Two more weeks to go

Well my obsessiveness can't let me let it go...I've got to finish the book Walking in this World..I should know this behavior in myself...I do it all the time with my artwork as I give myself an assignment and then about half way through I'm cursing myself... and wonder why I did that to myself...I do for the wonderful feeling of accomplishment.

So on to the down hill of the final weeks chapters.
Week 10
Discovering a Sense of Camaraderie
Despite our Lone Ranger mythology, the artist's life is not lived in isolation. This week focuses your attention on the caliber of your friendships and creative collaborations. Loyalty and longevity integrity and ingenuity, grace and generosity all of this attributes are necessary traits for healthy creative exchange. The readings and tasks of this week aim at the difficult art of sorting our personal relationships.

Keeping the Drama on the Stage.
  Artists are dramatic
Art is dramatic. When artists are not making artistic dramas, they tend to make personal ones. Feeling off center, they demand center stage. Feeling on tilt, the tilt at an imaginary windmill.  this is too funny...I know a few of these types...myself included.

Ex: when getting ready for a show, workshop or sometimes class I find that I get nervous and anxiety starts to build up.. and instead of focusing on what I really need to do I get involved some where else...and then I'm creating some nervousness or drama where it really doesn't need to be..call it misplaced energy...but I recognize it most times and snap out of it.. What I find happens to me is I'm bored...as of its the mundane task of getting ready packing up  the supplies when the nervous energy is calling for excitement or adventure...If I would only be patience that does come but I want it now...can't help the human-ness that has been effected by my society of instant gratification.

Julia shares about the mysterious maladies always arrive as his departure date nears. and other find of hers a fine writer loses all humor and sense of personal perspective every time a writing deadline looms.  People like these should furnish seat belts for those riding shotgun in their lives. You would think that someone would have the nerve to say "Oh just stop it." As artists we should say it' ourselves, but drama give us an excuse to not make art and so artistic anorexia is  addictive. We get an adrenalized anxiety from not making art.

Artists love making art the way lovers love making love, and just as lovers become snappish when they need to go to bed and make love, artist become snappish when they need to make art.

Well that happens yesterday as I've been working with classes and preparing workshops proposal etc. and the ideas are floating in my head as I walking the in woods and I come home and for some reason or another...like being a mature adult and doing the homestead stuff I can't get to the studio...so yesterday I was abit anger inside almost like fighting to get up stairs to the studio...and I did then the dear husband kept wanting to pull me away and go places with him...Sears hardware store, Harbor Freight and out to Lunch...yes it could be a thing to do for love is to go with him but I know if I did I would have caused a bit of drama ...so instead I stood my grounds and said...Honey do you know what it's like when your wielding in the garage and I keep coming in and asking question when you in the middle of an important wield...??? well that's where I'm at not in the zone of this one piece and I don't want to stop...he walked away with some hurt feelings but he understand and went anyways and I stay in the studio making some art.. I could feel this anger in me and as I keep working the thoughts of change were upon me.   and I kept at it and with in about an hour "life was really good" as to say all my emotional drama went to a great place.  

in process...yesterdays drama in the studio..."Rock Mama"..photo from Door County...my stacking rocks.

Artistic Anorexia, the avoidance of the pleasure of the creative, is a pernicious addiction that strikes most artists sometimes and always take us by surprise. Instead of making art, we make trouble-and we make it because we are bingeing emotionally on not making art.

We need to go full steam ahead, and when we don't, we tend to blow off steam by venting inappropriately about any number of imaginary ills. Our aches and pains become the world's pain in the neck. 

So there is more on this all but what I want to remember is "Sudden problems in my life usually indicate a need to work on my art"...When an artist is engaging in drama instead of art, he/she needs to move out of his head and into his body-if not into his body of work.

Warning: with our fine imaginations, artists can be drama addicts...

As artists, we can be con artists-not that we con others, we usually don't. But we do con ourselves. We con ourselves into thinking that our dramatic dilemmas mean more then our art, and that indulding in drama will ever-satisfy our creative impulses...

Again...Artists are dramatic. Channeled into our work, drama is fine, but artists risk being addicted to emotional drama. We can display an alarming predilection standing at the edge of the cliff, looking straight down, while asking gullible friends, "Will I fall?" or "Shall I Jump?" Why would anyone want to do that?" you may ask. The answer is that it gives us something to do instead of making art.

Art is the itch we have to scratch, but we're the only ones who can scratch it. 

task to do is a ta da list...List the things that you have done.. rather then focus on what left..