(Continued from yesterday)
Why so many people carry the worst of their lives forward is hard to grasp. Sometimes I think it's a fear of letting go. . . or perhaps an issue of scarcity. If you don't have the past to hold to and define the present and the future is completely a mystery, , what do you have?
Well, in my world, that has always been answered with "limitless possibility." One that is not present when the past casts it's shadow over the present. It's soooo like the Vashta Nerada from Dr. Who. Shadows that swarm, consume and grow by feeding on our life force.So I always like to remember the good Doctors words. . . "Stay out of the shadows!"
So the items we sell are extensions of our lives too. The light of them actually. Our creations become part of the story and even in my world, retelling ancient Egyptian tales, sifting through the nostalgic past of my childhood, making up new fables about Fairies, Elves and inventing and sharing worlds that only I know all fit into the story of who I am now. They all, quite simply, make me happy.So why would I not sink into them completely?
They are at the heart of the version of "me" I care to express most of all. And the more I delve into these worlds. The more I allow them to rule my days and my day dreams, the more happiness I find in life. . . the more the shadows receded and lost their power. . . and the more successful my endeavors become.
The world of our human leisure/spare time revolves around, and is immersed in, stories. Travel, TV shows, theater, movies, song lyrics are all about stories. The products you buy, the labels, the name brands, the reputations we believe in. . . all stories. All created. And even hobbies and the skills learned thru them have a legacy and history behind them too. . . more stories. . . all of it is a tome that we are intrinsically a part of. A world that we escape into and through.
And THAT is what people want in the things they spend their hard earned money on.
Take two crafters who make the exact same thing. Same price, same style. If one tells a story around their work and one does not, the storyteller will, all other things being equal, be the more successful of the two.
Tell someone why they want your work. Give them the slightly open door in. It's no different than how we sell ourselves in the "real world" through how we dress, how we speak, how we treat others. . . these are all stories we tell too.
And it's why I believe in the happiness they can and do create.
It's a choice, obviously, and one that each of us has to make.
My point is simply that we are doing it whether we think we are or not.
We ARE storytellers.
And we are all capable.
And we are all deserving.
That's MY story.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Friday, September 5, 2014
The Stories We Tell - Part I
Anyone who knows my work knows that it is inherently connected to the stories I create that go with each piece. I will hold a finished item back from the shops for weeks if I do not have the story that goes with it ready for the listing as well.
Many times when I offer the advice "Create a story for your items" to sellers and artists about their work it is met with, "Oh, I am not a storyteller" or 'What sort of story could a piece of jewelry or an abstract painting have to tell?"
For these folks I like to give them an exercise to try that I remember from writing workshops past. Head out to any thrift or Goodwill store and pick out a simple little doodad from the knickknack shelf and take it home. Sit there for 15 minutes and write a story about it. Where it came from, who owned it, where it has been. That's it. No editing, just write!
Inevitably this is far easier for people than writing a story about their own work and creations. It almost always ends up with a fairly well imagined tale about the piece they just bought. Histories, legacies, treasures of the heart etc etc. Wonderful stuff!
The truth is, most people tell stories ALL the time. Every tale we tell and retell from our lives is really no different than the ones we may create about our offerings in the art world. With the exception that the ones we invent can be anything. . . there are no boundaries and no limits. I think, often, it's THAT which keeps people from writing at all.
So much of what we tell about ourselves is truly a form of fiction anyway. . . or at least a skewed bent of reality. One side of a story. And they do tend to change with time as we all know. . .
Which is all fine too.
But the main reason I believe in using that power of storytelling for my work is this:
I believe the stories we tell about our lives. . . about ourselves. . . becomes the single most important factor in how happy we will be in life. The spin we put on things. The pieces we chose to carry forward. The power of storytelling is immense.
Those who dwell in the negative, the painful, the betrayal and losses and the common-among-us-all poor choices are doomed to relive them again and again with each retelling.
It's how we frame the stories that decides how we experience them in the retelling.
Maybe this is just another spin on my world of paracosms? Maybe it's a "cheat" that I leave out entire sections of my life. . . that I have reinvented who I am again and again and why I carry almost nothing and no one forward from one incarnation to the next.
The past is a world of ghosts. . and as I recall from my childhood, ghosts almost never have good intentions. . . .
