One of my favorite things about selling my work on line, which excited me from the very start of this adventure, is the ability to connect with people throughout the world.
Having loved traveling when I was younger I could easily imagine my packages arriving in far off places, especially places throughout the world I had visited.
What I did not know is that it would stimulate my imagination so much is learning about all the places my packages go. When I've sold something to Rome, Paris, Dublin, Chicago, Montreal, Sydney, Edinburgh etc etc I can instantly picture these places and it is a thrill to ship something to a person who discovered your work from halfway across the world. But what I love even more is selling to someone who lives in a small town, a village, a remote location on any continent. Small towns that I have never heard of before. I turn immediately to our old friend, Wikipedia, and I spend a few minutes familiarizing myself with the where and whens of it's history and locale. The inevitable pictures of main streets, historic sights, architecture, sweeping landscapes and vistas and old twisting roads and pathways pull at something in my heart. Of course, I've chosen to live in one of those towns too so what registers is the instant realization that someone who lives as I do, but many miles away, can find my shop, see my work, and decide to bring it into their home or gift it to someone they love.
In the past week I've shipped packages off to places like
Theresa, Wisconsin (pop 1200)
Havre Boucher, Nova Scotia (pop 1500)
Crickhowell, Wales (pop 2,800)
Gravdal, Norway (pop 1500)
Each allowed me a chance to peek into the remote and unheralded places of our world.
I suppose what interests me most is this. I feel like I know cities. I've lived in my share. It's not that they are all the same but they all have very similar dynamics to them. Population density, a mix of old and new architectures and infrastructure. Constant change and shuffle. Lives pass through them in a heartbeat with no trace left to remember them by. The cities ARE the stories. . . and they are, at this point in my life, rather overwhelming to consider.
People actually use the term "livable city" these days. That should tell you all you need to know.
But for all of their grandness and opportunity and energy, they are desperately lacking in something I find to be a necessity. Continuity.
Especially in this country, old is not nearly appreciated enough be that in people or buildings. Face-lifts on both offer a promise of newness and vitality but it's all a facade.
Cities, it seems to me, swallow people whole. . .
Smaller places. Landscapes and places that do not change. . . one leaves a mark there. Stories evolve over time and lives stretch into the very fiber of the places they inhabit. That's lore. That's history. And it is not forgotten. That's what is interesting and eternal about them.
Look up Halstatt, Austria (pop 950) on Wikipedia and you will find a photo of the town from just a few years ago as well as one from 1898. There is so little difference in them it's amazing. Same scene, same buildings. Same beauty. No one moves there to "be something." or to attain anything (except, obviously, peace and soulful living) No one moves there to cash in on real estate opportunities or to bring something new to the town. no one moves there for social outlets or the overt distractions of population densities as we all have done with our city dwelling.
The US has it's share of places like this too. My town is one. Every building here has a story and it's not something you have to look up or dig to discover. Just ask anyone old enough and they can tell you it all. People in cities can;t tell you about the last person to live in their house or apartment let alone the history of the block, neighborhood or community.
But in my town? A lot of people today and their families have lived here in this little fishing town for generations. Yes, things change here as with any US town. Our culture and economic structure demands it unfortunately. Change and growth are synonymous with success in the US and are often just an ephemeral illusion and an empty promise. But much stays the same too.
This little coastal town I live in is a gem. All the places I listed above are too. . . If I were to travel again in my lifetime, THESE are the places I'd want to see. But i am content here. . .and that is a feeling I never had in the city.
But that's me. . . I'm Larkrise to Candleford over EastEnders . . . Little House over Gotham City
These little discoveries are one of the many reciprocal gifts of what I do. These "out there" places work their way, in the smallest but most meaningful of ways, into my stories.
Into my paracosm.
Into my heart.
I won't forget them
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Growing an Idea
"To see is a trick of the mind but to believe is a trick of the heart."
-Ronlyn Domingue from "The Chronicle of Secret Riven"
Maybe it's just me. . . .but I have to say that I never feel a sense of "completion" in my creative world. There is no "done" when it comes to an idea or a technique. I am always looking forward to the next iteration. To the sharpening of the skill set and the expanding of the inner mythology that allows each creation to come alive.
I think that desire to re-imagine, recreate and reinvent is part of what makes being a maker-of-things a lifelong pursuit.
And I experience a connection in this to many who are able to make their living in a creative world. Because on the other side of that equation are the many who start an idea, perhaps a really GREAT idea. . . then make one or two of something, and then expect that they have done the work to be able to sell what they have made. When, at the heart of every creative soul who makes a living from their creativity, there is usually a deep, driving desire to carry their ideas to their greatest and fullest realization. Whether they sell them or not. . . In fact, to carry each little component or technique within those ideas to the same extent.
Many people "see" ideas. . . but only a few, in my experience, believe in them enough to carry them out.
Don't misunderstand. I've left ideas behind. More than I can count.
I've moved on to new and more interesting ones too. Not everything is meant to be carried forward and invested in ( in life AND creativity!) and I certainly have my share of feeling like ideas have reached their logical conclusions. But those are few and far between.
I love stories and great stories, like ideas, in my world never really have an end.
So I wanted to just present this little "road map" of an idea for you to peruse
This is how an idea grows. . .
It began right after the New Year with one little tiny fairy house. I had been working for some time on finding an interesting idea I could develop and grow and, as is often the case, it turned out to be the idea tha was least hollering for attention in my mind that grew into something larger. lol
That first house/style just seemed to have a certain Alpine feel to it. A little square chalet style with wooden door, stone archway, mossy tiled roof and flowers.
Tiny textured walls that allowed me to paint the individual "stones" in a plethora of color. I loved the very first one and I believe it sold in two days. So I made another. . and another. . . and another. After selling a dozen or so of this one model, I decided it would be interesting to grow the idea and it's story a bit. So I wrote a little piece about Alpine Fairies and thought I should christen the cottage after one of the Alpine peaks. . . a quick search led me to the revelation that there are literally hundreds of peaks ithat make up the Alps. (I'd been there twice but somehow forgotten the scope of the Alpine range!) And that each peak does indeed have it's own name. This one above became the "Monte Rosa" Well, that got the creative brain going and what has come of it is an endless and ever-growing series/story/paracosm all unto itself.
The story grew. . . (each mountain band of fairies had their own distinct fairy cottage style) the house names I liked are so numerous I can't imagine how long it might take for me to create a distinct style for each. . . Matterhorn, Hochwilde, Mont Pelvoux, Lagginhorn. . . sometimes the name suggests the style. . . sometimes it works the other way around.
While I am still working in the "stone cottage" style, I do have a desire to move this series forward into making some half timbered minis too! When that occurs, the story will get re-imagined and grow yet again.
