(or www.blaylockpottery.com) <--coming soon
[written saturday morning 6/25] I went to bed a mere three hours ago. It’s not that I don’t burn the candle at both ends most of the time, but preparing for a show is different. I hold shows at my home one day each summer and fall. The “show” has evolved over the years and now there are several artists who participate with me.
The show prep is exhausting. I am a world-class procrastinator, so I love to put off until next week what I could do tomorrow. It’s just the way I work. But I've decided this may not be the best approach to my “aging gracefully” plan.
Because I’ve put off what I could have been doing a few months ago, the last two weeks have been like the third level of hell. I work full time during the day, then for myself from three to six hours most nights after I get home. This is in addition to the normal stuff like... let’s say... personal hygiene, laundry and sleep. All of these things are important to say the least.
My dog Hairy thinks I’ve completely lost the plot. I mean for a dog, life should be a zen-like experience. Be one with your kibble... not to mention, smelling the air must be like touching god. My life, however, has gotten the farthest from zen as it can possible get. Somewhere between an impulse control challenged tween and a bumble bee hopped up on Red Bull without the actual help of Red Bull because that would probably send me right over the edge of sanity. (Red Bull reference dedicated to James Clark)
I’m not sure how this happened, but honestly, it happens every pre-show. Some ethereal master of sanity kidnaps mine and won’t give me proof of life until I’m on the brink of a coma with over-work.
I used to really enjoy it, but now I’m old... remember I hit 40 this summer. It’s starting to seem a little counter-productive.
So I'm faced with a dilemma. Or at least I think I am... “Can I make this better, or do I have to cut back in order to stay upright?”, "How do I balance a full time job which for now I have to keep, and work toward what I believe to be my ideal life: making art?"
Now normally, my blogs make brilliantly astute observations (that was sarcasm) and sometimes even give sage advice (again with the sarcasm). You become very wise and worth listening to when you turn 40. But in today’s blog, I’m actually asking for comments. How do I transition into full time artist without going insane or bankrupt. Send your ideas to: 100 Desperation Way, Anything-but-Margeritaville, Montana... Turns out Blogs have comment spaces below! Leave your ideas or comments as you please. I would so appreciate the help!
Showing posts with label creative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
I Sort My Skittles
So, today, I had to call one of my co-workers into my office for a reality check. No, I wasn't giving him a reality check. I needed one of my own. You see, every once in a while I realize I'm doing something very odd and I just feel it's important to acknowledge it and then, of course, move on.
The thing I was doing today? I was sorting Skittles. Yeah, the little fruity candies. You know... "Taste the Rainbow". No, this isn't an ad for Skittles. I also do it with M&M's. I just consider it one of the many loveable quirks I have. But I do recognize that I probably should keep those quirks in check from time to time. So, I called in my co-worker who is a friend and was about to say something when he noticed that my Skittles were sorted on my desk by color. Not only were they sorted by color, but also by quantity... fewest to most. We both started laughing so hard, I was positive someone would pee their pants. I'm sure it was especially ironic considering the state of my desk. I keep telling people that their going to do a "Hoarders: Office Edition" right here in my office!
He said "Did you actually count them?" To which I replied "Of course not, I eyeball it, counting them would just be anal." Then we laughed again. But now that I look at the picture I took, I see I should've switched the green and the yellow. Clearly there are fewer green than yellow, but again, I'm just eyeballing.
Quite seriously, I think it's me just lending a hand to the Skittles quality control people. I love finding out if the colors are equally distributed in the bag. This almost never happens. It doesn't happen with M&M's either (of the peanut or plain varieties). Huh? I also like to find out if the colors from least to greatest actually make the rainbow that Skittles uses in their advertising. It's fascinating. Most of the time, this doesn't happen either, but when it does, I feel like a real leprechaun just left me a sugar and corn syrup pot of gold! Also, yellow seems to be the color that comes up the least and this is also true for M&Ms. Weird huh? In Skittles, the color you see the most of is purple, while in M&Ms, it's brown. I would guess that there's a corporate report somewhere that says Yellow #5 is much more expensive than say Red Lake #40 + Blue Lake #2 (the colors required to make purple). And brown... well, that's gotta be cheaper than all of the other colors, right?
Skittles are healthy as well. It says on the bag, "EXCELLENT SOURCE OF VITAMIN C". It's in all caps like that so it must be important.
