The rumor of my death
has been over exaggerated. The excuse for my absence in the blogosphere has
been debated. They range from; too busy making art, lack of creative energy, or
self-doubt and procrastination. The last two are the most evil yet the easiest
to squelch. So I’m sticking to the first excuse; I’ve been too busy making art.
The first leads to the second, it’s not merely that I lack creativity, it’s
that the creative energy has been used to fuel the art.
So what is the art? This
creation that I speak of is locally known as the Chester County Studio Tour. A
tour of local talent weaved throughout our county. Studios are found in between
the rolling hills, winding roads, and cow dotted pastures. It’s a pleasant
weekend in mid May where our doors to the ivory towers of creation are opened
for the curious. Opening the doors to one studio isn’t a problem. I have
coordinated ten studios to open their doors, not only to share the owners’
creations but to also share other artists’ creations too. In total it becomes
25 artists sharing their love, passion, and hard work with anyone willing to
drive to their door.
This is more than an
open studio; the inner workings are more like a cat wrangler. The performance
actually takes place three months prior to the event. That is when decisions
are made, when the “brush strokes are laid” (if I were to compare it to the
creation of artwork). Back in the 70”s this might have been considered a
“happening.” Yoko Ono might be seen pacing back and forth trying to convince
participants to hammer a nail into a piece of wood. For her it worked, yet, some
might conclude that piece of art broke up the Beatles because it was there that
she met John. Now I’m not trying to break up any boy bands or start a
revolution. I’m just trying to introduce some art to some local people. But I
can’t help to think of the bigger picture; just for two days everyone has the
opportunity to experience art. I even made catalogues and posters to document
the experience. Maybe I’ve just worked too hard and my delusion of grandeur is
over exaggerated.
I have not yet received
my Mensa membership card but I assure you it is in the mail. As I sit here at la mesa, I figure I’m
a shoe in. I had the card sent to my ivory tower, a.k.a. my studio. This is my
kingdom where I rule and I am king. Not yet ruler of the world, on some days I
consider myself close, as long as I don’t go outside the threshold of the
studio doors. I have supremacy over all materials in my hands. There are no
uprisings from minions as my thoughts become actions. Every idea is pure
brilliance for I am a genius!
But why is it every time
I walk out of my tower and leave my kingdom, I feel like a king with new
clothes. All those great ideas for paintings and ways to rule the art world
have all these obstacles and conditions. I share my ideas and masterpieces with
other kings that have taken that leisurely stroll outside their comfort zone, I
mean, tower. They share their stories on reigns of terror and accomplishments
at the easel. We gloat with a boisterous laugh as we raise our chalices to
toast our successes. Once we have parted ways and the peasant’s daylight hits
our creations, they become tarnished. They lose the luster as more eyes gaze
upon them; more words said about them dent the original meaning.
Being smarter than the
average guy, I realize I need a cape to cover my emperor’s clothes. Plus the
cape will help me quickly get back to my ivory tower by either stealth or
flight. The massive cape helps deflect the self-doubt as I dash back to my
tower. Once I reach my kingdom, I enter and close the doors to the peasants
behind me. I check the pile of
mail hoping the mail carrier delivered my Mensa card, no such luck. Again being
smarter and thinking ahead of my time, maybe it is in the form of an email. I
check my inbox only to find gallery and show rejections. Now with time to kill
as I wait for my membership, I catch up with some videos of a couple of friends,
Pinky and the Brain.
(Actually the order of
this story is going to be sour first then onto the sweetness. It works better
for my time line.) It is through this blog that I share my struggles,
curiosities and maybe a tinge of enlightenment into my artistic journey. With
all journeys there are struggles, successes and different ways to get “there.” Between us, I’m not sure where “there”
is but that’s half the fun and getting “there” takes lots of time. Time is
something I just can’t get a handle on. My sense of time is: if I have to be at
some place on the hour, I will leave 5 minutes before the hour. I seem to believe
it takes me 5 minutes to get anywhere. In my head, the longest it takes to get anywhere
is 20 minutes. Reality has some equation that puts in traffic lights, time of
day, other people and finding a parking spot. I just can’t compute these
things. This formula creates a bitter side effect within my life; I have no
time.
The sour situation; my
workload was about to increase due to unforeseen circumstances. Truly I didn’t
see it coming. We all know that in the work place some other coworker usually
causes this when their lack of time appreciation is on display. Their burden
shifts and it is suddenly placed upon you. This kind of happened in a round about
way and I was called into action. Find the matches, find the oil cause it’s
going to be a long night. I don’t have extra time but because of my occupation
I can find the time. I have yet to figure out how to make time. With a little
grumbling I figured I could do it; it wouldn’t take long. Fast-forward to 3 am
and it’s still not done. Continue for another 48 hours and it’s almost
finished. A bitter pill to swallow but that’s part of the gig and we all do it.
The sweet situation; I
have the time to do random acts of multi-tasking. One of the side effects of
time appreciation is the need to multi-task. I figure if I can’t manage time, I
should do two things at once with it. This is the sweetness of my life. Considering
I had finished my unforeseen project, I had some time to spare. Within this
spare time, I had to exercise and run a few errands like picking up milk and some
small items. My unbelievable approach to multi-tasking helped me utilize my
time management skills. I had concluded it was a brilliant idea to ride my bike
(exercise) to the store (get milk). A brilliant plan to burn calories and
accomplish something within 5 minutes, ok maybe 20 minutes. Fast forward 3 hours;
I had put air in the bike tires, climbed hills with a lack of physical
strength, wandered through shopping aisles in search of a reward, namely
chocolate, because of my successful multi-tasking. Then another journey home,
back up the same hill I climbed to get there, so it seemed. I had passed so
many things that I had never noticed while driving in a car. I had the wind at
my back, the sun in my face and all the time in the world minus 3 hours for a
gallon of milk. Now I digress; that was the best bowl of cereal I had eaten in
a long time. A droplet in my espresso and I am off to find more time today and
see how I can spend it…the benefits of owning your own one-man company.