Then came the desire to photograph these little cottages in a unique style so that, when people saw them in the shop, they would instantly recognize them as being a series. A background was found among my pictures of the time I spent in that region and I created a long-overdue photo fairy garden in the studio to shoot them in too.
At this point, there are 10 individual styles in the Alpine Fairy House series and it grows each week.
I can barely keep them in stock these days which, if you know me, is sometimes very frustrating as I love to have them around as much as my clientele does! But that ensures I will kep the production of them going and each time I remake one, I try to work on a new model or idea as well. :)
Below is the first group shot I took of the houses in this series. There are already four new styles being completed as I write. So this group image will grow and change as time goes on too.
But the thing I want to say here is that this idea also fit so well into all the areas I love most about creating. There is the challenge of keeping it ever-evolving and fresh and not being able to see an end in sight. The expanding story that allows me to grow the idea slowly and create the mythology as it comes to me. The time needed to "research", which is, in effect, me happily spending hours pouring over images of quaint Alpine villages and settings! And last, the constant honing of certain techniques that, I believe, make these little cottages so magical.
And most of all, these allow me to create yet another world to inhabit within myself. The story unfolds the deeper I go and the more I allow it to become a part of my day to day life.
If there is an end in sight, I can't fathom it.
And that wide open road ahead is, to me, the epitome of what real-world magic is all about.
It's not a trick at all.
It's alive
And it is completely invested in the heart of it's creator.
So take care of it just the same. . .
See you all in Alpine fairy land!
nicolas
-Ronlyn Domingue from "The Chronicle of Secret Riven"
Maybe it's just me. . . .but I have to say that I never feel a sense of "completion" in my creative world. There is no "done" when it comes to an idea or a technique. I am always looking forward to the next iteration. To the sharpening of the skill set and the expanding of the inner mythology that allows each creation to come alive.
I think that desire to re-imagine, recreate and reinvent is part of what makes being a maker-of-things a lifelong pursuit.
And I experience a connection in this to many who are able to make their living in a creative world. Because on the other side of that equation are the many who start an idea, perhaps a really GREAT idea. . . then make one or two of something, and then expect that they have done the work to be able to sell what they have made. When, at the heart of every creative soul who makes a living from their creativity, there is usually a deep, driving desire to carry their ideas to their greatest and fullest realization. Whether they sell them or not. . . In fact, to carry each little component or technique within those ideas to the same extent.
Many people "see" ideas. . . but only a few, in my experience, believe in them enough to carry them out.
Don't misunderstand. I've left ideas behind. More than I can count.
I've moved on to new and more interesting ones too. Not everything is meant to be carried forward and invested in ( in life AND creativity!) and I certainly have my share of feeling like ideas have reached their logical conclusions. But those are few and far between.
I love stories and great stories, like ideas, in my world never really have an end.
So I wanted to just present this little "road map" of an idea for you to peruse
This is how an idea grows. . .
It began right after the New Year with one little tiny fairy house. I had been working for some time on finding an interesting idea I could develop and grow and, as is often the case, it turned out to be the idea tha was least hollering for attention in my mind that grew into something larger. lol
That first house/style just seemed to have a certain Alpine feel to it. A little square chalet style with wooden door, stone archway, mossy tiled roof and flowers.
 |
| This was not the original but likely the second or third iteration! |
The story grew. . . (each mountain band of fairies had their own distinct fairy cottage style) the house names I liked are so numerous I can't imagine how long it might take for me to create a distinct style for each. . . Matterhorn, Hochwilde, Mont Pelvoux, Lagginhorn. . . sometimes the name suggests the style. . . sometimes it works the other way around.
While I am still working in the "stone cottage" style, I do have a desire to move this series forward into making some half timbered minis too! When that occurs, the story will get re-imagined and grow yet again.
Then came the desire to photograph these little cottages in a unique style so that, when people saw them in the shop, they would instantly recognize them as being a series. A background was found among my pictures of the time I spent in that region and I created a long-overdue photo fairy garden in the studio to shoot them in too.
 |
| The new, very- incomplete, fairy house photo garden! |
At this point, there are 10 individual styles in the Alpine Fairy House series and it grows each week.
I can barely keep them in stock these days which, if you know me, is sometimes very frustrating as I love to have them around as much as my clientele does! But that ensures I will kep the production of them going and each time I remake one, I try to work on a new model or idea as well. :)
Below is the first group shot I took of the houses in this series. There are already four new styles being completed as I write. So this group image will grow and change as time goes on too.
 |
| 8 of the Alpine Fairy House Series |
But the thing I want to say here is that this idea also fit so well into all the areas I love most about creating. There is the challenge of keeping it ever-evolving and fresh and not being able to see an end in sight. The expanding story that allows me to grow the idea slowly and create the mythology as it comes to me. The time needed to "research", which is, in effect, me happily spending hours pouring over images of quaint Alpine villages and settings! And last, the constant honing of certain techniques that, I believe, make these little cottages so magical.
And most of all, these allow me to create yet another world to inhabit within myself. The story unfolds the deeper I go and the more I allow it to become a part of my day to day life.
If there is an end in sight, I can't fathom it.
And that wide open road ahead is, to me, the epitome of what real-world magic is all about.
It's not a trick at all.
It's alive
And it is completely invested in the heart of it's creator.
So take care of it just the same. . .
See you all in Alpine fairy land!
nicolas
Sunday, July 6, 2014
A Month of Gathering
Back in 2004, a few years before he died, my father and I spoke often about life. We were never close when I was a child as he and my mum divorced when I was four. This was, for all intents and purposes, a very good thing for her AND I. He was very stodgy, quite mainstream in a narrow and limiting way and he had little room for self expression and the roads less traveled in life.
I cannot imagine who I would have turned out to be if he were a directive force in my developing years. . . but people change.
We reconnected when my grandmother, his mother, died when I was 19. Slowly, we built the strands of connection after he accepted my plea that, "I don't need you to be dad anymore. . I need a friend."
And a very good friend he turned out to be.
So that day, as I recounted all that was going on in my life, how I was pursuing my love of music-making and music production for others. How I was thriving owning a coffeehouse and creating digital art and poetry. (this is all about 5 years before my creative life as you see it now even began)
He listened quietly and patiently and then, when I had finished, he offered the following.
