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from one of the lectures at the IMC |
I'm back from my whirlwind 6 weeks and I can tell you, it
has been expanding and fruitful and I would like to say exhausting because
everyone is saying 'You must be EXHAUSTED', but I'm not. I'm exhilarated. I feel
like a kid who has been given a box of Griffins Sampler biscuits and told to
choose. Should I have the pink ones, the ones with sugar on, the chocolate, the
coconut? So much to devour, I want it all!
I write this blog primarily for those of you who don't use
facebook, because if you did, you'd have seen on my
public page multiple pictures of the
Southland Festival Tour which was wonderful on so many levels (hospitable
people those Southlanders), my sketches, travels and works in progress at the
Illustration Master Class in Amherst USA, me in my fabulous new dress from New
York (yes, how great to say that!!! and no it wasn't from Walmart) at the
NewZealand Post book Awards (no I didn't win my category but The
Beginners Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Paul Adamson did and it is a fantastic book!) AND...absolutely
NO pictures of my wearable art entries for this year. If they get into show the
first pics you'll see are after opening night in September and if they don't
get into show I'll share them after mid July which is when we find out if we
made the cut. Fingers and toes crossed, for everyone who have poured their
heart and soul and grocery money into their entries!
Also on facebook, a friend said 'It must be nice to live in
your bubble' after I posted a picture of a carnival horse I sketched in Aotea
Square whilst musing on life and work. She meant it well; she is a good friend but immediately I felt I had to justify my existence outside of a 9-5 job which I
have never really aspired to, and any time I have applied for one, I have
barely had a reply let alone an interview. I have no aptitude for a desk in office
politics and workplaces with cubicles. I'd be terrible at it- I'd want to make
sculptures out of paperclips instead of writing reports, and I'd have a glue
gun secreted in my filing cabinet, just so I could take it out and sigh with
regret that I was wasting all my creative time earning money. I'd be wasting
their money too.
So this is the thing... if I had $10 for every time I have heard it said 'It must be so nice being an artist, I WISH I could give up my job
and do what you do,' I'd be buying designer clothes and planning my next
holiday in Tahiti.
I'm telling you now don't want to give up your job. You'd
never be with the uncertainty of never knowing when or where your next
commission is coming from, whether your books/paintings/music will sell and for
how much. You'd even have to stay with your life partner if you have one
because they believe in you and make up the shortfall when you haven't earned
anything in 6 months, and they think (bless)
that one day your ship will come in and you'll both sail away together on it
into the sunset with cocktails. In fact, some of the most married people I know
are artists and writers, for richer or poorer... and our partners do get the
short straw in that agreement. They are our rocks on which our boats get thankfully stuck.
To do anything else is unthinkable, and sometimes I
wonder at myself- am I mad? completely delusional? But then, then you go to a
place where there are others like you. A Masterclass, full of artists who are
obsessed with making and creating. A place where everyone has to draw to be
able to think. Who search their minds and their hearts and souls for visual
answers, and then put them onto canvas, board, screens and creatures. And some
make most excellent money from it, and some do not, but we are all equal in our
passion. And none of us ever say 'It must be so nice to be a policy analyst, I
WISH I could give up my art and do what you do.' We would rather live in penury
than cut off our arms. I came away realising my worth; that I have a rich stream
of gold, flowing with ideas to share in the world. Expertly. Like a master.
So here's my invitation- tap that stream; bookings are open
for Fifi- I need to pay off that dress!
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photo courtesy of Mark Tantrum |