Happy Thanksiving!
At 3:30 am I was lying awake in bed trying to fall back asleep. It wasn't happening. So at 4 am I decided I better get up. My mind was running circles around a problem. That problem being all the paintings I need to catch up on and how I need to also do my commission work to keep the bills paid. I have finally reached a point in my "art career" where there is a little demand for the paintings to the point that most are sold already. So when a new lucrative venue pipes up they want more, more, more paintings I'm looking around my studio and seeing bare walls and hardwood floors. An easel standing at the ready but no art produced! I have at least a week and a halfs worth of Christmas commissions to tackle and a need to have my art at lucrative venue in time for the holidays as well.
I can do this. I am a Dragon.
If anything I am super driven to excel at what I focus on. I'm not really sure how I inherited this trait but I did. I think it also stems from being a little 5' 3" gal who was always picked on in school and called "Shorty" and "Shrimp". I used to daydream of growing monstrously tall and giving it right back to my bullies. In truth it was all playful and not too mean spirited but it did infuse in me this "I'll Show THEM!" attitude at a young age. That could be dangerous or good depending on how you use it. So when childhood bullies taunting me with names morphed into adult people and galleries who wouldn't return my emails and generally ignored me - there was the old wound. But something very important I learned over the past few years is that "I'll show THEM!" had turned into "I'll show ME!" because I am the only one that needs to beat myself. I am my own competition. I am my own downfall. I am my own opportunity for success and THEM and THEY are merely targets to direct my frustrations onto. So this year was all about I'LL SHOW ME and when I say NEXT LEVELIN' IT I am talking about my own powers against myself. The things I suck at are to be honed, practiced and perfected. Of course Bruce Lee is my idol.
Since the discovery that I am the only one that needs to compete against myself I also decided I wasn't going to be taking NO and closed doors for an answer. If ignoring someone is someones way of dealing with you then um, why do you WANT to even do business with them? You don't.
So I will annually bug all those people who ignore my emails. Here's my art now. Here's my art now. No one else is going to do this for me. You make a mistake if you think there's a magic person out there who has your back and is whispering wonderful things about you to all the people you'd love to work with. YOU are your own advocate unless you have an agent. I have been fortunate this year to find a few people who are now whispering good things about me to people I want to work with and it was because they liked my DIY attitude. Don't be passive in your own life and career. This is YOUR shot! So in short this Year Of The Dragon was a year I fully embraced. I put my head down in my studio and I painted like I have never painted before. I made breakthroughs in my work I never expected and the new stuff is really getting some attention. I am but a small mouse on a grain of wheat in a giant wheatfield in a world of wheatfields but this is my grain of wheat and I worked hard to find it. Remember to feel small, work hard, rise above the challenges and don't take no for an answer.
I am thankful today for everyone who has contributed to my art career, happiness, successes and disappointments. Even the bullies are getting thanked today- I wouldn't be such a dragon without you!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Comments
Post a Comment