"Son, I've never told you this but I wish I had lived (he was 61 at the time) my life more like you. I would do it differently now but back then I always was so concerned with climbing the ladder of success and making more money and having better this and better that. There are so many things I thought to do but did not have the courage or the inner strength to try. And I see you, living your life this way and your voice is filled with joy and I feel every new experience brings you closer to something bigger. Maybe even closer to a sense of "purpose"? "
"But I am going to give you one piece of advice" he continued. "From here, the choices in your life will get tougher because you are still seeking and yet you have managed to eliminate all of the things people usually fill their lives with that are less than fulfilling. You love your job. You love where you live and you love the people around you. You have several creative outlets that take up every moment of your free time. . . and I know you, my son. You are going to keep finding things that you love and now? Now the choices are going to be between two or more things you love and where will they fit in when the days will always only be 24hrs long? And you don't do anything half assed. . . so where is the time going to come from and when those new "right things" present themselves? Because one of them may be "it". So remember that you'll have to make room for them. And that it is ok to let go of something you love as much as something you don't.
Oh, how right he was.
So the last 6 months as I've "struggled" with the lack of time that being a full time, all the time, maker-of-things requires and found myself overloaded with custom orders and requests as all the while the new ideas pile up and up and I cannot tend to them, And then, beneathe it all, this "new thing". . . this sense of something greater being right there all along. . . oh yes, it reared it's head and asked to be heard.
I once again took stock.
Made lists and looked deep within for the answer to what stays and what goes. . .
And here is what has changed from that kid who got that piece of advice 10 years ago.
The "new thing" is that I DO feel a sense of purpose in what I do now. It's the one thing I have done in my life (and I have done and tried more than my share) that feels really close to perfect and complete as far as being part of the thread I have known since childhood.
But these days I feel pulled to leave something behind. Something more than just bits and pieces and assorted lovelies. . . though those are as much a part of the "purpose" as what I have planned
My father was right,
I do not do anything half-assed. I don't know how. The details are everything and no matter how much I love something I make, I find myself looking to make it better and just a bit more innovative next time around. Good enough is never good enough even if I am the only one who sees it.
In truth, when people ask me for advice on making it with an online shop or with creative self employment, I usually include this one little piece of advice. What ever you do today, you can do better tomorrow and you have to want that, without fail, first and foremost or you'll not get far in the creative world.
First, you have to make room for it. . . and it requires lots of room.
Then, YOU have to
Grow
Change
Innovate
Reinvent
and
REACH
It's time now for me to reach. . .
I am setting a larger goal with the worlds I create.
They have been these lovely bits and pieces with little stories (also a must in the creative world I think. . tell a story!) that often are there before the pieces themselves.
But I want to bring them together and give something more through them.
A larger story that ties many of the smaller pieces together.
A world that is tangible and ever growing.
In my head, they always were this but, if I have one shortfall, it's that I often do not have the patience to write in such broad scope AND detail. I offer little detailed glimpses when an entire world is right there waiting to be brought to life.
And that world is what I want to leave behind. . .hopefully to inspire others as I have ben inspired by those that came before.
So this is what I have been doing the last month. Losing myself in reading about ancient civilizations, myths and stories I have loved my whole life and making notes, creating names, filling in gaps in my own stories and letting that world emerge. . . one village, one character, one myth at a time and, as is my way, the details sometimes come out first.
These are a couple of Elvin "reliquaries" I created this week that are just 1.5 and 2.75 inches tall. . . . perhaps containing mythic dragon scales or bits of ancient magic cloth, or a troll's tooth. . . or a thread of pure spun gold from time before time? Who can say?
What would YOU imagine to be found within an Elvin Reliquary?
More on their story in future posts. . .
Which is where the blog fits in with my future plans.
So many bits and pieces to keep track of and I am not an organized person by any means. So I will be posting more often and shorter posts with just that. . . bits and pieces of the larger story. . . threads that are all being woven into the larger world of my imagination. . . into the world of Bewilder and Pine. . . I hope you'll come along with me on this journey. It's going to be an adventure, I promise! :)
And my father, on that day I referred to earlier, added one more thing at the very end of the conversation that I took to heart then and still do to this day.
"No matter how busy you get. . . call your mother more. Because you'll regret it if you don't one day."
Thanks dad. . . you really were a true and beloved friend.
Thank you all for stopping by!
Soon again. . .
nicolas
I cannot imagine who I would have turned out to be if he were a directive force in my developing years. . . but people change.
We reconnected when my grandmother, his mother, died when I was 19. Slowly, we built the strands of connection after he accepted my plea that, "I don't need you to be dad anymore. . I need a friend."
And a very good friend he turned out to be.
So that day, as I recounted all that was going on in my life, how I was pursuing my love of music-making and music production for others. How I was thriving owning a coffeehouse and creating digital art and poetry. (this is all about 5 years before my creative life as you see it now even began)
He listened quietly and patiently and then, when I had finished, he offered the following.
"Son, I've never told you this but I wish I had lived (he was 61 at the time) my life more like you. I would do it differently now but back then I always was so concerned with climbing the ladder of success and making more money and having better this and better that. There are so many things I thought to do but did not have the courage or the inner strength to try. And I see you, living your life this way and your voice is filled with joy and I feel every new experience brings you closer to something bigger. Maybe even closer to a sense of "purpose"? "
"But I am going to give you one piece of advice" he continued. "From here, the choices in your life will get tougher because you are still seeking and yet you have managed to eliminate all of the things people usually fill their lives with that are less than fulfilling. You love your job. You love where you live and you love the people around you. You have several creative outlets that take up every moment of your free time. . . and I know you, my son. You are going to keep finding things that you love and now? Now the choices are going to be between two or more things you love and where will they fit in when the days will always only be 24hrs long? And you don't do anything half assed. . . so where is the time going to come from and when those new "right things" present themselves? Because one of them may be "it". So remember that you'll have to make room for them. And that it is ok to let go of something you love as much as something you don't.
Oh, how right he was.
So the last 6 months as I've "struggled" with the lack of time that being a full time, all the time, maker-of-things requires and found myself overloaded with custom orders and requests as all the while the new ideas pile up and up and I cannot tend to them, And then, beneathe it all, this "new thing". . . this sense of something greater being right there all along. . . oh yes, it reared it's head and asked to be heard.
I once again took stock.
Made lists and looked deep within for the answer to what stays and what goes. . .
And here is what has changed from that kid who got that piece of advice 10 years ago.
The "new thing" is that I DO feel a sense of purpose in what I do now. It's the one thing I have done in my life (and I have done and tried more than my share) that feels really close to perfect and complete as far as being part of the thread I have known since childhood.
But these days I feel pulled to leave something behind. Something more than just bits and pieces and assorted lovelies. . . though those are as much a part of the "purpose" as what I have planned
My father was right,
I do not do anything half-assed. I don't know how. The details are everything and no matter how much I love something I make, I find myself looking to make it better and just a bit more innovative next time around. Good enough is never good enough even if I am the only one who sees it.
In truth, when people ask me for advice on making it with an online shop or with creative self employment, I usually include this one little piece of advice. What ever you do today, you can do better tomorrow and you have to want that, without fail, first and foremost or you'll not get far in the creative world.