( Part II tomorow :)
Many times when I offer the advice "Create a story for your items" to sellers and artists about their work it is met with, "Oh, I am not a storyteller" or 'What sort of story could a piece of jewelry or an abstract painting have to tell?"
For these folks I like to give them an exercise to try that I remember from writing workshops past. Head out to any thrift or Goodwill store and pick out a simple little doodad from the knickknack shelf and take it home. Sit there for 15 minutes and write a story about it. Where it came from, who owned it, where it has been. That's it. No editing, just write!
Inevitably this is far easier for people than writing a story about their own work and creations. It almost always ends up with a fairly well imagined tale about the piece they just bought. Histories, legacies, treasures of the heart etc etc. Wonderful stuff!
The truth is, most people tell stories ALL the time. Every tale we tell and retell from our lives is really no different than the ones we may create about our offerings in the art world. With the exception that the ones we invent can be anything. . . there are no boundaries and no limits. I think, often, it's THAT which keeps people from writing at all.
So much of what we tell about ourselves is truly a form of fiction anyway. . . or at least a skewed bent of reality. One side of a story. And they do tend to change with time as we all know. . .
Which is all fine too.
But the main reason I believe in using that power of storytelling for my work is this:
I believe the stories we tell about our lives. . . about ourselves. . . becomes the single most important factor in how happy we will be in life. The spin we put on things. The pieces we chose to carry forward. The power of storytelling is immense.
Those who dwell in the negative, the painful, the betrayal and losses and the common-among-us-all poor choices are doomed to relive them again and again with each retelling.
It's how we frame the stories that decides how we experience them in the retelling.
Maybe this is just another spin on my world of paracosms? Maybe it's a "cheat" that I leave out entire sections of my life. . . that I have reinvented who I am again and again and why I carry almost nothing and no one forward from one incarnation to the next.
The past is a world of ghosts. . and as I recall from my childhood, ghosts almost never have good intentions. . . .
( Part II tomorow :)
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Recent Commissions in Shadow of the Sphinx
A trio of statues from Shadow the Sphinx that were all custom requests. always a favorite of mine as I get to make pieces that are not normally in my shop but then, as it turns out, end up getting seen and requested again!
I hope you enjoy the peek at these custom pieces!!
XO
nicolas
I hope you enjoy the peek at these custom pieces!!
XO
nicolas
 |
| The Set Animal, also known as Sutekh and Seth. . The God of the Desert, Storms and Chaos |
 |
| Hecate - I DO venture outside of the Egyptian pantheon work quite often actually. This Hecate was one of my favorites to create this summer. |
 |
| An Anubis Sphinx - no actual record of one ever having existed in Ancient Egyptian iconography but, in my mind, the two are perfect together. Guardians of mystery and time. When this was requested, I jumped at the opportunity to make it! Plus it is just SO darned cute!!! |
 | |||||||||||||
| Nefertem - "The One Who Never Closes" - A Solar Deity often associated with the blue lotus and with the creation of the sun in earlier dynasties. The headdress represents a lotus blossom. |
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Realization
I've lost count of the number of times I have heard someone express frustration that they can't seem to get of the ground with their creative work. In the last five years, as our business has thrived and grown with each passing year, I have been keeping notes and trying to find a short summary of what I think are the most important things that are conducive to creating this success.I have always wanted to share it openly if I thought it could help others.
These have ranged from the grand: "Tailor your entire life to fit your art. . . not the other way around!" to the ethereal: "Find the threads that have run throughout your whole life. . . from your earliest imaginings, and follow them." and to the obvious: " Only do what you LOVE!"
But there is little practical "how to" knowledge in those and, even if we explained them from our perspective, they must be adapted to each individual and their situaton. .
But today I think I can put it in one word. The one that absolutely WILL make a difference and help generate success.
Realization
As in, the evolving realization of the potential of your creative abilities and every idea you'll ever have.
And that realization comes with these simple things. . . practice, repetition, dedication and time.
There is no quick fix. No Instant success. Four years later I am still creating some of the same things I did at the very beginning, like these fairy mushroom houses upon a star:
But four years later everything about them is more realized. The mushroom shapes, the grass blend, the flowers, the trees, the tiny mushrooms under the trees, the windows. Each part has improved. . even the spots!
And four years from now they will be better still. . .
That is the essence of realization. Nothing is finished and nothing is perfect. . . but that also means loving what "is" at the time too. And it goes for the skills of your craft as much as any one product. As they improve, so will you!
