Friday I had material, time and motivation but lacked the essential 4th component of a successful art day, INSPIRATION! Arrrggh, what a bummer because I’ve been on such a good art roll lately and I’ve been dying to make a Magpie outdoor steel sculpture. I goofed myself up because while the inspiration was hot on Thursday, I filled the majority of the day with necessary housekeeping details instead of welding my sculpture! I needed to swing by Alaska Steel and pick up some new round stock,
sanding discs at the hardware store, and sheet steel from Western Sheet Metal. Then, I drove to Blaines Art store to pick up some more enamel paint and visited with the owner, Renee, met her new Black Lab "Copper" and got the latest scoop on her NEW art building (hooray for Renee!). By now it’s after lunch, so I grabbed some drive-thru Burrito King for eating in the studio while I Blog Browsed… well that shot all of my inspirational-motivational spark because by then I was full and a bit sleepy and I needed to pick Gus up from school. No biggie, there’s always my free Friday I happily thought to myself…
Friday dawns, everyone is at school, chores are done, plenty of materials on hand… and like I said, I’ve got three of the four going on but no BIG “I.” Haaarumph (insert cranky face here)!! Sometimes when I’m in need of a quick spark I go to Barnes & Noble Booksellers and peruse the zillions of books and arts & crafts magazine section. For some reason all of the well designed covers, visuals and titles can easily inspire me. After getting ramped up again, I was hungry so I stopped at Middleway Café for their morning special of Chorizo Benedict, mmmm. While I was enjoying my quick solo breakfast I was reading the UAA The Northern Light school newspaper and read that the “No Big Heads” self-portrait competition deadline is Monday- Yikes! I have been thinking about this piece I want to enter and was ready to finish it up. Satiated, and fired up I raced back to
the shop and worked on not only the Magpie sculpture I’ve been wanting to do, but also finished my No Big Heads entry! Eligible entries for the No Big Heads Self-Portrait Exhibition is open to all artists. Work must be no larger than 12 inches by 12 inches in any direction. My piece is titled “Now I’m Identifiable,” based on
some full dental casts that were made from my teeth. After having new crown and bridge work done (holy cow was that expensive!) my dentist gave me my mold -along with the great dental work. I loved this mold and though a bit more fatalistic than I usually am, one of the first thoughts I had was, well at least now I am fully identified by my dental records. The Magpie sculpture will get some final painted details this weekend and thankfully, the 4th stage of matter, Inspiration, is still with me today (insert happy face here!).
6 comments:
The big "I" word is tough some days isn't it? I love the dentist part and I'm right there with you on the B&N magazine run;)
well there is so much to say and so little time-
I have to tell you first that Mark dreamed we were going to see you in Alaska and there was a plane we had to take and a party, food and some wierd dancing...
he had me laughing talking about his dream.
So you never know you might see us one day.
That "I" word- some days you need to take care of the me to get to the I.
Seems you did that- and now that I see all the yummy food possibilites I am ready to pack a bag.
Love the birds and could that head stand in for yet another "head shot" for you?
M
Can't wait to see the new work! I love that photo (last post) of you in the whole welder get-up. Very hot, indeed.
Hi Marjorie! I've let a couple of magazine subscriptions go because I like getting them in person at B&N!
Meredith, I think Mark's dream is about a party that I need to throw celebrating your visit!!! Believe it or not, Alaskans are real foodies -maybe from all the dark winter months but the eats up here are FAB. HA- the head shot is how I feel some days, so it could work!!
Thanks Vicki. xox
Just remember not to grit your teeth and inspiration will come. Ha couldn't resist. I love how you had a change of scene and inspiration returned so quickly, sometimes that's all it takes. I love magpies, they always announce themselves noisely, as if to say here I am everybody.
Love the "Identifiable" piece. Your inspired mind is an awesome thing!... I've found that I can't wait for inspiration. Just keep on keepin' on and it seems like the momentum feeds on itself. However, if I'm tired or just need to TLC myself, a break or change of scenery can sometimes do the trick.
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