02 January

No Big Deal

"Queen Nefer-Cindy" Self portrait sculpture
made from life-size plaster casting, found object
paint brushes, paint tubes, gold leaf.
Normally I don’t make any New Year’s resolutions because I can’t keep them for longer than about 10 days. I’m usually rejuvenated in the Fall and somehow have always considered my “New Year” to be in September. Weird huh? Maybe not so weird when I think about it, because my birthday is in September. Hmm, birth, rebirth, New Year? In thinking about how I see the coming New Year, three words did pop into my head this morning that I’m going to try and live by in 2012, No-Big-Deal. I’m going to try and not make such a big deal about things.  Try and not turn into (more of) a curmudgeon or not let my spirit get older. OK, I admit this was after I had a total moment of “road anger” on New Year’s Day after some guy driving behind us LAID HIS HORN ON me as the light turned green because I was WAITING FOR A PEDISTRIAN TO SLOWLY CROSS THE ICY STREET in the cross walk! This really set me off and as I calmed down I thought to myself I am NOT going to throw my car in reverse at a HIGH RATE OF SPEED or to have negative energy set the direction of my New Year! Truth be it known, Daddy-O (who was riding with me) and I both were ready to kick this young punk's ass in the grocery store (liquor store) parking lot where both cars were heading. Then we saw that he was about 90 years old and felt sorry for the old, cranky, fat fart. He was in more of a hurry than we were to get our New Year’s beverages! 

I’ve had a couple of e-mails from artist friends who want to make more art in the coming New Year. They asked me how to get back into the swing of more art making, or what do I do to re-inspire myself. I wish it were a bit more magical for me but before I start any creative project, my house needs to be in order. My studio needs to be de-cluttered, or “first things first” as I like to say. It’s different for everybody but I would also recommend, surrounding yourself with all things artful, be kind to your process, let yourself up, kick the critic out of the room and be physically and mentally fit. Three books in my library that I also like to refer to are Creative Time and Space, Creative Awakenings, and Drawing Lab. Here is also a link for ten ways to stimulate your creative juices and generate fresh inspiration - Ten Tips to Inspire Creativity. I have a handful of REALLY COOL projects I'm working on that I'll be able to share in the coming weeks. We are taking today to "get our house in order" before the post Holiday, work week of real life turns us into our mere mortal selves at the stroke of midnight tonight! Happy New Year dear Blog friends, I appreciate your faithful reading.

My Mom sent this photo of me when I was about two. This is how I want to picture myself in 2012 -HOLD ON!

1 comment:

Linda Starr said...

What a wonderful self portrait, you wouldn't believe how impatient the 'snowbirds' are here, they are all from big cities I guess and used to taking off at a minutes notice at stop lights and horrible at tailgating, honking, flipping us crackers off, etc. Car insurance rates reflect their impatience, parking lot dings, fender benders and horrible crashes with no notes left by those hitting cars in parking lots. We go slow since taking off slow reduces fuel consumption and try to park way away in the lots or go grocery shopping very early in am when others are asleep. I hope to focus my efforts more this year since I don't seem to lack for ideas.