What's that you say? Have fun?

Nothing too earth shattering today.  About 10 or so years ago I really fell into a rut.  I was so worried about marketing my art-what would sell, who would buy it, will I have to take my art out of state, etc.-I forgot the shear joy in creating!  That's when I decided that enough was enough.  I gave it up almost completely and went to work at a dental lab.  I was worried that I would forget how to paint but I think having a nice long break, without the pressures of producing for market, was good for me.  I still kept my hand in it some but didn't focus on it all the time.  In other words, I wasn't obsessed.  Now that I'm back in the groove I have started experimenting again.  Taking some risks...uh oh, pretty scary.  But that's good for us to do. We will be able to find something  new about ourselves and our talent.

My message today is:  HAVE FUN. Keep a positive attitude.  Remember this talent has been given to you and it is a blessing.


Art History Moment:  I'm not going to talk about anything specific today.  The reason why art history attracted me so much is that you can't study the art without studying the culture where the art is produced.  Delving into an area you'll find that you will learn in a roundabout way the politics, religion, time period, customs, etc.  It's like eating a yummy candy bar-just full of hidden delights.  I found this out when I was studying Japanese art that was taught by Lenox Tierney (GREAT teacher) at the University of Utah.  The professor had lived in Japan pre WWII and he had pictures of places that he had taken that don't even exist today as they had been bombed.  Wow.  Along with learning about the art we also talked about the customs.  It was fascinating.  I actually think that studying art history is much more of a privilege than regular history.  What I mean by that is-you get to learn all the regular stuff but it's spiced up with the artistic work of the people.  What could be more intriguing that that?