I've talked about personal choices as an artist on my blog, I've talked about my difficulties in choosing one type of work that is truly recognizable to just me, I've talked about thinking outside the box and doing things to "clean my artistic pallet". Every so often I return to that discussion with myself, and sometimes I bring it to this venue. STILL I am having difficulty thinking of giving something up so I could concentrate on one avenue of work that is truly recognizable. The more I think about it, the more I want to try to think outside the box to try to figure a way to NOT have to do that for myself.
For many of you I've seen that you have arrived! I am SO thrilled with you and your work. There are SO many artists who are entirely recognizable and who are finding a measure of success in your work; because you ARE doing work that is truly recognizable, and you are selling. YIPEE! I just wonder at those who love so many different things that they are like me...hmmm...I'm back to either picking ONE type of work...or challenging the system (which is characteristic of me if it is near to my heart), or thinking outside the box to try to find a way to do it through some back door...I may fail at the success thing; that is yet to be made known to me.
As a way to visually demonstrate I've posted a couple of pics of a wind chime I made during a workshop I taught at a local gallery on wind chimes and mobiles. If you look closely, the objects that make up this wind chime are not ones that are typically used in a wind chime. The tiny wreath, the wooden beads, the horn shaped metal thingys that I found in a little shop somewhere...I LOVE this wind chime. It makes an interesting sound when the wind blows, but mostly because I was thinking outside the box when I chose the objects. Thinking like that is a must for us all as you all know...We all do it differently, but in a way we don't. We are stretching our minds, almost stretching the borders of regular sight to imagine a composition. For me that is a very exciting event.
I think of artists like Jane Hunt who creates these wonderful vignettes of nature in her very RECOGNIZABLE style that is truly her own, and very much a product of her thinking outside of the box. She sells, she has a large following, to me she is a picture of one who has made it in the art world. Her thinking outside her box resulted in a recognizable body of work. Plus she works HARD at it. She has a gift for marketing. In fact she is part of a studio tour in Boulder starting this weekend. Click over to her blog to read about it.
I also think of another artist, Carol Nelson, who has created TWO types of recognizable work. She paints in oils subject matter that is recognizable and vibrant, and in the past couple of years has developed a second body of work; abstract, that is also very recognizable. Her work, her marketing, her vision of what the public wants is also a product of thinking outside her box. Her work(s) are also beautiful. I am constantly amazed at what she can do with materials and subject matter. There are many others of you that I could say the same about, but to keep this on one screen I will stop. I believe I've made my point. I think I have.
So, for today, for me, I continue to think outside of my box. My challenge is to continue to create work that speaks to me, in the medium that speaks to me, and to change the way I present them somehow, so that I can possibly bring collectors to my various "collections" or different bodies of work. Will I be successful in this? I can't say, but my spirit cannot be stilled, so I will try until I reach some sort of conclusion. Until then? Well, I suppose that is why I am subbing! That and the fact that I find incredible inspiration in the young artist minds of these kids. I hope I bring them happy sub days, and some knowledge I may have to share, because they certainly make my current choice a win, win.
PS...welcome to my newest follower...that makes us only one away from the next thank you for following give-away!! YIPEE for me!!