I don't know where this compulsion to sort Skittles came from, but I do sometimes wonder if I have a minor case of Asberger's syndrome which is in turn a mild form of Autism. Just so you know, my spell check thinks Asberger's should be spelled astrologer's or beefburgers. I'm not joking about this at all. I really wonder that. Statistically it's entirely possible, and I don't have impeccable social skills to boot. But what I lack in manners, I make up for in empathy, so according to WebMD, I'm probably just "quirky". I like that word better than "mental".
Judging by how I keep my desk, it could be my way of controlling something... anything in a complete state of chaos... NAW, that can't be it.
It might be that I just like colors. Most artists do have some bit of quirkiness. I mean Van Gogh actually cut off his ear for love... okay maybe that was on the "mental" side of the spectrum. But you have to admit that great artists generally have some "thing" about them that is different. I even had a college art professor tell me that I could be "normal" or I could do "great art" but that I couldn't have both. I'd choose to do great art. It's up to other people to critique it. It might also mean I have to develop other quirks if I feel myself falling into a rut of normality. I just can't let that happen. Normality is a bit soul-sucking in my opinion. So for now, I'll stick with sorting my Skittles.
The thing I was doing today? I was sorting Skittles. Yeah, the little fruity candies. You know... "Taste the Rainbow". No, this isn't an ad for Skittles. I also do it with M&M's. I just consider it one of the many loveable quirks I have. But I do recognize that I probably should keep those quirks in check from time to time. So, I called in my co-worker who is a friend and was about to say something when he noticed that my Skittles were sorted on my desk by color. Not only were they sorted by color, but also by quantity... fewest to most. We both started laughing so hard, I was positive someone would pee their pants. I'm sure it was especially ironic considering the state of my desk. I keep telling people that their going to do a "Hoarders: Office Edition" right here in my office!
He said "Did you actually count them?" To which I replied "Of course not, I eyeball it, counting them would just be anal." Then we laughed again. But now that I look at the picture I took, I see I should've switched the green and the yellow. Clearly there are fewer green than yellow, but again, I'm just eyeballing.
Quite seriously, I think it's me just lending a hand to the Skittles quality control people. I love finding out if the colors are equally distributed in the bag. This almost never happens. It doesn't happen with M&M's either (of the peanut or plain varieties). Huh? I also like to find out if the colors from least to greatest actually make the rainbow that Skittles uses in their advertising. It's fascinating. Most of the time, this doesn't happen either, but when it does, I feel like a real leprechaun just left me a sugar and corn syrup pot of gold! Also, yellow seems to be the color that comes up the least and this is also true for M&Ms. Weird huh? In Skittles, the color you see the most of is purple, while in M&Ms, it's brown. I would guess that there's a corporate report somewhere that says Yellow #5 is much more expensive than say Red Lake #40 + Blue Lake #2 (the colors required to make purple). And brown... well, that's gotta be cheaper than all of the other colors, right?
Skittles are healthy as well. It says on the bag, "EXCELLENT SOURCE OF VITAMIN C". It's in all caps like that so it must be important.
I don't know where this compulsion to sort Skittles came from, but I do sometimes wonder if I have a minor case of Asberger's syndrome which is in turn a mild form of Autism. Just so you know, my spell check thinks Asberger's should be spelled astrologer's or beefburgers. I'm not joking about this at all. I really wonder that. Statistically it's entirely possible, and I don't have impeccable social skills to boot. But what I lack in manners, I make up for in empathy, so according to WebMD, I'm probably just "quirky". I like that word better than "mental".
Judging by how I keep my desk, it could be my way of controlling something... anything in a complete state of chaos... NAW, that can't be it.
It might be that I just like colors. Most artists do have some bit of quirkiness. I mean Van Gogh actually cut off his ear for love... okay maybe that was on the "mental" side of the spectrum. But you have to admit that great artists generally have some "thing" about them that is different. I even had a college art professor tell me that I could be "normal" or I could do "great art" but that I couldn't have both. I'd choose to do great art. It's up to other people to critique it. It might also mean I have to develop other quirks if I feel myself falling into a rut of normality. I just can't let that happen. Normality is a bit soul-sucking in my opinion. So for now, I'll stick with sorting my Skittles.
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