Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Rumminating IV -- taking stock

a lot of people review and make resolutions on New Year's Eve

I've never been good at doing that, but around this time of the year I usually do a sort of mental review

this year seems especially momentous for this purpose

today is my birthday -- I'm 60 years old -- the age I remember my grandmother being and certainly not an age I've ever imagined myself being

I can say that aside from my body reminding me that I'm not 20 any more, I'm not unhappy with that number

10 years into being retired from the corporate world, I can finally say I feel like I've made the transition from that daily grind to something more in keeping with what I enjoy doing

so here are the main points of where I am

1. am I an artist or a craftsman? I'm now comfortable with saying I'm an artist, and acknowledging that being a good craftsman was a necessary step in that direction -- being comfortable with the materials and processes of working with them is an important step in being able to say I am an artist

2. abstract or representational? still in the representational area -- I have really enjoyed doing the landscape or pictorial pieces in the last year, and I have a lot more of them calling from my head to be worked on (although I do have one abstract percolating in there too)

3. process or product? Yes! many of the pieces begin because I have at least a vague idea in my head of what I want it to look like when I get finished, but recently I did a whole piece just because I had the opportunity to learn how to work with a new medium

4. wearing my art? this has been a new question -- for the most part when I make a new piece of jewelry I don't wear it because it is my intention to try to sell it -- but when I do wear some of my work (for instance the repurposed shirt that won a blue ribbon at the state fair) I get very positive feedback -- I still need to work on this idea and be willing to make a few things specifically for myself

so where does it go from here?

more pieces entered in competition is the road to success I think -- which means I also need to get into the studio and actually make (or finish) some more pieces

and to continue to connect with other artists

things are looking good!

2 comments:

Alison said...

Happy Birthday! That's a wonderful number! And I love your descriptioni of the craft-to-art: I hadn't thought of it in those terms before, but it rings exactly true.

Kay Dennison said...

Happy Birthday!!! My 64th is coming soon! I look forward to seeing your creations and hope you stay firm in your resolve. If you do, send any extra my way as I always seem short of it! :)