Slowing down

There seems to be a silence creeping over blogs lately. The regulars who post constantly are slowing down the flow of words into a trickle. Have the wheels of autumn taken over after a leisurely summer and created a flurry of activity?

I know that my ability to post as regularly as I have has diminished somewhat due to pressure to accomplish a lot more in other areas. I'm sure that is the case for many other artists who I visit also.

I still try to maintain a minimum of three or more posts a week and it leaves me analysing why I do this writing. I started it as an exercise to force me into creating and to be accountable to myself as well. Sometimes it becomes.....not a chore.....but more difficult to find the words and the put experiences into a form that others will find interesting.

I am looking at other blogs and thinking about what it is that attracts me to those writings. There are several things including, familiarity with topics, learning new techniques, inspiration and the general satisfying feeling of having peeked into someone else's life for a brief moment.

I will continue to write and look into the virtual world that has been created by me, for me and around me and continue to enjoy its trials and benefits. Between more substantial drawings, I am playing with sketches for projects for a kids class for Halloween. Black paper always works well to create magic.

Fall shows

I took part in the Art Association's Fall Exhibit on Sunday. There were 38 exhibitors and I had four pieces in the show. I had chosen graphite for all the pieces and in retrospect wish I had put in some more colour as most of the other entries were paintings in one form or another. But you can never anticipate attendance at shows or what will appeal to anyone. Thirteen percent of the pieces sold overall, but none of mine. I don't mind not selling, as I like the chance to put my work into the public eye and get some exposure.

I wasn't organized enough for that show. I had the pieces ready, but I was volunteering to do some shifts to cover the show, the first starting at 8am. Too early to be organized and I had forgotten my business cards, so couldn't put them in place. And it was pouring rain and miserable out, but the trees in fall colours still shined through.

And there will be two more next times this year. There is another show in early December of small works in downtown St. John's and a fundraiser for the Health Care Foundation on November 8 & 9 and 25 & 26 which I will participate in. More details on those later.

Drawing demo

I did a drawing demonstration on Saturday to try to draw interest into some of the drawing classes that I will be starting in November. It was a unique experience with some good and bad aspects and I always learn something new everytime I deal with the public.

Its distracting trying to draw in the middle of a busy store and I could only work in small sections of time between questions, some art related, some general questions. It seems that if you're in the middle of a store and are doing anything, people presume that you work there and know where everything is! Well I did know a lot of the layout of the store, but if I could have gained commission from directing people to Customer Service, then I would have made a lot of money on Saturday.

I did have a number of interesting conversations with individuals and heard a lot of stories from people who said they can't draw, but would always like to. I encouraged them to join the classes, not simply because it would do me good, but also because I love being the enabler for others to understand the process and technique of drawing. I like to take away the mystique and let people realize that they can achieve this if they really want to do so.

This is the cat I chose for the demo and the first image all that I managed to complete in two hours. The interruption factor, new setting and ambient noise were distracting and I found it difficult to lose myself into the image as I usually do. I worked on the image later at home and a little more tonight. I'll add more updates as they come.

Time is becoming more and more limited. I was asked to name a meeting date today and said November 6th 7am or 6pm and after that I've got no spare time til November 20th. It scares me a little, this momentum that my art life has suddenly taken. Yes, I've pushed it there, now I have to peddle fast to keep up.