Hello creative friends,
     I went to my physical therapist yesterday (recovering from a fall @ work).  He twisted me into a pretzel to stretch my back & I must have said ouch because he asked "sorry, does this hurt?"  I told him "yes, but it's a 'good ow'."  My muscles were being stretched in a way they weren't used to being stretched.  I've been in such pain lately that my body instinctively tightened here and pinched there, in an effort to accommodate my injury.  So, when Brett twisted me, I said "ow".  It was good for me and, in a way, felt good.  But it was still an "ow" because those muscles weren't used to being stretched like that.  Not in the correct way.
     In a similar way, my art biz is stretching my creative muscles.  At times, they pinch.  At times, they say "ow".  But sometimes, they say "ahhhhh, that's a good 'ow'!"  They're learning to move in a different way and are being stretched.  I'm learning.  I'm growing as an artist.  As a businesswoman.  It sometimes smarts, but, overall, it's a really good stretch...a really good "ow"!

try this one!  https://www.facebook.com/LauratheArtiste/

OK, I'm finally catching up with the times.  Thanks for bearing with me as my computer learning curve improves!  Just learned how to (please don't laugh) insert a link to my art biz facebook page and vice versa!    https://www.facebook.com/LauratheArtiste/    Feel free to congratulate me with all the sincere enthusiasm you can muster!  Woo-hoo!

Fear is our friend

     Edvard Munch said, "Without fear, I never could have accomplished all I have."  Anyone out there in artist land ever experience fear? ...in regards to your art biz?....in regards to any area of your life?  I sure have!
      I read another quote somewhere that says something about how courage is feeling the fear and going ahead and doing it anyway.  When I think back over my life, I can remember times I've done that....just taken a really, really deep breath, prayed "OK, Lord, help me do this!", and then just done whatever it was.  As a Christian, I rely greatly on God's help & strength to do things that scare me, but at some point it's simply up to me to just DO IT.
     If you've been reading my blog, you've heard me talk about how, although I've been an artist for many years, building an online presence terrified me.  Why?  Well, I'd told myself (and everyone else) for years that I was incompetent when it came to "technical things"...i.e. computers!  I honestly believed I didn't have the capacity to learn what was needed to make my online creative biz a reality.  Also in one of my previous posts was the story of how my art biz mentor challenged me to "remove the 't and realize all you're left with is CAN."  Wow.  So simple, yet so impactful.
     I so appreciate your coming along with me on my journey!  There is much I've yet to learn on this social media trail, but once I got over my fear, the size of my monsters dwindled considerably. Thanks for your companionship as I walk along...nice to know you're all out there, urging me on up the hill!  I'll keep you posted on my progress...and eventually I'll learn how to post photos on this blog!  Won't that be nice?
 

   All of life is about process, isn't it?  Learning, doing, growing.
   Yesterday I moved some furniture around in my little cottage & discovered a treasured book by Jack Canfield, cocreator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.  This treasured book by him, however, is The Success Principles, How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.
   Inside the cover I'd written "Summer 2005", when I purchased & first read this terrific book.  I don't know how many times I've gone through it, but for several years since buying it I began in January, reading and putting into practice many of the lessons I learned within its pages, marking it all up & making notes in the margins.
   Just now I read something in the introduction I'd like to share with you...a "from me to thee" goody.
   Canfield quotes Henry James: "It's time to live the life you've imagined."  Gotta love that!  Then Canfield writes: "....any change requires sustained effort to overcome years' worth of internal and external resistance. Initially you may find yourself getting very excited about all this new information.  You may feel a newfound sense of hope and enthusiasm for the new vision of your life as it can be.  This is good.  But be forewarned that you may also begin to experience other feelings as well.  You may feel frustration at not knowing about all of this earlier....."   He goes on.  "Just take a deep breath and realize that this is all part of the PROCESS (caps mine)of your journey.  Everything in the past has actually been perfect.  Everything in your past has led you to this transformative moment in time.  Everyone - including you - has always done the best they could do with what they knew at the time.  Now you are about to know more.  Celebrate your new awareness!  It's about to set you free."
   WOW!  And again I say, WOW!
   I'm entering a new realm of being an artist, although I've been one for years.  I'm excited about my journey, even though, of course, it's taking longer than I'd like to get to, as Canfield says in his title, where I want to be.  I want to replace my day job income NOW.  I want to have a bigger art making space NOW.  I want, I want.  But today, I CHOOSE to celebrate this new phase of my journey, and invite you to come along with me as I learn to walk it!
   (I'd insert a photo of Canfield's book here if I had learned to do that already...bear with me as I catch up with the times! LOL)

       I don't know about your process as an artist, but mine seems to be this:  I see something that puts a tiny little idea into a tiny little pot a-waaaay back on the stove of my creative brain.  Then a song on the radio may give me an idea which goes into that same tiny little pot, which is now starting to warm.  Next, I may have a minute as I wait for an appointment - or a red light to turn green - and I suddenly just HAVE to grab pen or pencil and jot or draw another ingredient for that tiny little pot...which is now starting to simmer.  There's no time frame on when this pot of ideas will actually boil into a clearer gist of what I want to create on my next canvas...like any process, it takes as much time as it takes.  Sometimes a few moments, sometimes several months, but most of these little pots of ideas do eventually boil into a great idea.  That's when the fun really starts!
    And if your process is anything like mine you may find, too, that great ideas somehow manage to take on a life and direction of their own once we sit down and bring them from the little pot out onto our canvas, work table, kiln, etc.
    Art.  Process.  Life.
    Welcome to mine.  I hope you enjoy my sharing.

Baby Steps

     Baby steps.  That's how we learn to walk & it's how I'm learning to get my creative art biz off and running.  It's been slow going because of my technological "challenges".  I wanted to use the word "impairment", but my brother-in-law said that sounds like a disability.  Enough said.
     My business mentor says I need to get over myself (my paraphrase) and remove the 't and all I'll be left with is CAN.  Good stuff.  Next, he says, all I have to do is ask myself HOW can I?  Just the kick in the artistic backside I needed.
     So, Baby Step One: I got over myself & told myself I CAN do it.
     Baby Step Two: I went home from our meeting, got online, and actually figured out a few things for myself.
     Baby Step Three:  (I call this one Perseverance.)  For me, it's doing what the Nike slogan says:  "Just Do It". I have to give my sister credit here for being my patient Help Line when I can't figure something out, but it is exciting to see my fear of computers lessening and my tech abilities growing.
     I don't see myself running anytime soon, but I'm learning how to do the HOW CAN I? walk.
     Baby steps.