Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Steps forward and back

Cyclamen seed head
copyright Jeanette Jobson
There is no short-cut to art, one has to work hard, be open and flexible in your mind, keep the child alive inside you, and through a whole lifetime be ready to learn new things and – of course – be mentally prepared for a hard punch on your nose – especially when you think you are doing well. (Bente Borsum)
I have been absent for a few days due to work commitments and travel and more work commitments. Workloads seem to bog me down lately and I haven't had a lot of time to start any new drawings. That is the frustrating part of pushing work, art and life forward at speed. I may need to pull back a little and regroup.

I have one drawing class behind me and it went well, better than anticipated. I got some time management realizations - there is only so much to fit into a two hour period and people like to talk! Also, being accessible, people are prone to stand and watch and listen in which is a little distracting to those creating drawings.

I have received my order from Blick's of 72 Coloursoft pencils and I'm looking forward to trying them out. I also brought in some plate finish Bristol 500 and 400 as I can't find them in Canada. With the higher Canadian dollar (nearly $1.05 today) it makes it a little less painful on the bank balance to order from the USA than it used to.

My daughter sent me a clip of my grand daughter in her Halloween costume tonight - a vampire caterpillar. And to think I had to settle for a crepe paper cowboy outfit when I was a kid! Times change.

5 comments:

Laurel Neustadter said...

Your granddaughter is very cute. I had no idea that catepillars could be vampires ... I will be wary of them in the future! Work and travel can really interfere with art ... sometimes taking it easy and resting is the best thing (says she who went on 3 business trips in the past 10 days).

Anita said...

How adorable is that? How do you manage to juggle work and play, Jeanette? I struggle constantly with finding time for what I love in a day that is mostly filled with an evil necessity. Rigid timetables seems to be the only way but that really doesn't seem very relaxing!

Jeanette Jobson said...

Thanks Laurel, she's a sweetie. Oh yes, those evil vampire caterpillars...:)

Babies are cute, especially dressed up. Anita, its often a juggling act that has all my juggling balls crashing down round my ears. Timetables don't work well for creativity, but fine for work related things. I have the 'what the hell' part when I just let the world rush on by and I do my drawing or create something. Life's too short and I sure won't be remembered for my regular work after I die.

Billie Crain said...

what a unique idea for a Halloween costume! vampire caterpillars....who knew? your daughter must be a stitch. haha

i'm glad to hear your class is going well.:) i watch a lot of video art demos and see the pros struggle to talk and create at the same time. you have to use opposite sides of the brain at the same time to do both. did you run into this problem?

Anonymous said...

Love the quote Jeanette! Like many of us, I too struggle with the time issue. I'm only just starting to get to the point where I can be selective with my other business and committ more time to my art. I'm reasoning it with how else can I expect to grow?