And this is hard for people to take in because ultimately so many want the success and the payoff NOW. But like any great thing in life. . . and creating one's art from the soul is certainly among the greatest. . . it takes a lifetime. Not one day less.
nicolas
These have ranged from the grand: "Tailor your entire life to fit your art. . . not the other way around!" to the ethereal: "Find the threads that have run throughout your whole life. . . from your earliest imaginings, and follow them." and to the obvious: " Only do what you LOVE!"
But there is little practical "how to" knowledge in those and, even if we explained them from our perspective, they must be adapted to each individual and their situaton. .
But today I think I can put it in one word. The one that absolutely WILL make a difference and help generate success.
Realization
As in, the evolving realization of the potential of your creative abilities and every idea you'll ever have.
And that realization comes with these simple things. . . practice, repetition, dedication and time.
There is no quick fix. No Instant success. Four years later I am still creating some of the same things I did at the very beginning, like these fairy mushroom houses upon a star:
But four years later everything about them is more realized. The mushroom shapes, the grass blend, the flowers, the trees, the tiny mushrooms under the trees, the windows. Each part has improved. . even the spots!
And four years from now they will be better still. . .
That is the essence of realization. Nothing is finished and nothing is perfect. . . but that also means loving what "is" at the time too. And it goes for the skills of your craft as much as any one product. As they improve, so will you!
And this is hard for people to take in because ultimately so many want the success and the payoff NOW. But like any great thing in life. . . and creating one's art from the soul is certainly among the greatest. . . it takes a lifetime. Not one day less.
nicolas
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
The Chronicle of Secret Riven
"On the nights when she wasn't too tired, she studied folklore and tales written in languages she could now read fluently. She welcomed the return of old, almost forgotten enchantment. She discovered again the promise of wonder . . . no matter what good and evil was involved."
from "The Chronicle of Secret Riven" by Ronlyn Domingue
I have been engrossed in this book the last few weeks. This is the second volume in the "Mapmaker's War" trilogy by this author. If you have not heard of or read these books, i highly recommend them. While considered a trilogy, it is not necessary to read the Mapmaker's War first. They are so different that one might read both and not realize they are connected in any way. The Mapmaker's War takes place in a distant past from The Chronicle of Secret Riven and there are only slight allusions to the first book's story in Secret Riven.
What the Chronicle of Secret Riven IS, however, is a slow and gentle unfolding of a young girl's life story. . . truly a chronicle in form and verse. . . beautifully told and meandering through mysticism and fantasy. . . heartbreaking and reassuring all at once.
The paragraph above is one of the touchstones of the book for me. A girl who is born to enchantment and magic but tries to ignore it and move to the "grown up" world of expectation and "normalcy" is reminded, again and again, that her path is not the same as others. That she is fated to something few will understand and fewer will share.
What I often take from books like this is a reassurance that the stories we tell about ourselves are, ultimately, what decide the degree of happiness we will experience in our lives.
What we carry forward, repeat and reshape. . . even re-create is OUR reality. I have reinvented my life many times. Changed locations, name, career and, ultimately this all led me back to the origins of my own mystic beginnings and experiences.
No matter the shadows or the light, it is a choice. . .. every day a new chapter and what carries forward with us is, ultimately, a result of our own authorship.
I read books like this to remember. . and to return. . . to my own origins.
To do otherwise would be to turn my back on what simply is, and always has been, my reality.
nicolas
from "The Chronicle of Secret Riven" by Ronlyn Domingue
I have been engrossed in this book the last few weeks. This is the second volume in the "Mapmaker's War" trilogy by this author. If you have not heard of or read these books, i highly recommend them. While considered a trilogy, it is not necessary to read the Mapmaker's War first. They are so different that one might read both and not realize they are connected in any way. The Mapmaker's War takes place in a distant past from The Chronicle of Secret Riven and there are only slight allusions to the first book's story in Secret Riven.
What the Chronicle of Secret Riven IS, however, is a slow and gentle unfolding of a young girl's life story. . . truly a chronicle in form and verse. . . beautifully told and meandering through mysticism and fantasy. . . heartbreaking and reassuring all at once.
The paragraph above is one of the touchstones of the book for me. A girl who is born to enchantment and magic but tries to ignore it and move to the "grown up" world of expectation and "normalcy" is reminded, again and again, that her path is not the same as others. That she is fated to something few will understand and fewer will share.
