The Northampton Queen
Posted on | April 12, 2010 | No Comments
Been too quiet on the illustration front lately. I’ve felt for a while now that there’s a breakthrough somewhere waiting to be found. If only I could be more open, diligent, exploratory, crazy, nosy, crafty, smarter, dumber, whatever, blah, blah, blah… Believe it or not, I’ve had this feeling just about since signing on with my agent, over three years ago! Of course at first I was just trying to get the hang of working with commercial clients as an illustrator, but then it turned towards how to work with my art in a more commercial way, yet still be happy with both the process and the result. Oh yeah, and remain true to my(so-called)self… exhausting!
Since returning home to Halifax I’ve been busy developing a new business with my lovely partners Geoff & Anne (see the blog at VTCentral) and art has had to take an increasingly back seat to everything else. Until I came down with Pneumonia and everything took a back seat to that for a couple of weeks. Threw production schedules way off, but one night at 3AM an image snuck up and wacked me upside the head. Just when things looked darkest — and not just ’cause of the hour — that breakthrough I’ve been waiting, searching, hoping for!
And here’s a first shy little step towards that vision. It will probably take a few to stop resetting to default art position (namely automatically redoing what I’ve been doing for the past five years), but it’s a step. One little step. Next I’ll try a few studies to get the foreground/background thing clearer, but for the next day or two I’m happy with this.
In the wake of early-mid 20th Century Art Deco travel posters
Tags: art > art deco > breakthrough > commercial art > creativity > illustration > retro
Anne Watkins on giving continuous feedback
Posted on | April 7, 2010 | No Comments
Posted via email from VETALI
Working with mild depression
Posted on | April 6, 2010 | No Comments
The most important thing to do with this is to process the depression, which turns out to be a repeated thought loop. The best thing to do is to cut the loop of thoughts. Talk about the day, share what’s happening. That can often release the depression. Another big thing that can be done is to exercise. Just being active sets the brain going in a different direction and lets depression drop away.
Chapter 4, section 1: Dionysos in Paradise, Nova Scotia
Posted on | March 28, 2010 | No Comments
The long and winding road, ba-dum-pum, takes me ba-ack to your door!” Since getting off highway 101 (hardly worth calling a highway), Dionysos drove with the window down, breathing in the blessed salt air and letting the Beatles have their way with him.
Powerful Questions
Posted on | March 25, 2010 | No Comments
It turns out that the most powerful questions begin with “What” and are very short — not to mention dumb! The most powerful question might be “What do you want?” … “What do you really want?” This is a great way for managers & leaders to get under the surface and ask powerful questions.
What’s your Bigger Game?
Posted on | March 22, 2010 | No Comments
Stress reduction, part 1
Posted on | March 5, 2010 | No Comments
Altpick member of the day!
Posted on | February 26, 2010 | No Comments
Okay, this is a little braggy, but my art rep just sent me this image. It’s nice to be on the front page once in a while.
…and here’s the image that the thumbnail leads to. Did it last winter. Not usually a hockey guy, but was thinking about the Vancouver Olympics—then a year away—and thought it could be a fun subject.
When is too much?
Posted on | February 10, 2010 | No Comments
I’ll say right up front that I have a habit of biting off a lot. I push myself to stretch limits & boundaries & all those good metaphors. Used to be more than I can chew (sorry, couldn’t resist), but I’ve gotten better at judging how much to bite off. Right now I’m embarking on a project that’s many times larger than any one I’ve attempted so far. Somehow, it just seems workable. Am I fooling myself? Or maybe I simply am up to this particular challenge.
This blog may be but a wee toddler, but I’d like to throw the question out there and hope to start a discussion: what signals do you listen to that tell you if a project is too big, too small or just right? Doesn’t matter what type of project — artistic, business, home reno — I’m just interested in what warning signs you listen to.
For example, when I’m about to bite off too much my stomach usually has a hissy fit. It gets tied in more knots than a tall ship’s anchor rope, and the only way it unknots is if I back off from the idea. Of course if my stomach gets a little nervous but not enough to weigh an anchor then I take that as a signal that it’s got just enough challenge and go ahead.
Of course my stomach isn’t the only guide for whether a project is a go, but it can warn me from going off the deep end. Are there any warning signs that you use to tell you if you’re up for a challenge, or whether the challenge may end up having you for breakfast? Not only physical signals, but whatever you find useful.
Six Tears
Posted on | February 3, 2010 | 1 Comment
The most valuable things I learned from growing up dazzled by the glare of stagelights have to do with understanding human nature. Linda Putnam, my theatre mentor, used to call actors “athletes of the heart,” and from everything I’ve learned in the intervening years… decades? Eek!… most of what I’ve learned about the human heart has been thanks to my theatre training. Even if they can’t face themselves offstage, actors bare themselves on stage all the time. That is an act of great courage, and one which I think we could all emulate — albeit with less drama — in everyday life.
One of the things we studied with Linda were tears. She told us that in the physical theatre tradition there are a definite number of kinds of tears. Looking back over the, erm, decades, I think that she talked about six different kinds of tears that we experience throughout our lives. Normally we experience them in a specific order, although this isn’t set in stone. As far as I can remember, they are
- tears of loss: when something or someone we love is no longer there;
- tears of the victim: when at the mercy of a person or a situation;
- tears of the abuser: when we are that person or situation, and connect with the victim’s humanity;
- tears of rage: when we have had enough of a situation and are ready to force a change;
- tears of hopelessness: when change seems impossible;
- tears of joy: when we have successfully climbed out of a victim/abuser cycle and can move on.
These are things that are generally kept behind closed doors, even in a society where emotions are increasingly permissible; especially the tears of a victim! And tears of rage we see on television all the time. But what about the tears of the abuser? Or what about any of them, in real everyday out-on-the-street life? I know very few people who are comfortable showing what they’re feeling inside when it involves exposing themselves to others.
While this is great for the smooth functioning of society, important even, I think it’s important to be in touch with this level of emotion. Not that I’d advocate people walking around with the proverbial heart-on-sleeve showing, but to be in touch with in a “Yeah, that’s part of me, of my experience” way would bring a lot more humanity into human interaction.
Linda used to say “We are all hurt and lonely people. Now, how are you going to share that with an audience?”
Decades later I see plenty of evidence to back her up, and none that contradicts. We are all hurt and lonely people. My question is how are you going to carry that into your everyday interactions, into your actions and plans, and into your business?
keep looking »author w/big dots
