person. Especially if they are paintings of people. the girls were at the dinner party too.

The food was wonderful and my friends who cooked the whole thing were on a vibe in in the kitchen.

After everyone left, I was basking in the afterglow.  After such a great time, I like to leave all the furniture up the same way it was so I can make it last longer emotionally. Next time I am going to get a caterer and invite more people. I think I can accomodate twenty.  And I am going to do a walk around the room and talk about each painting. If I have another person showing , they will talk about each one.

Artists need to share more and not expect everyone to just understand everything immediately. One of the guests at the party shared a story with me about her husband who is an architect. He wrote notecards and put them around a house he had designed explaining why he designed each room the way he did. I thought that was a wonderful thing to share with the buyers. Something they should know and something they will cherish and enjoy forever after.

Little things are so important.