First, you have to make room for it. . . and it requires lots of room.
Then, YOU have to
Grow
Change
Innovate
Reinvent
and
REACH
It's time now for me to reach. . .
I am setting a larger goal with the worlds I create.
They have been these lovely bits and pieces with little stories (also a must in the creative world I think. . tell a story!) that often are there before the pieces themselves.
But I want to bring them together and give something more through them.
A larger story that ties many of the smaller pieces together.
A world that is tangible and ever growing.
In my head, they always were this but, if I have one shortfall, it's that I often do not have the patience to write in such broad scope AND detail. I offer little detailed glimpses when an entire world is right there waiting to be brought to life.
And that world is what I want to leave behind. . .hopefully to inspire others as I have ben inspired by those that came before.
So this is what I have been doing the last month. Losing myself in reading about ancient civilizations, myths and stories I have loved my whole life and making notes, creating names, filling in gaps in my own stories and letting that world emerge. . . one village, one character, one myth at a time and, as is my way, the details sometimes come out first.
These are a couple of Elvin "reliquaries" I created this week that are just 1.5 and 2.75 inches tall. . . . perhaps containing mythic dragon scales or bits of ancient magic cloth, or a troll's tooth. . . or a thread of pure spun gold from time before time? Who can say?
What would YOU imagine to be found within an Elvin Reliquary?
More on their story in future posts. . .
Which is where the blog fits in with my future plans.
So many bits and pieces to keep track of and I am not an organized person by any means. So I will be posting more often and shorter posts with just that. . . bits and pieces of the larger story. . . threads that are all being woven into the larger world of my imagination. . . into the world of Bewilder and Pine. . . I hope you'll come along with me on this journey. It's going to be an adventure, I promise! :)
And my father, on that day I referred to earlier, added one more thing at the very end of the conversation that I took to heart then and still do to this day.
"No matter how busy you get. . . call your mother more. Because you'll regret it if you don't one day."
Thanks dad. . . you really were a true and beloved friend.
Thank you all for stopping by!
Soon again. . .
nicolas
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Giving Imagination It's Space or. . . the Zen of Creativity
(1) There was a time where I found myself very much a student of Zen. It began at an early age when I came cross a book on Zen Buddhist beliefs n the first New Age bookstore in the fairly traditional town I grew up in. I was 12 or 13 at the time. . .
In browsing the pages I found that so much of what I read seemed to go along with what I already felt about life at that early age. Later, when I moved across the country, I began attending meditations and weekend retreats through a monastery nearby. I loved the simple structure of the monastic days/routines such as the rising at 4am for meditation because, as my teacher explained it, "that's the time before the brain kicks in and takes over." There is work, meals, quiet time, meditation and sleep. A simple routine.
One of the most common comments one will hear after such a weekend from the laypersons attending is this: "I wish I could carry this feeling I have when I am here back to my regular life/world/"
(2) As I tend to spend many hours thinking about, and revisiting, my childhood I can recall that all of my favorite and most creative games (especially those played and created alone) were a product of reworking and recreating their parameters and scenarios time and again. The thrill of pretending to be a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt is immediate to a 9 yr old boy. . . but it is so much better after weeks of making dozens of tinfoil votive statues and royal jewelry, fashioning a crook and flail and other treasures out of cardboard, gold paint and plastic gems. . . and even painting the inside of your closet to look like an Egyptian tomb! That takes time.
Some of those favorite games took years to reach the stage I ultimately remember today. Nothing was ever perfect "as-is" , even in that childhood state of having all the time in the world to indulge our imagination that we sometimes wish for as adults.
(3) There are, in my way of seeing it, many similarities between Zen mind and Child mind. There is a simplicity to both that sort of suspends the normal, over-worrisome adult brain. You know, the one we've all come to "develop" with all of it's rigid beliefs and time-clock structures.
To be sure, we cannot go back and live completely as a child again and the monastic life is certainly not for most (including myself) but what I can say is that both offer clues and lessons as to how, as an adult, to get deeper into what you wish to ultimately create by letting go of all that keeps you from doing it!
Simplicity is what makes the monastic life work and what creates the feeling of calm and "peace of place.". It is not cluttered, is often cloistered, and based on a very simple and set routine. There is no one in this world who would not benefit from scheduling their creative time a bit more, paring down the distractions and number of people/events committed to, and saying no to a few of the adult distractions that hobble us all on this path.
And if you can, doing so when the mind is least active, early morning or late night when the world is silent around you, is a good starting point!
From the Child mind there is no one who would not benefit from making time to allow the imagination to just run wild with no time limit/clock and no pressure to "achieve" anything. Not judging the results and working and reworking the creations made while giving them time to develop and become their best. At 11 years old you don't think, "I need to perfect this game or craft by the time I am twelve or I am done with it!" You just do it because it is what you are wishing to do and you enjoy it. There's the key to adult creativity. . .
This is one of the main reasons that, on a day where I may have 3 or 4 custom orders to work on or finish, packages to ship and message to reply to, I will often begin something completely new in the middle of it all. If only for 20 minutes or so. . . just to keep the child mind happy too :)
(4) At the core. . . resilience.
I've never come across anything that can teach someone the workings of this little, invaluable key to life. Mostly because it too is a practice and not truly inherent to most of us. But resilience is a part of both Childhood and Monastic life. Kids usually do not give up on anything if left to their devices AND not made to feel a sense of failure. I am fortunate that despite having a Mother who thought everything creative was a waste of time and/or money, I had a grandmother who was a creative force and who always gave me the loving support needed to keep me going. It is worth mentioning that I also seem to have an inherent drive that kicks in as soon as I am told I can't do something. So, in that way, I have to be thankful for Mom too. I stuck it out on things I might have given up on because of her negativity. It's the stubbornness,more than a resilience, I inherited directly from her. :)
In the monastery, if one does not have a focused or centered day. . . or if one has a completely blissed out perfect day of awareness. . . well, in both cases, there is always tomorrow. Because it is all you have to do. Get up and do it again tomorrow. There is no fail or succeed.
This is how I have approached my creative work/life. Whether today, sales are great, my work becomes more and more requested and desired. OR I sell nothing and no one responds to it at all. It's the SAME to me. Tomorrow will be another day. Get up, put on the hot water for coffee, sit down and create.
(5) The simple,workable equation for deeper imagination is this: . Create, recreate, and then recreate some more.
Or as it might be notated
c + rc2 = good
Imagination, at it's deepest levels, takes time, space, focus, some form or shape of routine and a commitment to it to access the deepest parts of it. We are all creative, of this I have no doubt. But how deeply we go with it is,in the end, a huge factor in what we create and how much it resonates with the audience or buyer we seek and, most importantly,withiourselves.
