Sarah*n*dipitous

Industrious

Bumblebees really do defy evolution on so many levels... the wing to body mass ratio alone will have you reeling and guarantee a sleepless night if you ponder it too deeply. What I find fascinating is how many ever lovin' flowers these critters have to visit simply to survive and meet their basic caloric intake. They never really stop moving for any real length of time and they are completely focused on their purpose. Before I get wonky messages, I know that humans have a much higher brain capacity and what I am about to write will raise the dander on some people but, think broad brush strokes here folks... They do not allow for distractions. I, on the otherhand, am completely distractable. I have been known to go on a hunt for the scissors, work myself upstairs, do the dishes, go out to retrieve the mail, pick a few weeds, go look for the rake, discover a box in the garage where the rake was supposed to be, take the box inside and realize that I need the pair of scissors from my original task to break the seal.... see what I mean? Complete waste of time and a total tangent keeping me from my goals. Industry and being industrious takes discipline and focus. As a person earning a living from what you create, you have to create things in order to eat. Life is full of distractions and we have in our genetic code the proverbial cards stacked against us by means of human curiousity. The key to success is to learn from the bumblebee and deny our nature by overcoming the obsticles that tell us something is impossible and just get to work.

Second Hand Life

In my latest trip to the Columbus OH area, I was stopped at an intersection and noticed the reflection in the office building windows of the church across the street. I remember thinking, "Wow, there are just so many lessons in this one picture." I found it interesting that you had this old building with incredible history and a shiny new one that could only reflect it and pay homage in a weird sort of way. The new building had no history, no interesting stories to tell, no real message attached to it. It was built to house business not moments. The church was made of materials that were meant to withstand the tests of time whereas the office building was encased in glass as if to say, "Look I am just here for the time being, don't get attached, it's just business, you understand right?" But, there was something more. From where I was at the stop light, I could not see the actual church for myself, only the reflection in the temporal glass building. I was getting my first hand account by means of second hand information; living by proxy for lack of a better term. Truth is, I really wanted to see the old church. I wanted to see the aged oak doors and touch the stonework. I wanted to see the panes of stained glass and sit in the pews and wonder about all the folks that sat there before me. I felt gypped, like I had missed the grand tour and was left with a brochure that glossed over the details and just showed the most photogenic part. How many times do we go through life experiencing things like this; in a poor quality second hand reflection? I liken it to just going through life reading the cliff notes and never cracking open the book for yourself... it might help you pass the multiple guess test but, it isn't a first hand experience you feel attached to or have ownership of. I am really thankful for the fact that we got the red light. Sometimes we have to stop and look around to take in the real picture first hand.

Crafty Pod

I am blessed with incredible people in my world. Diane Gilleland from Crafty Pod is not only one of the most genuine and professional Podcasters around, she is a gifted and talented artist with a passion for sharing her love of making things with the world. Diane and I have been Twitter buddies for some time but had our first real life meeting at CHA in Anaheim this past January. I was impressed by Diane's incredible gift for sifting the wheat from the proverbial chaff and getting straight to the heart of the conversation with meaningful and well thought out questions. It was such a huge honor to be a guest on her Podcast today. My hope is that you will spend some serious time listening to her collection of insightful shows and tell all your friends. Our industry needs people like Diane. She in a shining star and I for one am truly, grateful to call her friend.

Listen to Podcast Here

Read about it here in CRAFT

Special Thanks to Kayte Terry for the picture she took at CHA of the booth (lifted from the CraftStylish post)

Coffee

I always have the most interesting conversations with complete strangers in Starbucks. I suppose I should have been working on another chapter of my book (sorry Linda) but, I had been contemplating something a new friend of mine had said on Twitter, something that vexed me all day. "Jack" asked what the difference between fake and real is in the online world; a place where no one can discern with any certainty who the blazes you are actually conversing with in the first place. I think this is completely fascinating on so many levels. It reminds me of Brad Paisley's song, "So Much Cooler Online". I mean, when you think about it, how well do you honestly know anyone you converse with? If one was to read my blog or Tweets, you'd think I never had a bad day... my 3D friends know better and are there holding the hanky when I cry that ugly snorting cry only good friends can handle without laughing. So, this was where my head was when I started chit chatting with the Scottish sweater wearing professor guy I see almost daily.

He joked that he sees me everyday working on random things (the folks at my Starbucks ROCK!... they let me work on all sorts of arty things there) and that he felt as if he knew me. Bless him, he pegged me for a college kid in engineering (the baseball hat and hoodie with iPhone buds in and tunes cranked). I laughed because I too thought, well there is the Scottish sweater wearing professor guy (the sweater is a hand-dyed yarn blend his wife finished knitting it in her last days of battling cancer, he was a plumber, and he's working on writing a book about her for his grandkids... I wasn't even close and for argument sake, he was ABSOLUTELY correct... college...oh yeah, I am totally grinning ear to flippin' ear). He left and I stared at my coffee cup. This is the real world... where I could actually talk to him, imagine a place where that isn't a given.