What I often take from books like this is a reassurance that the stories we tell about ourselves are, ultimately, what decide the degree of happiness we will experience in our lives.
What we carry forward, repeat and reshape. . . even re-create is OUR reality. I have reinvented my life many times. Changed locations, name, career and, ultimately this all led me back to the origins of my own mystic beginnings and experiences.
No matter the shadows or the light, it is a choice. . .. every day a new chapter and what carries forward with us is, ultimately, a result of our own authorship.
I read books like this to remember. . and to return. . . to my own origins.
To do otherwise would be to turn my back on what simply is, and always has been, my reality.
nicolas
Monday, September 1, 2014
Ten for Thirty
I am, by all accounts, at my best in a strong routine. I don't fit creativity in here and there. . . it is the main focus of my days. I found, thru the years, that when I maintain a fairly monastic-like schedule that is centered around one or two main things, I am able to be at my most productive.
And as it turns out, my happiest.
But this means that many things and activities are sacrificed and get left out. It is harder for me to make time for something once a week rather than every day.
It is one of the main reasons I seem to be unable to keep up a blog with any regularity here too. I'll think of so many things I want to say or show but, often, the thought of trying to squeeze in half an hour here and there without it being scheduled is just hard to make a reality.
And there IS so much more I want to share here. Ongoing work, thoughts, plans and experiments. .
So I decided to try an experiment this month. I want to blog every morning, scheduling it into my morning check in's and day planning. But to do so I have to be realistic and say that I am only going to allow myself 10 minutes each day to do this.
Ten minutes for thirty days.
I hope you'll come along for the ride and enjoy the things I share here this month. If it works and I find that it has become a beneficial part of my days, I will continue it beyond the end of the month.
So, without any delay ( as I am already 8 minutes in for today!) here is something new that I just finished for a client. It's a custom set of five miniature terracotta warriors.
This was right up my alley as I have long held these figures in my imagination and am overwhelmed by the thought of them being created in such scale and arranged as an army of the afterlife for Qin Shi Huang the first Emperor of China.
I'll just add that it is probably a good thing I did not know about these figures in my childhood for, as the boy who created an Egyptian tomb in his bedroom closet by drawing hieroglyphs on the walls and making royal statuary and jewelry out of tinfoil, fake jewels and paper I shudder to think what I might have tried to create to represent this in my paracosm. I can just see my grandmother going into the canning room in the basement of our house to be confronted with an army of papier mâché and cardboard warriors watching over the peaches and preserves!!! : )
So I will see you here daily this month then. . . short and sweet.
Thanks for coming along!
And as it turns out, my happiest.
But this means that many things and activities are sacrificed and get left out. It is harder for me to make time for something once a week rather than every day.
It is one of the main reasons I seem to be unable to keep up a blog with any regularity here too. I'll think of so many things I want to say or show but, often, the thought of trying to squeeze in half an hour here and there without it being scheduled is just hard to make a reality.
And there IS so much more I want to share here. Ongoing work, thoughts, plans and experiments. .
So I decided to try an experiment this month. I want to blog every morning, scheduling it into my morning check in's and day planning. But to do so I have to be realistic and say that I am only going to allow myself 10 minutes each day to do this.
Ten minutes for thirty days.
I hope you'll come along for the ride and enjoy the things I share here this month. If it works and I find that it has become a beneficial part of my days, I will continue it beyond the end of the month.
So, without any delay ( as I am already 8 minutes in for today!) here is something new that I just finished for a client. It's a custom set of five miniature terracotta warriors.
This was right up my alley as I have long held these figures in my imagination and am overwhelmed by the thought of them being created in such scale and arranged as an army of the afterlife for Qin Shi Huang the first Emperor of China.
I'll just add that it is probably a good thing I did not know about these figures in my childhood for, as the boy who created an Egyptian tomb in his bedroom closet by drawing hieroglyphs on the walls and making royal statuary and jewelry out of tinfoil, fake jewels and paper I shudder to think what I might have tried to create to represent this in my paracosm. I can just see my grandmother going into the canning room in the basement of our house to be confronted with an army of papier mâché and cardboard warriors watching over the peaches and preserves!!! : )
So I will see you here daily this month then. . . short and sweet.
Thanks for coming along!
Sunday, July 27, 2014
There's This Little Place I Know
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
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
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