The adult measuring stick of "how busy = how successful our life is" is just about as far from deep creativity and imagination as we can get. Don't measure the time spent creating anything in hours, days, years or by a measure of success or failure. Let the timeless child, the queen of years, the infinite soul have reign over that and let the inner monk have his or her due when it comes to creating a bit of practical simplicity, silence, solitude and routine.
(6) A last thought. . .
I know many artists who think the key to a happy and creative life is to seek out everything life has to offer. New people, new places, classes, outings, happy hours, social media, organizations, new experiences and adventures great and small. They're so busy they swear there's a need for a planner and a personal secretary to keep up with it all. They are also, at the same time, always talking about what they want to do with their art, writing that great novel, saying something important, expressing their soul. . . and vowing how they'll, one day, have a "regular" creative practice.
I also, as I type, know more than a handful of artists who make their living completely from their art.
I do not know a single person who is a member of BOTH of the aforementioned groups.
<>OOo<> <>oOo<> <>oOo<>
Happy June everyone! May it be the start of a creative and deeply imaginative summer. . .
XO
nicolas
PS. . . those days as a Zen novice did indeed filter into my world fo creativity too. :)
My mini Jizo statues. Protectors of all spirit travelers, children living and deceased and mothers.
In browsing the pages I found that so much of what I read seemed to go along with what I already felt about life at that early age. Later, when I moved across the country, I began attending meditations and weekend retreats through a monastery nearby. I loved the simple structure of the monastic days/routines such as the rising at 4am for meditation because, as my teacher explained it, "that's the time before the brain kicks in and takes over." There is work, meals, quiet time, meditation and sleep. A simple routine.
One of the most common comments one will hear after such a weekend from the laypersons attending is this: "I wish I could carry this feeling I have when I am here back to my regular life/world/"
(2) As I tend to spend many hours thinking about, and revisiting, my childhood I can recall that all of my favorite and most creative games (especially those played and created alone) were a product of reworking and recreating their parameters and scenarios time and again. The thrill of pretending to be a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt is immediate to a 9 yr old boy. . . but it is so much better after weeks of making dozens of tinfoil votive statues and royal jewelry, fashioning a crook and flail and other treasures out of cardboard, gold paint and plastic gems. . . and even painting the inside of your closet to look like an Egyptian tomb! That takes time.
Some of those favorite games took years to reach the stage I ultimately remember today. Nothing was ever perfect "as-is" , even in that childhood state of having all the time in the world to indulge our imagination that we sometimes wish for as adults.
(3) There are, in my way of seeing it, many similarities between Zen mind and Child mind. There is a simplicity to both that sort of suspends the normal, over-worrisome adult brain. You know, the one we've all come to "develop" with all of it's rigid beliefs and time-clock structures.
To be sure, we cannot go back and live completely as a child again and the monastic life is certainly not for most (including myself) but what I can say is that both offer clues and lessons as to how, as an adult, to get deeper into what you wish to ultimately create by letting go of all that keeps you from doing it!
Simplicity is what makes the monastic life work and what creates the feeling of calm and "peace of place.". It is not cluttered, is often cloistered, and based on a very simple and set routine. There is no one in this world who would not benefit from scheduling their creative time a bit more, paring down the distractions and number of people/events committed to, and saying no to a few of the adult distractions that hobble us all on this path.
And if you can, doing so when the mind is least active, early morning or late night when the world is silent around you, is a good starting point!
From the Child mind there is no one who would not benefit from making time to allow the imagination to just run wild with no time limit/clock and no pressure to "achieve" anything. Not judging the results and working and reworking the creations made while giving them time to develop and become their best. At 11 years old you don't think, "I need to perfect this game or craft by the time I am twelve or I am done with it!" You just do it because it is what you are wishing to do and you enjoy it. There's the key to adult creativity. . .
This is one of the main reasons that, on a day where I may have 3 or 4 custom orders to work on or finish, packages to ship and message to reply to, I will often begin something completely new in the middle of it all. If only for 20 minutes or so. . . just to keep the child mind happy too :)
(4) At the core. . . resilience.
I've never come across anything that can teach someone the workings of this little, invaluable key to life. Mostly because it too is a practice and not truly inherent to most of us. But resilience is a part of both Childhood and Monastic life. Kids usually do not give up on anything if left to their devices AND not made to feel a sense of failure. I am fortunate that despite having a Mother who thought everything creative was a waste of time and/or money, I had a grandmother who was a creative force and who always gave me the loving support needed to keep me going. It is worth mentioning that I also seem to have an inherent drive that kicks in as soon as I am told I can't do something. So, in that way, I have to be thankful for Mom too. I stuck it out on things I might have given up on because of her negativity. It's the stubbornness,more than a resilience, I inherited directly from her. :)
In the monastery, if one does not have a focused or centered day. . . or if one has a completely blissed out perfect day of awareness. . . well, in both cases, there is always tomorrow. Because it is all you have to do. Get up and do it again tomorrow. There is no fail or succeed.
This is how I have approached my creative work/life. Whether today, sales are great, my work becomes more and more requested and desired. OR I sell nothing and no one responds to it at all. It's the SAME to me. Tomorrow will be another day. Get up, put on the hot water for coffee, sit down and create.
(5) The simple,workable equation for deeper imagination is this: . Create, recreate, and then recreate some more.
Or as it might be notated
c + rc2 = good
Imagination, at it's deepest levels, takes time, space, focus, some form or shape of routine and a commitment to it to access the deepest parts of it. We are all creative, of this I have no doubt. But how deeply we go with it is,in the end, a huge factor in what we create and how much it resonates with the audience or buyer we seek and, most importantly,withiourselves.
The adult measuring stick of "how busy = how successful our life is" is just about as far from deep creativity and imagination as we can get. Don't measure the time spent creating anything in hours, days, years or by a measure of success or failure. Let the timeless child, the queen of years, the infinite soul have reign over that and let the inner monk have his or her due when it comes to creating a bit of practical simplicity, silence, solitude and routine.
(6) A last thought. . .
I know many artists who think the key to a happy and creative life is to seek out everything life has to offer. New people, new places, classes, outings, happy hours, social media, organizations, new experiences and adventures great and small. They're so busy they swear there's a need for a planner and a personal secretary to keep up with it all. They are also, at the same time, always talking about what they want to do with their art, writing that great novel, saying something important, expressing their soul. . . and vowing how they'll, one day, have a "regular" creative practice.
I also, as I type, know more than a handful of artists who make their living completely from their art.
I do not know a single person who is a member of BOTH of the aforementioned groups.
<>OOo<> <>oOo<> <>oOo<>
Happy June everyone! May it be the start of a creative and deeply imaginative summer. . .
