I taught myself a lesson this week: never think your first attempt at an unfamiliar art form will be worthy of giving away as a birthday present!
I got all excited about making a 3D tree out of paper inside a shadow box. Problem was, I had the idea two (already very busy) days before the birthday party where I wanted to give it away, and I hadn't made a 3D anything out of paper before. I didn't really think the thing through, I just started going and imagined that something decently interesting would come out the other end. Boy, was I wrong. The result was a disappointingly dull tree emerging from the back of the shadow box and extending onto the top and bottom of the frame. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
The trunk of the tree was cool enough, though, that I think my general working method is pretty strong. My next try will be a wholly freestanding tree (or some other object) shaped out of layers and layers of paper.
In case you're wondering, I gave the birthday person a coupon for a future Bell Buoy Press item. When I'm better at this 3D thing, I'll make him a tree.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Doldrums
Holly of decor8 blog recently posted about daily flower arrangements as a way to overcome the end-of-winter blues. I like this idea a lot - I love flowers, especially daffodils and irises - but it's not financially feasible for me right now, given that I'm mostly unemployed.
So here I am, stuck in the creative doldrums, and waiting anxiously for spring. Somehow this unpleasant transitional season makes even more acute the questions I always wrestle with: how do I balance art, time, and money? Why do life concerns of bills and housekeeping always take so much time? How come I can't find a job? (Thanks, economy. Thanks a lot.) How can I learn some sense of discipline inside creativity, so that I'm not always only prey to the whims of my impulses?
I'm really looking forward to a workshop in April called "A Life That Doesn't Suck (Financial Crisis Edition)", run by several professional dancers in Philadelphia as part of the city's annual Dance Theater Camp. While I expect most of the discussion to be immediately relevant to the dance side of my art world, I know the issues we'll be talking about - the value of art, building community, time, money - are relevant across the board.
In the meantime, I think I'll go riffle through my box of paper goodies and send friends some unexpected mail. Hopefully that will briefly lift any sense of blah they might be struggling against, and perhaps help my sense of wellbeing, too.
So here I am, stuck in the creative doldrums, and waiting anxiously for spring. Somehow this unpleasant transitional season makes even more acute the questions I always wrestle with: how do I balance art, time, and money? Why do life concerns of bills and housekeeping always take so much time? How come I can't find a job? (Thanks, economy. Thanks a lot.) How can I learn some sense of discipline inside creativity, so that I'm not always only prey to the whims of my impulses?
I'm really looking forward to a workshop in April called "A Life That Doesn't Suck (Financial Crisis Edition)", run by several professional dancers in Philadelphia as part of the city's annual Dance Theater Camp. While I expect most of the discussion to be immediately relevant to the dance side of my art world, I know the issues we'll be talking about - the value of art, building community, time, money - are relevant across the board.
In the meantime, I think I'll go riffle through my box of paper goodies and send friends some unexpected mail. Hopefully that will briefly lift any sense of blah they might be struggling against, and perhaps help my sense of wellbeing, too.
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