It’s a New Day

Everything is cyclical. Today is the start of fall. It is a new day. It is the gentle rebirthing for me of my art studio Bohemian Art Cafe. I don’t have a “real” art studio anymore. Most of my art supplies are in storage. I have a rolling cart with art journaling supplies, a tool box of fine metal jewelry supplies, another toolbox with my watercolor painting kit, and a box with my calligraphy and illumination supplies.

Can it be enough? After having ten years of tremendous art studio space and more supplies than I probably could have used in my lifetime, I have found myself recently questioning why I have so much stuff and how much simpler life could be if I selected some new, easier to access and far more portable and small hobbies. Glass is heavy. It takes up a lot of space. It does not move easily or well, often ending in broken pieces and it is expensive. Am I an art supply and book hoarder? I fear that I may be. 

We moved again...four months ago and I’ve virtually done no art. That bone dry creative abyss has still been very much alive and well.

But just recently, this past month or so, I’ve felt the budding seed of the artful urge. That creative driving need to express myself has begun to peep out. I don’t really know how it is going to play out, but I needed the healing of my soul and spirit from what was a couple of somewhat brutal life events. Let me repeat that. I needed the time to heal my soul and my spirit. Had I had the place to do it, I probably could have used painting as my therapy, but it felt like there was nowhere to do this. I realize now that probably isn’t true. It’s just an excuse and an avoidance technique.

We cleaned out a storage unit this past weekend and we took a trailer full of stuff to a thrift store. I still could take 4 to 5 more trailers of stuff...but I’m forced by distance and time constraints to let it sit. In my head, a list is stewing, slowly formulating into another list of stuff to let go. I have a good 10 boxes of art supplies I’ll eventually be posting on my Etsy store, Ephemera Bistro.

But, in the meantime, this tickling urge has led me to sign up for two fine silver jewelry crafting classes and a torch fired enameling class. When I take them, I vow that my intent is to 1. Thoroughly enjoy the class and process, 2. Take my time to practice and really create something beautiful, and 3. That I will not bastardize my healing and process by trying to go into production mode and create a bunch of mediocre pieces. In fact, I don’t know that I EVER want to go into production mode again, unless it is to create large scale public artworks. So hello fall...it’s a time for harvest.

(c) 2019 SZing.All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of Pixabay.

What’s Your Name Anyway?

It can become very routine to get in a routine.  Sometimes this is also called “A Rut.”
Which is not good to get into.  Unless you’re an elk or a deer, but that’s a whole other discussion.

Consider what can happen simply by changing the name of something.  If it is your art, you could change from “bad” to “good.”  You could change your genre of art from Abstract to Cosmic Expressionism.  You could change the title of a work from “Ode to the Woods” to “Wood, Where You Be?”  See how making a simple name change can, in fact, alter one’s perspective and perception of something?

Not to get all Biblical and stuff but there was a time early on when Mankind was given permission to name all things living.  Imagine what the implications would or could be if Great Ape was now Hairy Beastie Who Beats His Chest and Has Banana Breath.  Or if Kangaroo was now Bouncy Ball of Fur with a Pocket.  Maybe Fish could be named Scaly Slippery Side Faced Water Wigglers.  Okay.  You get the picture.  On one hand, I think it is important not to get too hung up on a name.  There is an argument for it all being “semantics.”

It has long been a tradition that a person’s name is one of the most important “possessions” they can have.  Whether that be through dint of reputation or the more superstitious belief that it was important to keep your real name a secret lest someone take your power away.
I believe that Words do have power and we must be aware of and carefully consider what we name our creative works and the names we give ourselves as well. 
For many creative people, calling oneself an Artist or a Writer seems to be fraught with all sorts of “deservingness” issues.  If you are creating art, writing, or making music, please, please consider calling yourself an Artist, a Writer or a Musician.  Let yourself be what you are.

Keep in mind that should you decide you do not like a label that has been attached to you, you can choose a new name.  Today, I am Woman Who Juggles Many Tasks and Risks Falling On Face.  Tomorrow I may be Little Miss All About Recycled Upcycling Trash User Girl. Next week maybe I will be Jelly.  I get to choose.