XO
nicolas
PS. . . those days as a Zen novice did indeed filter into my world fo creativity too. :)
My mini Jizo statues. Protectors of all spirit travelers, children living and deceased and mothers.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
The Art of Sincerity and Authenticity
Recently I heard someone state that their belief was that "the universe always rewards authenticity and sincerity in our personal and creative work". While that statement did not come as an epiphany or shed any immediate light on my own thoughts, over the last month it has worked itself into my subconscious and I find myself now writing and thinking about it, and how it relates to my life overall, almost daily.
I cannot say or try to describe what that means for anyone else or even where one would begin to follow that path inthemselves, I just know that, looking back acros 40 years of creating, it rings 100% true in my world.
In retrospect, so much of what I tried to do creatively in my 20's and 30's was not quite either of those things. I felt that I had to find my angle, my way in, my one great idea or concept. All the while ignoring the places I truly came from and knew so well in my heart. Also, I totally bought into the idea of my work having to be "grown up" and to project a mature viewpoint or an adult perspective. I'd at least like to say that while I feel the work I created was always sincere, it usually lacked the personal authenticity that I find people most respond to these days with my creative offerings.
What I have come to understand is that I only really began allowing myself to be completely authentic with my work a few years ago and, with that, came the growth and means to now create for a living.
So I have been listing every possible example of this authentic and sincere approach from my life. Trying to follow it back to the roots of my origins and where my best examples of it came from, mapping it like a travelogue.
A polestar for my creative heart.
In 7th grade there was a boy named Timothy Jackson who sticks out in my mind. While may of us were trying so hard to be cooler or to at least not stick out as easy marks to the bullies, Timothy went about his days just being Timothy. He was an A student who never missed school or an assignment. Over that year we grew to become passing friends and we bonded over what I learned was Timothy's free-time passion. Drawing superheroes, super-villains, medieval worlds, spaceships, aliens and then, sort of out of context, all out army battles on regular lined notebook paper. Stick figure soldiers mostly populated those but the time was put into complex and well-thought-out landscapes, waponry, castles, fortresses, space stations and alien worlds with detailed terrain, battle simulations and situations. I had noticed Timothy often drawing something when he was done with class assignments. . . and at lunch . . . and at assemblies. . . and in homeroom. . . and after school in the library. He was far too smart and too much of a loner to be bullied and too nerdy to be "cool". He was invisible, untouchable, an alien himself to most.
Of course, looking back, he was the coolest kid of all in hindsight.
As we became friends, I took to sharing in this drawing with him and, for most of that year, we were always comparing images and battles waged. We lived too far apart to get together out of school but we found time during the week to share ot drawings and great epic stories told on paper. In 8th grade we shared just one class and then, on different buses sent across town to a school of 3000 kids for high school, we rarely saw each other. But the impression, as I now am understanding, was left just the same.
He is one of the few people I recall clearly from that time that I have nothing but love for in my heart's memory. Authentic. Sincere. Just Timothy being himself every moment. Lost in what I now call a "paracosm".
When I return home, as I did last year for a few days, I can't help but go by the old school which is closed and listed for sale now. The neighborhood is just a shell of what it once was in it's heyday.
The old soda fountain pharmacy. Gone
Steel Mill. Gone.
The old homemade Apple Butter ad painted on the side of the brick post office, Gone.
The little market. Gone.
Five and Dime. Gone.
The Hot sausage sandwich shop. Gone.
Library. Gone. . . well, moved. But no longer in the old gothic brick building that made it a welcoming and timeless place.
An abandoned school is a haunting sight. Sit on those steps and close your eyes and it seems like there is the echoes of laughter and nervous chatter on the wind. So many impressions left behind on those playgrounds along the way.
So much of it seems like a blur. two years in that middle school with so few friends and each day, for the most part, an eye on the clock waiting to be done for the day so I could head home to MY paracosm and my own world of creation. My own authenticity.
It's really only now, all these years later that I am thinking back and realizing how few people I knew then that were living in authenticity and sincerity then. School years are usually about anything but as we try so hard to grow up so fast and become. . . what exactly?
All I can say is that everything I do today. All that you see in my shops and in my work is drawn from those early days exploring my own inner world and creating this paracosm that I have returned to. That I thrive in.
And I just want to add that authenticity and sincerity are not just about creative work of course.
My grandfather, during those two years of middle school. and all four years of high school, rose every day at 4 a.m. (as he had done for 35 years for his job at the the steel mill) to make sure I had breakfast before school. During the middle school years, since the school was just three blocks away, I'd walk home each day at lunch, which he always had waiting for me upon arrival.
That, in my memory, is about the most devoted example of sincerity and authenticity as I can show. That was who he was to his core.
I hope all of you are exploring and expressing and embracing what is natural, sincere and authentic in your own souls. FInding it in your past or present and carrying it with you into the future.
It will, undoubtedly, serve you well.
xo
nicolas
I cannot say or try to describe what that means for anyone else or even where one would begin to follow that path inthemselves, I just know that, looking back acros 40 years of creating, it rings 100% true in my world.
In retrospect, so much of what I tried to do creatively in my 20's and 30's was not quite either of those things. I felt that I had to find my angle, my way in, my one great idea or concept. All the while ignoring the places I truly came from and knew so well in my heart. Also, I totally bought into the idea of my work having to be "grown up" and to project a mature viewpoint or an adult perspective. I'd at least like to say that while I feel the work I created was always sincere, it usually lacked the personal authenticity that I find people most respond to these days with my creative offerings.
What I have come to understand is that I only really began allowing myself to be completely authentic with my work a few years ago and, with that, came the growth and means to now create for a living.
So I have been listing every possible example of this authentic and sincere approach from my life. Trying to follow it back to the roots of my origins and where my best examples of it came from, mapping it like a travelogue.
A polestar for my creative heart.
In 7th grade there was a boy named Timothy Jackson who sticks out in my mind. While may of us were trying so hard to be cooler or to at least not stick out as easy marks to the bullies, Timothy went about his days just being Timothy. He was an A student who never missed school or an assignment. Over that year we grew to become passing friends and we bonded over what I learned was Timothy's free-time passion. Drawing superheroes, super-villains, medieval worlds, spaceships, aliens and then, sort of out of context, all out army battles on regular lined notebook paper. Stick figure soldiers mostly populated those but the time was put into complex and well-thought-out landscapes, waponry, castles, fortresses, space stations and alien worlds with detailed terrain, battle simulations and situations. I had noticed Timothy often drawing something when he was done with class assignments. . . and at lunch . . . and at assemblies. . . and in homeroom. . . and after school in the library. He was far too smart and too much of a loner to be bullied and too nerdy to be "cool". He was invisible, untouchable, an alien himself to most.
