Vampires and bookish learning

I'm missing my weekly dose of eye candy as The Vampire Diaries is on a break. Seriously, don't they know I need my Damon fix?

Interesting that authors put their vampires through High School again and again and again (we're talking Cullens and Stefan here)... I mean if you could pass for 18, wouldn't you rather go to University?

These withdrawal symptoms included a train of thought along the lines of what I would do with my time if I suddenly became immortal. This might sound incredibly geeky, but you know what, I'd love to keep learning. Just imagine how much you could absorb over centuries, what an expert you could become and how you could use that amassed knowledge for the good of the world.

The past 12 months or so have seen me devour business, self-help and spiritual books. As I read each, I'm finding links and patterns that excite my brain cells, deliver solutions and spark creativity. Imagine an eternity of building recipes from your learning. Who knows... you might even find the elusive Philosopher's Stone.

My brain is giving greedy gurgles at the mere thought of it, although I do wonder if my own personal hard drive has a maximum capacity. Is there only so much I could take in and process? Would my operating system crash? Could I build my own upgrade?

Stealing like an artist

According to Austin Kleon, David Bowie, Jay Z, Goethe, Ecclesiastes 1:9 and a whole host of other artists and creators there are no new ideas - just rehashes influenced by what's already been.

I can live with that - as long as we build on what's gone before and make it better (or just different) by adding our own special ingredients and flavour.

Seth Godin says that to be successful we should connect with one another. So, with both of these trains of thought in mind tunnels, for my blogging endeavour today I am borrowing Seth Godin's post as I rather like it. Here it is in its entirety.

Two kinds of mistakes

1. There is the mistake of overdoing the defence of the status quo, the error of investing too much time and energy in keep things as they are.

2. And then there is the mistake made while inventing the future, the error of small experiments gone bad.

We are almost never hurt by the second kind of mistake and yet we persist in making the first kind, again and again.

He's right is Seth. He's right.

Do what you've always done and get what you've always got.

I like to bend the rules. Experiment, push a few boundaries.

This is what you get when you mix a painting of a girl with a photograph of a chicken. It's also a reminder for us as artists not to be afraid to step out of comfort zones - to mix carrot with chocolate just to see what it tastes like - just because we can... Break the rules! You might just like what you get - I kind of like this! I randomly selected two images from my folders without looking and then mixed them up in Photoshop. Go break some rules my fellow artists!

Why don't you have a go. Come on now - don't be chicken!

I'm also sharing with Take a Word this week where they ask what Art means to us. I thought this post was quite appropriate.

Possessed artwork

A couple of works in progress to share with Sunday Sketches.

Now, where would you go with these? I'm thinking butterflies with the first - I stuck a sample cut out in the scanner, but I think I'll draw, rather than actually collage - and that one is almost scarily big!

Naturally, it's not until she goes in the scanner that I spot one eye bigger than the other (I'm sure it's the machine that does it...).

Mind you, the Scanner did make up for changing facial features on this second piece. She went in, looking a little green around the gills, as if perhaps she was about to audition for a 'walk-on' part in The Walking Dead.

She came out flushed with a rich shade of orange - although she still looks terrifying. I think she'll get the part without too much effort. Funnily enough she is actually risen from the dead so to speak, as she's sitting on top of another portrait that freaked me out even more than this. I had to cover her in a shroud of tissue paper collage. She may have got her own back by possessing this new interloper to her page.

So, what would you do with these? Ideas please!!

Cold feet

I hate getting cold feet. If my feet take a drop in temperature, they take ages to warm up again, especially in bed. I have to get up, put socks on or heat up a wheat pillow. I've got some lilac baggy bed socks, they're easy to kick off in the night. Usually they curl up like a cat at the bottom of the duvet and sleep peacefully, but one found its way up to my other half's pillow the other day - he wasn't overly impressed. The thing with normal cold feet though is that they aren't really a huge issue - pretty curable. Eventually the blood starts pumping enough to restore feeling and all is well with our appendages.

Metaphorical cold feet on the other hand are an entirely different kettle of fish! I get cold feet about my art too, only these chills are caused by the gremlins whispering their freezing tactics:

"You're not good enough"

"Who do you think you are?"

"People might not like it"

Then there's the most ridiculous fear of all ~

"What happens if I push myself out there and people actually want what I do?"

"Isn't it easier to just sit here and dream and write about it?"

Just imagine ... you might just be successful ... What's so scary about that?

