Tag: charmingtrinkets
Artsy Fartsy Almost Fail
On the ever present train ride that is the artistic journey one tries to do things that are different…intriquing…maybe with a twist…?
 Forgetting that the universe includes something called the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) principle i seem to forge ahead most days achieving close intimacy with the complicated. Seems i needed to come up with a class proposal. A new idea, a fun idea. To say i labored over this would be a gross understatement. I pulled out all the supplies, drew a bunch of templates, created a couple dozen pieces of God knows what, resin’d, shrunk, journaled, sculpted, painted, trimmed, and cut. For about three weeks. Everyday. The pictures are the result of my efforts.
Lets see if i can explain what these would be in a class situation. First, what i hope would be, a group would learn how to do some doodling to come up with a template which would then be cut out of shrink plastic. One side we color the other we journal on…random words. While these are in the oven we pull out the pictures or, my original idea, was to have the group take selfies (the black and white photos are me, i was about six), which we would cut to fit the shrink frames. Then we glue, then we resin…then we play with polymer clay for bases, bake again, paint them in funky patterns, insert bunny eared and crowned semi sculptures of shrink with selfies…and admire. Maybe not quite that fast but….
So…once finished i submitted the class proposal and thought, “ah, good work done!” About two days later i got a “thanks but no thanks” note. (Not really that abrupt but they let me know it wasn’t an idea their clients would enjoy) At first i was upset…all that work and an end product i thought was quite fun. Ahhhh….back to the drawing board.
And another 24 hours, i re-arranged the class practicing the K.I.S.S. principle and the second one they liked. All was not lost.
The moral of the story…stop overthinking, obsessing, hyper-focusing about your artwork. Let it flow…go with it…allow it to run freely from you. Stop doubting your ability and over doing your work. Everything you do is worthy and wonderful.
And always apply the K.I.S.S. Principle…
(Anybody want to take a crazy class? I have some ideas…)
Swamp Juice
Fast Approaching…
We have one day left before school starts.. One! Not sure if I’m excited to take the kids back and establish a routine again or if I’d rather have another month or so off…? It’s a toss up.
Paul having his picture taken for his school ID…
Back in the Saddle
Time to get back in the blogging “saddle”, I’ve been out of it for awhile. A long while.
Why haven’t I been blogging? Hmmm…I can’t quite put my finger on it. I try to write then  do one of two things…write some words and hate them all. Erase, erase, erase. Or…stare blankly at the white screen…forever….and write nothing…even after hours or days of looking  at the same page space. Ugh…so frustrating!
Couple that with the meanies in my brain that say, “who is even reading this? If they were they’re not now! What’s the point?”
Recipe for disaster…
What’s the solution? Damned if I know…so I asked my son.
His advice?
“Mom…just start by posting something simple!”
Um, what? Simple? Really?
Epiphany…try something simple to get back in the “saddle,” simple…
So that’s what I’m going to do. Check in on me tomorrow…
For simple!