Of course, looking back, he was the coolest kid of all in hindsight.
As we became friends, I took to sharing in this drawing with him and, for most of that year, we were always comparing images and battles waged. We lived too far apart to get together out of school but we found time during the week to share ot drawings and great epic stories told on paper. In 8th grade we shared just one class and then, on different buses sent across town to a school of 3000 kids for high school, we rarely saw each other. But the impression, as I now am understanding, was left just the same.
He is one of the few people I recall clearly from that time that I have nothing but love for in my heart's memory. Authentic. Sincere. Just Timothy being himself every moment. Lost in what I now call a "paracosm".
When I return home, as I did last year for a few days, I can't help but go by the old school which is closed and listed for sale now. The neighborhood is just a shell of what it once was in it's heyday.
The old soda fountain pharmacy. Gone
Steel Mill. Gone.
The old homemade Apple Butter ad painted on the side of the brick post office, Gone.
The little market. Gone.
Five and Dime. Gone.
The Hot sausage sandwich shop. Gone.
Library. Gone. . . well, moved. But no longer in the old gothic brick building that made it a welcoming and timeless place.
An abandoned school is a haunting sight. Sit on those steps and close your eyes and it seems like there is the echoes of laughter and nervous chatter on the wind. So many impressions left behind on those playgrounds along the way.
So much of it seems like a blur. two years in that middle school with so few friends and each day, for the most part, an eye on the clock waiting to be done for the day so I could head home to MY paracosm and my own world of creation. My own authenticity.
It's really only now, all these years later that I am thinking back and realizing how few people I knew then that were living in authenticity and sincerity then. School years are usually about anything but as we try so hard to grow up so fast and become. . . what exactly?
All I can say is that everything I do today. All that you see in my shops and in my work is drawn from those early days exploring my own inner world and creating this paracosm that I have returned to. That I thrive in.
And I just want to add that authenticity and sincerity are not just about creative work of course.
My grandfather, during those two years of middle school. and all four years of high school, rose every day at 4 a.m. (as he had done for 35 years for his job at the the steel mill) to make sure I had breakfast before school. During the middle school years, since the school was just three blocks away, I'd walk home each day at lunch, which he always had waiting for me upon arrival.
That, in my memory, is about the most devoted example of sincerity and authenticity as I can show. That was who he was to his core.
I hope all of you are exploring and expressing and embracing what is natural, sincere and authentic in your own souls. FInding it in your past or present and carrying it with you into the future.
It will, undoubtedly, serve you well.
xo
nicolas
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Something New
It's funny how plans go awry all the time.
I've never been one to try to force anything in my creative business path. I'd rather let things grow organically and not force anything. As long as I am working, improving my craft and trying new ideas, I am quite content to not try and control where things go day to day.
When I began my Shadow of the Sphinx shop on Etsy, I was sure that within a year or two I would branch out and cover other ancient civilizations and make statues and amulets inspired by many civilizations the world over. Well, four years later, the short of the story is I just got so caught up in my own deepening and delving into my subject matter of the Ancient Egyptian pantheon and the art that honored it that I sort of lost track of that goal for awhile. I have beencontent to work on learning those sculpting skills to better the work and not so much onletting myself get carried away with all sorts of side-treks into history.
Recently though I have taken a few requests for pieces that fell outside of that pantheon and I am loving the experience. Mostly it's the fact that I get to learn/read about and explore other cultures and ancient traditions and bring some of those symbols and deities to life.
This week I finished this guy. called Ikenga (in his warrior form)
(from wikipedia)
Ikenga (Igbo literal meaning "place of strength") is a horned Alusi (deity) found among the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria . It is one of the most popular symbols of the Igbo people, and the most common cultural artifact. Ikenga is mostly maintained, kept or owned by men and occasionally by women of high reputation and integrity in the society. It comprises someone's Chi (personal god), his Ndichie (ancestors), aka Ikenga (right hand), ike (power) as well as spiritual activation through prayer and sacrifice.
And here is the finished piece:
The finish is a micaceous Iron Oxide over black acrylic which adds a textural feel and a light catching surface that I love.
On the heels of this piece are requests for a statue of Freya, one of Odin, a Loki, a set of Terracotta warriors, a statue of Angrbodaan, an Uzume and a totally fictional piece for a novel/book cover that will be a cross between a Jizo and an Aztec inspired votive. . . so I suppose I am being told the time to expand and explore is now? lol
Of course. my main focus remains, in this shop, the Egypian pantheon and it's vast variety of deity depictions. . . . but I love these little side steps into any aspect of ancient history and the chance to do something new. :)
And while it is still secondary to my desire to create fairies, elves, tin houses and reflections of that magical world within, this work remains dear to my heart and, in it's own way, a vital part of that childhood paracosm I sink into every day.
Have a beautiful Mayday all!
nicolas
I've never been one to try to force anything in my creative business path. I'd rather let things grow organically and not force anything. As long as I am working, improving my craft and trying new ideas, I am quite content to not try and control where things go day to day.
When I began my Shadow of the Sphinx shop on Etsy, I was sure that within a year or two I would branch out and cover other ancient civilizations and make statues and amulets inspired by many civilizations the world over. Well, four years later, the short of the story is I just got so caught up in my own deepening and delving into my subject matter of the Ancient Egyptian pantheon and the art that honored it that I sort of lost track of that goal for awhile. I have beencontent to work on learning those sculpting skills to better the work and not so much onletting myself get carried away with all sorts of side-treks into history.
Recently though I have taken a few requests for pieces that fell outside of that pantheon and I am loving the experience. Mostly it's the fact that I get to learn/read about and explore other cultures and ancient traditions and bring some of those symbols and deities to life.
This week I finished this guy. called Ikenga (in his warrior form)
(from wikipedia)
Ikenga (Igbo literal meaning "place of strength") is a horned Alusi (deity) found among the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria . It is one of the most popular symbols of the Igbo people, and the most common cultural artifact. Ikenga is mostly maintained, kept or owned by men and occasionally by women of high reputation and integrity in the society. It comprises someone's Chi (personal god), his Ndichie (ancestors), aka Ikenga (right hand), ike (power) as well as spiritual activation through prayer and sacrifice.
And here is the finished piece:
On the heels of this piece are requests for a statue of Freya, one of Odin, a Loki, a set of Terracotta warriors, a statue of Angrbodaan, an Uzume and a totally fictional piece for a novel/book cover that will be a cross between a Jizo and an Aztec inspired votive. . . so I suppose I am being told the time to expand and explore is now? lol
Of course. my main focus remains, in this shop, the Egypian pantheon and it's vast variety of deity depictions. . . . but I love these little side steps into any aspect of ancient history and the chance to do something new. :)
And while it is still secondary to my desire to create fairies, elves, tin houses and reflections of that magical world within, this work remains dear to my heart and, in it's own way, a vital part of that childhood paracosm I sink into every day.
