November 2010
Changes and The Painting Process
Submitted by Leila on 14 November 2010 - 5:40pmYes. My blog name has changed...Thus Art Life is now Cherishing.
I wanted to feel a lightness of Be-ing, happiness, my feminine energy and creativity when I look at my blog. This is one of my pattern designs (if you look closely it's based on the Protea Susannae) in the background.
My decision to change my blog name is in part due to me wanting a title that reflects how I feel about the free inspirational content I publish, and in part because there are so many blog/url name combinations of Art and Life out there. It also doesn't really speak to me anymore. It started to sound jaded or complacent-which I am ANYTHING but. So there it is.
My blog now reflects more of me, less mind-more heart. I have also decided to bring the 'comments' gadget back by popular demand. Well! If I'd known y'all wanted to say something I would've left it there.
I am moving. In many ways. Moving house and moving to a website of my own.
At the end of this month (November), we move to a lovely home on a wine farm in a little town called Darling -so that my son, Jude (7), can go to a little school there. I will finally have more time to paint and generally create and be productive. Yay!
I have been home-schooling grade 1, and easy as that may sound-it's not. It's HARD work! Teaching one's own is not what you initially think it will be. I should have realised this, but I didn't; a child will clearly take a lot more chances and generally be a little monster with his own mother in ways that he would never be with a teacher. It's a familiarity thing-or just a LOVE thing. He knows I love him to bits-unconditionally-so the opportunities for seeing just how far that loooooove can be stretched are endless.
My website is nearing completion, so my blog will be hosted there in the next month or so. It will showcase all my artwork, surface pattern designs, fabric and stationery lines. I will keep you posted. There will be a link on this blog to get there.
My Painting Process
I have been painting like crrrrazy. This time, for once, remembering to do a photographic log of the process. I love seeing other peoples creative processes-but I always forgot to have a camera on hand in the past.
It also helps that my husband owns a gorgeous Canon EOS 450D that produces stunning images and is fairly easy to use. One small drawback of having a camera in studio-I tend to get oil paint smears on the camera : ( which obviously does not make my darling man a happy chappie. Do any of you clean your hands continuously while painting? Do tell.
I've always assumed all artists paint like I do-fairly messy while creating till I'm finished-then a MAJOR clean-up. I sort out materials, clean floor, paint canvasses and then start again- and it gets messy. If I had to worry about the state of things while creating, I wouldn't get very far at all!
It's funny though, I love food preparation and inventing new recipes etc and I am rather particular in the kitchen when it comes to my process. I literally clean as I work. So, by the time the meal is done-the cleaning is also done. I just can't see myself doing that in the art studio. What about you?
Photographically logging my progress on a painting has also been very interesting for me to see how I work through ideas and problem areas. Taking photo's of each step, forces me to be more conscious of how I make decisions. It's kinda nice. It also seems to speed me up a bit - never a bad thing when it comes to painting.
I'll be posting my photographic painting steps on my next blog entry...
Till then...Happy Creating!
Tell me about your studio. Link me to your blog-I'd love to see pics!
Share this page
How to: Your Own Personalised Marketing Plan
Submitted by Leila on 14 November 2010 - 5:31pmHave you ever taken a moment to read back through an old journal or diary? Strangely enough, I've found it to be a valuable exercise in the re-evaluation of my creative path.
Littered amongst the many successes, it is quite alarming to see just how many goals and visions one has put 'out there' over time, that haven't come to fruition. I find that those goals or visions I had that haven't got anywhere, didn't happen for a very good reason.
The Big Question that I had failed to answer, was: Do I really Want to Do the Action required to Achieve this Dream?
In other words-you may have a strong desire to make and sell your products and have worked out that it will take 300 sales a month to make your target income. But, have you thought about what that would require in terms of actions to be taken? Suddenly you are looking at the real time energy expenditure; will it be time spent on actions you love?
For instance: you want to sell masses of your new range of printed fabric items in your online shop. This means masses of time spent MAKING them. Do you love sewing all day long? Or is it just the designing of them you really love? If so, you need to rethink the structure of your business and start looking at outsourcing what you don't love doing, but need to get done.
If your valuable time is opened up for you to be doing MORE of what you DO BEST, it stands to reason that you will be achieving more during that time, if that's all you are focused on. Your passion won't have waned by day 4, your enthusiasm will be continually fired and inspiration will flow better. Results will come quicker, because you are not bogged down in the actions you don't love, while trying/hoping to get to the stage where you are doing only what you do love. It's not going to happen-until you say so.
There are plenty of people who LOVE doing what you don't and probably do it better. So many powerful creative business people can be quoted saying: I surround myself with experts. I am not an expert at everything- I am an expert at doing what I love. The key to success is knowing what you are good at and outsourcing the rest.
I recently found some fantastic business oriented blogs aiming at the creative minded who are INTENT on success. I love what people are doing out there to help themselves at the same time as helping others.
Take a look at these simple yet practical tips from Blacksburgbelle and their very to-the-point, easy worksheets that help you sort out what is important to you and what is not. What you really WANT to spend your time doing and what you really don't, but haven't had the heart to admit to. The second worksheet gets you into the logical steps to take to start marketing what you do once you've cleared your way through the clutter. As we know too well, you have to take action to make anything happen. How you take it, is up to you, but DO it, you MUST.
With your own personalised marketing plan on paper, you are a huge step closer to getting your vision accomplished. Oprah once said: "There is magic in writing things down." It seems to have a quickening effect- as if you have stretched your hand out into the ether, and pulled back the solid ingredients for the realisation of your wishes. Once they are written in black and white you feel more compelled to work on their actualization.
With your own personalised marketing plan on paper, you are a huge step closer to getting your vision accomplished. Oprah once said: "There is magic in writing things down." It seems to have a quickening effect- as if you have stretched your hand out into the ether, and pulled back the solid ingredients for the realisation of your wishes. Once they are written in black and white you feel more compelled to work on their actualization.
Print the worksheets out, fill them in (they're short and simple) and get going!
Enjoy!
Share this page