Coffee is honest when you take it for what it is. I drink straight up black coffee. I know that there will be a slight bitterness to it and have no false expectations- it is what it is and I love it. The interesting thing is what it becomes after we dink around with it. For example, my Mom drinks half and half with a shot of coffee in my opinion, it most definitely isn't coffee and only resembles it in name only. I suppose after you add enough cream, sugar, flavor shots, steamed whatever, with foam or not, yadda, yadda, yadda, we effectively enhance it beyond recognition and what was a no-calorie beverage becomes a danger to our waistline in short order. Where am I going with this. Well, people online are like the tailored coffee beverage. We read their words, look at their pictures, and believe whatever it is we have conjured in our heads about who they are.... like the Scottish sweater wearing professor guy. Truth is, I think sometimes our adulterated version is easier to swallow than the straight up version. I know that after hearing his story, I went back to reading what my new friend had posted and had this profound epiphany moment. As a business person, I have to understand that folks are going to filter what they read online. My job is to make sure that the coffee is hot, the aroma inviting, the conversation is engaging, and that the spot they have to sit for a bit is a comfort. Raising my glass to you "Jack", inspiring as always. (This is the House that Jack Built Mug... )

Games

I am a Wired magazine Junkie. Truth be told, I adore Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, and Seed as well as countless others that have absolutely nothing to do with art or business also. I am a complete nerd. I was reading an article from Clive Thompson about how game designers take great pride in creating fascinating worlds and complex games with puzzles for their audience and how the group think solves them entirely within days. He brought up a good point... there are some folks who really don't care about the puzzles, their motives are completely different from the designers original intent. They invested in the game and really have no intention of playing it in any way other than their own which could very well entail having someone reveal the secrets online... it's how they play the game. And that is fine. We are a gaming household... complete "vidiots" with bonafide resident King, princes and princess. I know that the Red vs. Blue podcast is revered and codes and cheats have been had simply to finish a level so they could get to bed and be coherent at work the next day. So where am I going with this... we as artists/designers/business folks who made something with the intent of earning some cash dinero from it, have no CONTROL over how the consumer will use, treat or otherwise receive what we made. We are not them and vice versa.

So, this may be a completely harsh thing to say but, I am using extremes to illustrate a point. What if a patron bought a canvas you just spent 3 years of your life creating for 1 Million dollars cash and then in front of you, tossed the canvas into the fire because the embers were getting low and he had a chill? Ouch. Was it used the way you thought it would be? No, however, the patron did get use from it didn't he? Sure he did. His backside was all warm and toasty. Our motivations are not the same as someone else's and although it may hurt our feelings to see the wanton disregard for our dainty details and process, when all is said and done, it is a commodity. Our skin had to be as durable and thick as the canvas we create on and our satisfaction comes in a job well done not in what others think.

Renewal

Spring always seems to confirm my belief in the "do-over" and that we need trials and winters in our lives to really be able to appreciate those new beginnings. One of the things I always find absolutely amazing is that it always seems that my flowers come back in the Spring more beautiful and more fragrant than I remember them being the last time they graced me with their presence. I honestly think that if we did not have harsh and cold winters, that they would not seem to be so vibrant. Life is this way too. If we lived without dark times, would our bright times be as such?

Privies

Awhile back I made a tea set for one of my favorite publications... it was bright, jarring and made your teeth hurt but, it was something intensely personal to me. Once upon a time, my Grandfather wrote an inscription in a book that has always been both a blessing and a curse. He wrote, "May you be as Versatile as Master DaVinci". Versatility is a tall order because it means you have to be in a state of perpetual learning, self-improvement, and self-scrutiny... a willingness to be useful. It also means, you have to understand and believe that you have something to offer, that you are indeed unique, and have value.

"Lo Some who can call themselves nothing more than a passage for food, producers of dung, fillers of privies, for of them nothing else appears in the world, nor is there any virtue in their work, for nothing of them remains but full privies."

~Leonardo DaVinci (Forster III. 74 v.) "The Notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci"

It seems that people tend to discount what it is, and why it is, they are here taking in oxygen. The moment you believe that there is nothing more to life than the usual suspects; eating, sleeping, drinking, breathing, continue on as you feel the need to do so... the point is, the moment you believe that it is about just YOU and the mundane, the dung level creeps up to about eye height and clouds your vision and you miss all the incredible opportunities and experiences there are in this world. I have had the privilege to meet some absolutely insanely gifted artists, musicians, and writers... the tragedy is when they themselves merely see themselves as a "passage for food".... a terrible waste.

Comfort

I am convinced there is nothing a warm brownie can't distract you from, well, for at least a little bit. There are certain things in life that when all else seems to be hanging from a thread, they manage to tether you and make you feel secure. When I am having a "crisis doubting type" moment in my world, I reflect on the things in which I am most secure...my faith, my family, and my determination to not allow someone or something steal my joy. Theodore Roosevelt said it best when he said, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." The only thing I can add is that, brownies are lovely with a cup of coffee sitting on the porch swing looking up at the stars.