Have a beautiful Mayday all!
nicolas
Monday, April 7, 2014
Spring Brings. . .
It is a fact that I am far more an Autumn/Winter soul than anything else and so, usually, Spring is not my favorite season as it seems to always want to usher in Summer. . . my least favorite time of year.
However, along with Spring comes the rebirth of the landscape and a sense of renewal all over. Rebirth is always such a theme in creative work it seems. This year it takes on new meaning for me in my little world.
Last month I hit the wall in some respects creatively. That wall, which is always quite close, is the very inflexible 24 hours in a day rule that someone long ago made up as the rule . . . and boy has it stuck!
24 hours a day.
I've fought it my whole life. Going so far as to try, at 19, to restructure my own definition of the week to consist of six 28 hour days and sleeping only 6 times a week. However, that schedule, as you might imagine, has it's problems. Most rooted into the fact that you are the only person living on such a schedule and, three times a week, you are "mid-day" when the world is sleeping. That was fine for me as a devoted night owl at the time. . . but not so good for others in the house. lol
Anyway, more on that experiment another time. I gave in after a few weeks and have been on the old 24 hour system since.
Last month I found myself overbooked on custom work and turning into a real grumblepuss some nights when I found I had no time left to just make what I most desired which is, after all, why I create in the first place. But it is a balance I know. I just let it get all out of whack after the holidays and I do so have trouble saying no to my wonderful customers who return again and again.
So, I set the goal in mid March. Get through all of the custom pieces on the schedule by the first week in April and then, once there, stop booking my weeks full of custom work and start spacing them out. My main concern was that people would not be willing to wait 6 to 8 weeks or longer for a piece but that turns out to not be true. I am, as of now, into June with requests and still no one balks at the wait.
The best part is that this week I finally have been able to begin again in just making whatever my heart desires. It seems like it has been ens since I could just daydream and play. . . and while it has only, in reality, been a handful of weeks, I am glad to be "home" again. I think it is SO very important to feed that muse inside and to allow it to drift and wander wherever it may. Otherwise even the most wonderful of creative work can seem less shiny and fun. And that is no way to go. :)
That said, I wanted to share a peek at what Spring has conjured in my world.
As you know i have several forms of expression and styles that are dear to my heart. Egyptian antiquity, model railroad miniatures, spiritual statues and visual art to name a few. . . . but fantasy creatures and fairy worlds are the nearest and dearest of all so it is no surprise that I have found myself lost in places and faces like these below.
It has been nearly impossible to keep fairy houses in stock so I set out to create something a little more 'expandable". A world of their own. What I cam up with are these "Fairy Houses of Mossy Lane". The houses will be sold individually of course but I could not resist starting on a "set" to shoot them on. The base with it's cobblestone road is just begun really. I'll be adding flowers, benches, and, if all goes well, even tiny little HO scale fairies with handmade wings. I am tickled with the results so far!
And creatures. . . Spring seems to regularly manifest ideas in this realm too! I listed the first of these guys the other day, inspired by a tiny detail in one of Arthur Rackham's wonderful fairy tale illustrations. Another going in today and, it seems, two more have sprouted (they grow out from under the caps) this morning!
And for me, the story is the thing! So the midnight oil is being burned with a lot of writing and creating the backstory of these creatures and place.
The only issue is now that my to do list of what I want to make is as backed up as my custom list was last month! No rest for the wizards . . . and still just 24 hours in a day!
Enjoy the week dear friends. . .
nicolas
However, along with Spring comes the rebirth of the landscape and a sense of renewal all over. Rebirth is always such a theme in creative work it seems. This year it takes on new meaning for me in my little world.
Last month I hit the wall in some respects creatively. That wall, which is always quite close, is the very inflexible 24 hours in a day rule that someone long ago made up as the rule . . . and boy has it stuck!
24 hours a day.
I've fought it my whole life. Going so far as to try, at 19, to restructure my own definition of the week to consist of six 28 hour days and sleeping only 6 times a week. However, that schedule, as you might imagine, has it's problems. Most rooted into the fact that you are the only person living on such a schedule and, three times a week, you are "mid-day" when the world is sleeping. That was fine for me as a devoted night owl at the time. . . but not so good for others in the house. lol
Anyway, more on that experiment another time. I gave in after a few weeks and have been on the old 24 hour system since.
Last month I found myself overbooked on custom work and turning into a real grumblepuss some nights when I found I had no time left to just make what I most desired which is, after all, why I create in the first place. But it is a balance I know. I just let it get all out of whack after the holidays and I do so have trouble saying no to my wonderful customers who return again and again.
So, I set the goal in mid March. Get through all of the custom pieces on the schedule by the first week in April and then, once there, stop booking my weeks full of custom work and start spacing them out. My main concern was that people would not be willing to wait 6 to 8 weeks or longer for a piece but that turns out to not be true. I am, as of now, into June with requests and still no one balks at the wait.
The best part is that this week I finally have been able to begin again in just making whatever my heart desires. It seems like it has been ens since I could just daydream and play. . . and while it has only, in reality, been a handful of weeks, I am glad to be "home" again. I think it is SO very important to feed that muse inside and to allow it to drift and wander wherever it may. Otherwise even the most wonderful of creative work can seem less shiny and fun. And that is no way to go. :)
That said, I wanted to share a peek at what Spring has conjured in my world.
As you know i have several forms of expression and styles that are dear to my heart. Egyptian antiquity, model railroad miniatures, spiritual statues and visual art to name a few. . . . but fantasy creatures and fairy worlds are the nearest and dearest of all so it is no surprise that I have found myself lost in places and faces like these below.
It has been nearly impossible to keep fairy houses in stock so I set out to create something a little more 'expandable". A world of their own. What I cam up with are these "Fairy Houses of Mossy Lane". The houses will be sold individually of course but I could not resist starting on a "set" to shoot them on. The base with it's cobblestone road is just begun really. I'll be adding flowers, benches, and, if all goes well, even tiny little HO scale fairies with handmade wings. I am tickled with the results so far!
And creatures. . . Spring seems to regularly manifest ideas in this realm too! I listed the first of these guys the other day, inspired by a tiny detail in one of Arthur Rackham's wonderful fairy tale illustrations. Another going in today and, it seems, two more have sprouted (they grow out from under the caps) this morning!
And for me, the story is the thing! So the midnight oil is being burned with a lot of writing and creating the backstory of these creatures and place.
The only issue is now that my to do list of what I want to make is as backed up as my custom list was last month! No rest for the wizards . . . and still just 24 hours in a day!
Enjoy the week dear friends. . .
nicolas
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