Sharika Roland

Every time I finish a show I think “Now what am I going to do?”

I have painted about 500 paintings in the last 10 years and they are all girls. You would think I would run out of ideas. How many girl paintings can a person do.  Apparently I can do more.

I read in a medical journal once that the more you know the more you can know. Each thing we learn is making a new path in our brain and expanded the capacity to learn even more. With that thinking, I will never run out of ideas for paintings.

This is what just happened to me. I had no clue what I was going to do so I stared at the canvas and then it came to me to use what I already had. The rest is just filling in the blanks. The big thing is the main idea then elaborate that idea into a series. Now I cant wait to get to the studio again instead of dreading it. Even though I knew that thing about your mind always expanding, I forgot it in the midst of dread.

I am telling you this just in case you are dreading starting something new. Your brain will not let you down. It is wonderful and marvelous thing we are given and everybody has one.

What does success mean? Most people think it means getting someone to agree with you. They “buy” your product.

When an art show sells out the first night of the show, well that is big success, right?  I think that is wrong. Success does not depend on others agreeing with you that you are good and that is what selling out is all about. Everybody wants to get something that is seeming to be a hot item. Then after that happens everybody treats you differently, as though you are amazing and your work is way way better than everyone else that did not sell out the first night. That is the way the world works.

But the artist should not be a part of that thinking or you will be ruined. An artist should not care what happens to his work. His job is do the work that only he can do and let the chips fall where they will. The artist is successful if and only if he does all he can to be the best unique artist he is. Only you know if you are successful or not. You are not better or worse because somebody else did or did not like your work enough to buy it. If you know this you will be free.

Never let someone else tell you what you are. That is between you and God.

The voices in our head combined with all the noise we experience in our daily life are tremendous. No wonder it is hard to concentrate.  Even 50 years ago there was way less noise to contend with.  When I was a kid no toy made sounds now all of them do.

The radio was on sometimes but not all the time like it is now in my house. Even if you don’t watch television, the computer is probably worse as there are no commercials, so you keep it on longer. Such easy access to noise.  The result is difficulty in hearing what we need to hear to perform whatever it is we do with our lives.

Our creative group did a two week of silence from all media. Let me tell you it was hard at first. No radio in the car, no music in the background. Just silence. The result was we all soared in our creativity. Time materialized out of nowhere. It was wonderful.

I have an idea to have a quiet bed and breakfast place. I also want it to be so beautiful and different that it gives you a million new ideas. And I want there to be tons of journals to write in. A place like no other place to get away from all the noise.

It is  not shallow to have a strong desire for beautiful surroundings. Beauty is food for your entire body, mind and spirit. Did you ever notice how difficult it is to be anything but respectful  while beautiful music is playing. I find that I sit up and every thought I have is one leaning toward respect and dignity. Or how about when you enter a room that is so  carefully decorated that it feels like someone is hugging you and encouraging you.

Beauty is everywhere for the enjoying if you develop an eye for detail. A perfectly polished apple in the sunlight.

Beautiful moments are like a keyhole to a world that is beyond us. To seek and strive for more and more moments to not only experience beauty but to make something beautiful and well worth the effort. A garden doesn’t just weed itself and a house does not come decorated when you buy it.

If you spend one day making everything you touch as pretty as possible you will be surprised at the huge payback. Everyone who looks at what you did will benefit on every level. What a gift to give anyone.

I  have a friend that sends me wonderful cards from time to time for no reason except to share what she saw. It is the highlight of my day usually when one comes in the mail. In this day of email and quick quick it is so satisfying to get a wonderful card in the mail. Small thing– no a huge thing.

Dreams are a good tool to think out solutions to problems on which you have been working.  Many times, I have thought of a new idea in a dream, and when I woke up it was the perfect answer.

But then I spent a huge amount of time thinking in a non-linear fashion. For people not used to that because of their work, it is harder to use this path to be creative. The good news is there is one way that can work for anyone like that. Just before you go to sleep, write down what you want to mull over in your dreams and keep it by the bed. If you wake up in the middle of the night, reread your note to yourself and go back to sleep. When we are in the dream-wake state, it is sometimes hard to remember what you were going to work on, so that is why you want it by the bed in black and white. Also, if you get a good idea, write it down when you get it and look at it in the morning instead of just trying to remember.  On more than one occasion, I have written down really big ideas in the middle of the night and then I try them out. That is how the man who invented the sewing machine got his idea of how to thread the needle to make it work.  It was in a dream.