WARNING: this is not my usual type of post
Many of you who have been following me for a while know that I have been trying very hard to get things going with my blog and my art in terms of gaining momentum to make this a full time business.
I have submitted hundreds (okay maybe not hundreds - but certainly many, many) letters to licensing companies, scrapbooking companies, publishers and the like all of course with no success (otherwise you would have heard about it by now ; )
In all the rejection letters/emails there are 2 common pieces of feedback that seem to recur over and over again:
- I need to focus on one thing - my art is all over the place, I need to focus on one thing only so that I can come to be known for that!
- My artwork is not refined enough, the work needs to be more "finished".
So after I digested all this and saw the common thread, I also started to develop a very strong reaction to that feedback. It occurred over time- not in a passing moment - but over time with other feedback and events that have occurred as well.
So my immediate reaction to that feedback (and don't be alarmed - it is a little cynical)is the following and then I will tell you how this lead me to believe what I believe today.
- I don't want to focus on one kind of art. Being creative means you can touch anything and be good at it - sew, paint, draw, collage, journal, make jewellery etc. - I don't want to narrow down my abilities - they are what they are and I am proud that I can do all kinds of things. AND despite this - there is by the way a common "look" in all my work regardless of whether it is a drawing or a bracelet.
- I'm not sure what 'refined' means - was Picasso's art refined?, are journals and collaged pages always refined - my pieces are what they are - and how they are mean to be.
So here, now, is what I believe and KNOW today about myself and my art:
- I don't want to follow any more sites that tell me I should "blog more, tweet more, facebook more, like more, visit other blogs more, host giveaways more, use pictures more - blah blah blah blah blah
- Instead I will read more blogs that inspire me to create beautiful art
- I don't want to work on more paintings or journals, when I have the itch to make some jewellery just because I have to make my mark with one thing
- I will make jewellery
- I don't want to "refine" my work so that it looks better in a photo I may submit
- I like the sometimes-rawness of my work
- I don't want to make "bucket lists"
- I want to make life lists for what I want to do now - not when I think I am dying
- I don't want to promote all the time and direct people to my shop, my classes etc etc
- I want my readers to come because they like what I have to say or they come because they want to be inspired today to make some art of their own. PERIOD
- I want to share art for the sheer excitement of motivating someone to create their own art - not because I hit record numbers in my blog hits
- I want to be true to my art, like I was two years ago
- I want to share the books I read, the joys I've found, the day to day happenings in my world
- Because I know my followers want to hear that
- I want to stop feeling like a blogging failure if I haven't promoted or increased my views in a given week
- I want to let happen what will happen
- I don't want to hear that "praying" doesn't cut it - that you have to push all the time
- I believe in giving it up to the universe and I believe the universe is listening
- I don't want to be cynical, disappointed, or discouraged about blogging
- I want to go back to the roots of why I do this - to share and inspire - truly
- I don't want to get back into the traffic and hustle and bustle and politics of my telecommunications day job
- I want to enjoy my time talking to you and sharing and living my life with my family and my art
- I don't want to "own" any more "things"
- I want to enjoy what I have and live a life less cluttered
- I don't want to wait anymore on someone to do the things I want to do
- I will go to my first art retreat when the time is good for me - even if no one else can come
- I will no longer subscribe to the commercial mantras of blogging gurus
- I do want to subscribe to my Ask, Believe, Receive mantra - that I believe in!
- I will not be offended if people call me naive because of the above
- I believe in being true to myself
- I will no longer (starting now) do the things that have been on my "I hate doing this" list - (but that's a whole other post and a whole other list!)
- I will share a piece of my art - every day - with you, my family or my friends
- I will not leave them in my sketchbook because they are not "refined" enough!
- I will not talk to nay-sayers about my dreams and goals
- I will find more like-minded people to share that with
- I do believe I am good, strong and very passionate about my art
- I do believe this will rise above all else commercial or otherwise
- I refuse to believe that I will not achieve everything I want to achieve
- Because I don't believe that - I do believe I will get there, on my own terms, in my own time