Chess

When I learned how to play chess as a small child, I made moves more on impulse or the shape of the pieces as opposed to employing some tact or strategy. Needless to say, I did not win many games in those first years. Chess is a game of thinking ahead and planning for the "in the event of" rather than the "what's happening now". I have a hard time coaching creatives who run their business without a specific plan. I can give them the underlying foundation (like the rules of the Chess game and the movement of the pieces on the board) but, ultimately, they are the ones who have to play the game and go through the day to day of making a living creating. The interesting thing, is that folks who prepare ahead of time, write out those plans, and make it a point to truly understand their business, have a significantly higher chance of being successful. Business does have an element of gut instinct and risk (you never know for sure what the future holds) but, one needs to not think as I did as a child and move on impulse or how it looks, but with a specific strategy and game plan to succeed in place. It's about knowing your opponent and end goal and then working backwards from there to make it happen.

Budget

There is nothing more humbling than the check book register. I don't remember who said it but, it's always stuck with me, "a budget is a system of reminding yourself that you can't afford the kind of living you've grown accustomed to." This post has nothing to do with money. I suppose it can be applied to it however, I want to talk about something more valuable than mere currency... I want to talk about time. Budgeting your time is one of the hardest yet, most valuable disciplines any person seeking to earn a living from creating could possibly have. By nature, making things takes time however, so does marketing, packaging, finding new business as well as servicing your current clients. Do you keep a register of your time, where it is spent and how much it is costing you in terms of time not invested in creating? The kind of life you may be accustomed to may involve a day off, time with family and friends or even with yourself however, you cannot manufacture more hours in the day so, by proxy, the time you have is all you get. Our minutes are precious, a gated garden that needs to be tended to and respected. You cannot afford not to budget your time, it's just too costly a mistake.

 

Full Plate of Opportunity

To awake each morning with a smile brightening my face;

To Greet the day with reverence for the opportunities it contains;

To approach my work with clean mind;

To hold ever before me, even in the doing of little things,the Ultimate Purpose toward which I am working;

To meet men and women with laughter on my lips and love in my heart;

To be gentle and kind, and courteous through all the hours;

To approach the night with weariness that ever woos sleep and the joy that comes from work well done-

This is how I desire to waste wisely my days.

~Thomas Dekk

Calypso

It was an honor to be able to create a piece for the Faculty exhibit for Artiscape. The piece I chose to create is based on Greek mythology and the story of the sea nymph Calypso. As the story goes, she was the daughter of the great Titan Atlas himself and held Odysseus captive on her island out of her desire to have an immortal husband. 

Just like the layers in this collage, the ocean hold many secrets within it's watery depths, many treasures, many stories, many hopes and many dreams. 

Artiscape

Well folks, I will be in Columbus at Artiscape! This year I will be teaching folks how to make a couture handbag from duct tape and spare grill parts. As always, it is an amazing time. Keep an eye for pictures from the event both here and on my Twitter page (@sarahndipitous)

Be inspired!

Beautiful

Sometimes all you can do is reflect on the things that make you happy and bring serenity and peace to your hectic world. My world is very hectic as of late. I will be writing a second book (don't worry the first one is coming, we needed to add some things to it first....) and we are rolling full steam ahead on the upcoming PBS show.The pieces are all coming together and I can't wait to share with you all the amazing things coming down the pipe in the next couple of weeks.

Well Fed

How much does your creative muse weigh? I know it's a highly inappropriate question and in some circles considered very rude. Are you dressing it to look a bit more robust (bold colors, horizontal stripes, less tailored silhouettes to add bulk) to hide the withered and emaciated state it's in. Waif only has a place on the runway, not in the creative studio... no, in the studio, our Muse needs to be meaty, full bodied, and well fed.

So my question is, what kind of diet are you feeding your Muse these days. I know no-carb is still fashionable but a paper paste without starch just doesn't cut it. Are you grazing from all the colors on the color wheel or are you choosing to stick with what you know? These are important questions folks. Okay, a little personal here, is your relationship with your Muse solid, I mean are you spending meaningful time with it, you know sit down dinners with napkins, china, and the real silverware instead of microwaved entrees with the plastic spork in front of the television? How about exercise? I have heard that flipping through magazines and such on the treadmill does get the heart rate up but, studies show that Muses who get out of the studio and go for an actual walk out in the marketplace, in the sunshine, breathing in the sites around them actually do better... their muscles are stretched and really worked and are left feeling much more refreshed. I hate to sound like a nag here but, it's because I care. 

I know, I know, you just looked in the mirror... no, it's not a skinny mirror or vanity sizes, your Muse really is *that* starved. All is not lost though, it turns out, many communities have incredible local organic grown produce to feast on (by way of art shows, local museums and gallery events, random meet ups here and there for spontaneous crafting, and classes in local stores). Although I understand that folks sometimes have no alternative but to consume the pre-made stuff, the handmade varieties of produce are just so nutritionally dense that there really is no comparison in terms of what's better for your Muse. The truth is, no one is going to care about your Muse like you do. You are really going to have to work at this if you want to make it happen. A well fed Muse takes hard work and dedication but, I just know you can do it.