It is so hard to describe Soap Lake to someone . It is a small town with just a short downtown area. There is hardly any shopping to be had there, Yet the arts seem to be thriving. They have a paid for remarkable theater where they do musicals and show films that have sold out shows time after time. The gallery is well attended and tons of artist are moving there. The energy is electric in this place and everybody loves it so much when they live there or buy a vacation place. It really is the best of both worlds. You get lots of things to do and a tremendous community to be with, while you get the open spaces and the vast sky to live in. Just as the water in the lake is unique, so is the town.
Pink
My gallerist says that pink does not sell in the northwest. I think that pink is an emotional color that might make people uncomfortable with their feelings. How can a color be so mind altering. It must be what it represents. What in nature is pink. sunsets, roses, flamingos all good things. I think pink should be a color we should run to. I especially love it when Men wear pink shirts. They look so good and surprisingly masculine. Any man who wears it is self confidant and that is way attractive.
Anybody that does buy a pink painting from me is usually at ease with who they are. Pink is my self confidant meter.
the color of money
If I change a painting to suit a client — if I start a painting with the clients color choices or do anything that is different from what I would naturally do for, dare I say it, money — does it make me less of an artist?
I wonder if it was Money or Matisse that changed something to go with a specific room.
I have done all these things just to make a sale. I am not really at peace with what I did. Now I would not do it. Looking at my work as though it is important if only for the fact that I am the only one that can do it, I believe I should be true to what my instincts first told me. I want every artist to be themselves all the time. I expect them to tell me what is what not the other way around. Nobody else can be me and nobody can be you. Our uniqueness makes us important. The biggest picture of all is that we did not make ourselves so Someone must have liked the way He made us. As Anne Flood told me once “I never stress over whether a painting takes 10 minutes or 10 years to sell. There is a person out there just for this painting.”
inside out
I think it is important to live from the inside out. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think “who is that?” Do my insides match my outsides? What am I projecting to the world with my attire and words and actions?
I have a friend that looks exactly like her insides. She dresses in unusual bold ways and it makes everyone around her feel joy. Nobody thinks she is strange or anything negative. Pure joy and creativity and aliveness. Victoria, the woman who originated McKenzie Childs matches her creations.
You should match. If you are a designer you should look like one. If you are an accountant you should match. That way people will know you quite a bit and that is a gift you give to everyone. Your outsides should sing of your insides.
Something Else
I have found that sometimes on the way to one place, we discover another instead. Today that happened. The show was pretty quiet and it seemed like, “oh why bother.” Then I got to the end of the day and realized that quite a lot actually happened. I was able to spend time talking with people I really enjoyed and found to be hugely interesting. Because it was not busy, I was able to spend more time with the few people that did come in and really talk to them. I got to do a trade for some fantastic warm cashmere sweaters that I would not have been able to purchase otherwise. And I was able to figure out what to do with a painting that was lacking something. It was a great show in all because everything I experienced I can use later. A different outcome is sometimes the best thing for where you are right now. I mean really, how important are people anyway?