It's leaving behind the cosy safety of the known. It's listening to the instinctual part of your brain that fears change. It's missing the ride on the swanky yacht because you're frightened it will sink even though George Clooney is standing at the bar pouring you a drink and giving you 'that look'.

I've sold some art. I'm taking myself seriously. I've got a marketing plan. It could all happen. It's the cusp of 'dream-come-true land'. How terrifying. How exciting and exhilarating. Cold feet? Yes, but I've got my thermals out...

Are you ready to fly with your dreams?

***
To illustrate this post, I found one of the few photographs I've taken of my feet (well, foot). It's not a subject matter I often study but it did prove the perfect excuse for playing in PhotoShop... with bizarre results too - below.

A winter's tale

That song has been on repeat in my mind for weeks and just when I thought I'd packed it away in the loft with the tinsel, I decide to share its name with this painting. Darn it.

I am following an Abstract urge. This may be due to a shift in artistic direction or just a slight post-Christmas laziness where I can't quite be bothered to find anything else to paint. It's really quite soothing though just letting the paint take its own direction and then allowing intuition to take over and following a whim.

This year I am determined not to spend time procrastinating, yet here I am playing with my blog and about to head over to hang out with the crew at Paint Party Friday when I should be doing.... MY TAX....

Can you blame me?

But no. It must be done. And, all I have to do is find all the relevant information, my accountant will do the rest... it's hardly the equivalent of being locked up in a tiny cell full of numbers screaming at me and poking at my skin with their sharp edges.

I am away to my spreadsheets and statements. Wish me luck... I may be some time...

Reminders

When I started this blog back in the olden days of 2009, when I was still in my 30s and forgotten what a paintbrush was for, back then I had a purpose and that purpose was to write. I was to write something as close to every day as I could manage. It wasn't about creating perfect prose, but rather just the exercising of words on 'paper', a purging and a practice.

Back then it was easy. I just wrote. But then I started sharing my work with others and suddenly I had a readership! Then art invaded by psyche and I bonded with global tribes of like-minded creatives. Slowly slowly catchy monkey my blog became a vehicle for my art and a place where I felt I couldn't post unless I had something really interesting to say.

This wasn't always easy. The block began to set itself in quick-drying concrete around my sentences and paragraphs. Cracks appeared as the output dried up. It was a sorry state of affairs.

Then today, in fact, just a few moments ago, Seth Godin reminded me that we never get talkers' block. We've always got something to say out loud, even if it's not set to set the tribal fire alight.

"Write anything" urges the great marketing maestro of a man "because the second best thing to zero is something better than bad".

Oh Seth, I needed to hear that today. From now on I promise that even when I haven't got anything much to say nor any art to post, I will just write. I'll write for me, for practice and for anyone that cares enough to read it.

So Mr Bloggie, you'd better get used to having me around!

Staying resolute

Happy 2013!

I read an interesting article today in the Entrepreneurs' Circle monthly magazine. Guest writer Vic Johnson talked resolutions.

He made an interesting point, one I've heard before from my good friend Leanne Flower but it's always useful to be reminded.

It's about maintaining a positive attitude toward our goals and hopes for the year ahead. Vic uses the classic January example of weight loss. He points out that setting a goal to lose weight is negative in itself, plus it speaks volumes of future angst and torture. It's hardly a good starting point. How much better instead to picture yourself in the mirror in February clear-skinned, toned, glossy-haired and sparkly-eyed - a vision of health and fitness? I don't know about you, but I feel pretty good about working towards becoming this February girl.

To help, I'm writing myself a long list of positive verbs - build, grow, commit, make, test, create, learn and above all, I'm believing in the beauty of my dreams rather than thinking too much about the slog I need to do to get there. With the shining touchstone of success guiding me through the tough times it all feels so much easier.

2013 begins for me with a clear(ish) plan with some SMART goals and a rough idea on how I'm going to achieve them. However, I never like to set anything too much in stone (it takes far too long to chip away all that concrete). I believe a spot of by-the-seat-of-your-pants flying is often the magic dusting required to take a project to an elevated level. Being able to shift the plan at a moment's notice to embrace that exciting vision that just popped in your head can lead to the remarkable over the mundane. It's a method of working I highly recommend - never stop asking questions. I know I'm not the only one who thinks like this...

"Don't think! Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things."

Ray Bradbury

(Artwork above is something I made the other evening after a fun planning session.)