A Continuous Process, But Not Linear!

Well, I cleaned up my studio as good as I could to make my deadline meeting with Linadria, and all in all I think I gave her a pretty good sense of how I go about making my oriel pendants. I was a tad nervous of being watched as I soldered...I kept thinking I had to hurry...or be perfect....But I realized that wasn't the issue, the challenge was to stay present and to let things flow. We spent time talking "biz", the different avenues to explore, possibilities of where this small jewelry business of mine might go -- but the time was more about putting our two bodies in the same place and to see where things went in the moment.

My intention is to see my business grow as an expression of my self. And there is no accident that the most challenging part of the hour was describing for her who Kentucky Girl is -- she wanted to get a sense of what that name meant to me. For those who read, or will read these posts, Kentucky Girl was one of the names I chose for my business name, but then I got a lot of feedback that it really didn't fit my image or teh things I made. However, I wanted to get a shop up in Etsy right away (this was March 08) so I named the shop Kentucky Girl (see link) and figured if I sat with the whole thing for a bit, a more professional name would appear. It did: Oriel Pendants (more on that later) is my registered business name, but I still like Kentucky Girl!

Isn't this funny...I have spent my whole life searching for who I really am...the person or being that I am under all the trappings (born in Kentucky, an elderly mother, 1 brother, 1 sister, married twice, divorced once, live in California, etc., etc.), and I'm just not ready to get rid of the Kentucky in me. Who says I have to right now? Life is and has been and will be a continuous process, and learning who you really are is not linear! I am becoming closer, though, I can just about feel it...

What would it feel like to not doubt who I am? To feel my mane blowing in the wind?

Oriel: Mairzy Doats with Beaded Necklace. See at Etsy Kentucky Girl Shop.

Exercise, Coffee...and Chocolate!

AFTER...

BEFORE...

Well, I shook off my stupor and burned through another 2 areas of my studio: my soldering station and the "embellishing" station (charms, crystals, beads way station and general catch all for supplies that I pull out -- see "before" photo!). How did I manage to reverse the lethargy?

1. Did 20 minutes of stretching exercises (Egoscue-yoga-sports stretches pioneered by my friend Jen Fuller, see link)
2. Chocolate.
3. A Walk/Run (even impressed myself with this) around Deer Island
4. More chocolate.
5. A Peet's coffee.
6. And still more chocolate!

Whatever works -- it was good mix and once I started with one area the other just fell into place. I still have to put in another 3 or 4 hours before it's ready for Linadria's visit.

Better get off the internet. Ciao!

After the Headway Comes the Lull

OK, this is what happens with me. I make great headway and then I slack off. I have no energy today, everything is a blur, I feel like I'm coming down with a cold....yada.. yada... yada.

Time to pull up the bootstraps again! What could I do to shift my energy?

List of possibilities:

• Do my Egoscue exercises
• Go for a walk/run around Deer Island
  
• Work on my Pole Dance choreography
  
• Go get a cup of Peet's coffee
• Complete one of my oriels
• Start cleaning up another area of my art studio
• Eat some chocolate
  

Can you guess which one I am going to do? Later....

Making Headway!

Cleaned Up "Assembly Station"!!! (See pic in previous post for "Before")

Whoopee! I am making headway, although it still feels like I'm shuffling a lot of items around in my studio. I would like to throw out way more -- but I just can't make that happen right now. Maybe that's OK.

Here's what I did after 4 hours of studio time:

1. There was a sea of ribbons on the floor. Color grouped ribbons and placed them in quart baggies and placed in top 2 drawers of plastic container (moved the tissue paper collection to the closet Elfa bins since I don't use them that often). I don't like that the ribbons are hidden, but I know where they are. I also kept out a woven basket filled with ribbons that I use all the time in my oriel collages.
2. Cleaned off the surface of my assembly and display table. I really need more surface space, but I'll have to work that out later*.
3. Pulled out all of the glass shapes to reorganize and place on the entry table. These really should be somewhere on the assembly table, but I'll work that out later*.
4. Restacked the themed collage images bins, and made a big woven basket the resting place for miscellaneous images that haven't found there home yet.
   
5. Vacuumed the floor that was cleared today.
6. Made labels with my label maker for the various drawers in the studio.

Next to Do:

1. Clear off and clean and rearrange the soldering and metal assembly station.
2. Clear off and clean the remaining table that seems to be a landing place for everything.
3. Reorganize the "outhouse" (my mother's term for a wooden TV/multimedia station that has retired to the art studio; this of course was made my a master craftsman, which didn't impress my mother -- she said all it needed was a crescent moon cut in the door).
4. Go through closet and pick out books that I want to get rid of/donate/etc.

Well, that's it so far. My mane doesn't feel much like it's blowing in the wind. That's OK too -- there's always tomorrow!

Creative Energy Has a Life of Its Own

OK, I have to remind myself that I am not a complete slacker -- something else moves forward in spite of my self-imposed obstacles. While I may think I'm spinning my wheels -- it's pretty evident that the creative energy I carry is still operating. It has its own life and timing.

Here are eleven oriels that I created last week in the midst of my chaotic art studio. They have been assembled, wrapped with copper tape, and are now ready to be fluxed and soldered, and then ornamented. Although the size of my workspace had been reduced to dimensions of a dinner plate, I managed to create an eclectic group of oriels: Moscow Theater Critic and Horse Crazy (Our Town Vintage Series) ; Buddha Head, Celestial Inspiration, and Starry Starry Oak Tree (Sacred Journeys Series); Fireside Diva (GlamGirls Oriels); Thinking of You and My Love Is Pink (Boudoir Beauty Series), and three Itsy Bitisies.

My mane is blowing in the wind....

A Small, Furry Inspiration

As I anxiously look at the colorful chaos of my art studio, I notice my white cat Angelina curled up on the floor next to the radiant heater. Nothing is disturbing her. She is resolutely basking in the warmth and perhaps creativeness of the moment. Napping a creative process? Perhaps, especially if one dreams. Kitty dreams of soft warm places; dark, leafy cubbyholes; tasty little mice and snakes....

What would it be like to not feel stuck? To just feel my mane blowing in the wind?

I think that I'll get started now....

Procrastination

Messy Messy Messy. Good God! I have a deadline....I have to reorganize my art studio.

Holy Moley!!!!! I've been spinning my wheels around this 4EVER. But I have to keep that deadline -- 2pm this Saturday -- so Linadria (I've hired her to help me market my necklaces) can see me at work in my studio. And Michael wants to come and take pictures for my marketing ventures and to submit to magazines.

Wonderful. I've tried almost everything except locking myself in the studio. I know that most artists deal with this. Except the ones featured in the "Artist's Studio" books and magazines. HAH! I've done this before, I can do it again. I can just feel my investment in keeping the status quo; if I don't clean up, I don't have to make new jewelry, I don't have to make money, I don't have to go out into the public's eye. I DON'T like throwing away anything!

Well tough, little lady. Get that whip cracking! Chew it up and spit it out! Divest! Establish order! Use those organizing skills you use for other people's lives! Stay tuned...I will be reporting back in.

What would it feel like to not procrastinate? To just feel my mane blowing in the wind?

Freedom

What would it feel like to be free? Free of worry? Free of doubt? To walk confidently and graciously through the world? To walk with no fear, no sense of failure? As I move through the world, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, I look at myself in the car mirror, bathroom mirror, studio mirrors and what I see does not reflect what I feel.

What would it be like to feel free of self-absorption? To just move with my mane blowing in the wind?