Finished a series early July and took a much needed break, a vacation to San Francisco and had a heck of a time getting back to anything productive in August.  But a recent opportunity for a small show has me working again, trying some new ideas and exploring old ideas I skecthed out but never worked on.

I am glad for the opportunity because it presents me the chance to get back in the saddle.  Had some experiences that caused me to doubt myself and what it is I do.  That is actually pretty common for artists I guess, but it was the first time I really felt like I hit a wall.  So I am excited about just getting back into making stuff, letting some ideas simmer and try out others I have been putting off.

So I have spent a good part of the late summer and early fall preparing for the Affordable Art Show, my first such event, October 16th.  It has been fun to make things that I can do over and over and get better at, and it has been a drag to make things over and over.  Puts in perspective the idea of making a living at making art.  It’s still work.

It is exciting though to consider getting real feedback, as in do people want to buy it? Not that that is the chief end but you can’t making a living making art if you can’t sell it.  However you can make a life of making art regardless. And so while this manic pace is about to end (only to be replaced by other projects artistic and other) it is nice to know I don’t have to make money (though who doesn’t want to) to enjoy making art.

The above is a display I made to sell my time flies pieces.

I’ve finished three pieces today derived from the Family Curse series, Adam’s Lament, I’m calling it.  It takes the elements of the curse upon the ground and our endeavors and works them into one piece. The character in the picture, Clay I have taken to calling him, is cut from a photograph by JohnVachon, 1941.  He is slumped over in despair or depression, and seems crushed. 

The elements from the curse, the earth, the thorns, thistles, sweat in work and our ultimate death form the background and the little bottle of graveyard dust reminds us that from dust we were formed and to dust we will return. 

Ironically making this piece and smaller collaged works has been a struggle for me as I stress about making art and making a living. Comically thinking about making the work, I reflected very little about my own struggles with work, not until I was finished with them and thinking about writing did I realize how much I chase after the perfect livelihood, that somehow I expect my faith to save me from living out this struggle myself among thorns and thistles.  My faith, the real faith, of course has bearings on my whole life, work included, but as I have been making art and blogging over  a year now, there has been constant questions about if/when I might perhaps make a living by art and the perennial, albeit oft forgotten, resolution to trust God where I am at, keep making work from my heart, get better at it and be thankful for the blessings I have and the grace I enjoy.

So it seems like this is a good place to start making art that I will begin to sell, maybe not make a living at it just yet but at least start funding my artmaking with my own art sells.