Random Thought

Realization: If you want to be something, you have to just BE it. Stop waiting for permission.


& When in doubt, repeat this to myself, as often as needed.

Outrageous Corporate Behavior

I know, outrageous? In what context, post-economy-meltdown with all the attendant horror stories of corporate greed and excess? (Oh, I suppose "horror stories" is a subjective term, as in: the executives probably didn't see it that way, but us peons down here do.)

The thing of it is, I thought that all of us were on the same consciousness-raising boat ride right now, everyone turning back to frugality and everyone knowing multiple people going through lay-offs and what-not. As in, a good time to take your blinders off and start noticing the plight of those people who have it even worse off than you think you do. I guess some people still don't get it, and by people you know I mean heartless corporate parasites who would rather THROW THEIR PRODUCT AWAY than see it helping someone who didn't have the resources to pay for it. H&M, I am talking to you. And possibly Wal-mart too, according to this article in the New York Times.

See, I understand. I've worked for large enough companies and heard their sort of reasoning enough to know right away why H&M might be destroying their superfluous unsold clothing. Instead of doing something nice, say, giving it to charity. In the middle of winter. As the disadvantaged & poverty-stricken are likely freezing for lack of sufficient clothing. But maybe that's just what I'd do with it. H&M though, I can see why they may think that if people are seen wearing H&M stuff, and word gets around this was unpaid for... Well, they'd be freaked it would destroy their brand. The value of what does sell would go down. They would make less money. And we all know what executives worship.

So, H&M, why not give the items to a charity in a country where you don't have a presence? Where you don't have any stores. Like Africa, India, or anywhere in Central or South America. Because last I heard, there were plenty of people in any of those countries who need what you see fit to destroy.

(Clarification: I really don't think it's an advantage to understand why corporations do the things they do. And just because I understand doesn't mean I agree. But I think you already guessed that.)

Whew, I really needed to get that off my chest! You can vent here too in the comments, if you feel like it. Thanks to @lessherger, @ittybiz, and others for tweeting this news so that I could see it & boycott this store. Ok, you may now return to something a little happier than this posting here, maybe. I think I will too.

Welcome 2010

I am sooo glad 2009 is over! Too many opportunities missed & bad habits continued. This year I'm heading into the new year with a sense of purpose - I am going to do my best to do this year the things I always put off. No, I can't honestly say it was all bad last year, and I'm glad for the Best of '09 Challenge started by Gwen Bell, which helped me think back on some of the good things. You can see my posts on that here. But it also made me think of how much good I let pass me by, which really helped strengthen my resolve to make this a much, much better year. So in a way, I'm glad for the realization that all I missed out on is my own fault.

I'm resurrecting this blog to follow along with Gwen's next project, hinted at here, instead of cluttering up my other blog, At The Studio Door, with all the art-y goodness I plan on doing. Of which artsy posts should soon be continuing shortly, if you're interested in taking a peek.

Ok, that's all for now. Have a good night everyone & See you soon!

Moving to new blog

Hi all, just wanted to say that I've done what I've been thinking of doing for a couple months, and started a new blog, ::At The Studio Door:: I will use the new blog to focus on my progress as I grow my body of artwork and set up a venue to sell my work.

I will still keep this blog around, although I can't promise I'll post with any regularity. That focus will go to the other blog, since one of the reasons I'm doing it is to keep myself on track creatively. I know I haven't been consistent with this blog at all, a lot of that has to do with lack of focus of what I want to say here. I've never been all that happy with the name either (an inside joke between my brother and I). But the journaling aspect of this blog has helped me sort some things out, whether that came across on these pages or not. I'm trying to keep the new blog positive....And I'll need some place to come and vent my frustrations about all kinds of things, so I'll be around :-)

Come on over and visit me in my new cyber home, atthestudiodoor.blogspot.com, and see what I've got cookin over there. My goal is to post there 3 times a week....Wish me luck!

Time is a limited resource...

...and, like all resources, should be spent wisely. This is something that I need to keep my focus on in the coming days. What is the best way for me to spend my time - will my actions help me move incrementally towards my goals, or away from them? Shall I distract myself from my frustrations with mere entertainment, or will I look inward and pull from deep down the resolve to stay focused, ever moving forward on my right path?

I'm here...

...and all moved in to my new apartment. As of three weeks ago, this place is my own - well, with one cat that's still unsure of this place. I felt like a visitor here at first, and I'm still waiting on a bookcase that will be given to me but isn't quite ready for me yet, but I'm mostly unpacked and ready to do something creative! Only...it's been so long since I've done any artwork that I'm at a loss for what to do? The muse has been kept at bay with weeks upon weeks of searching, applying, packing, unpacking, purchasing, exhausting myself... Maybe if I start sorting through some materials, inspiration will strike :-)

I just signed up for another e-course.... hmm, is this going to become a habit?





I'm so excited I'll be joining Marisa of Creative Thursday for her second running of her "In The Fishbowl" class! It's all about navigating the waters of being an artist online. I think I'm jumping the gun here yet again, as I'm still struggling to make time for making art, and nowhere near having a career with this yet, but the opportunity is too good to pass up. And the other class I'm taking now - A Course in Trust, which I'm still not too sure about actually, but then again that is probably my "trust issue" speaking - this week's class talked about trusting yourself and your instincts. Thinking about the In The Fishbowl class makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and energized, and that is the very feeling that I'm supposed to be following, no?





Amazingly the class begins late September, which is about the time that I should be fully moved/settled in and studio area outfitted, and more than ready to begin my creative adventures in my new space. A cosmic line-up to be sure!

Moving right along....

Hey there - Yes I know, three weeks have passed and where are those photos I promised to post? Well after spending 3 or 4 days of spare time to delete the photos that didn't turn out so well, and rename them so I'd remember later exactly what was I doing in that shot?, I still haven't uploaded them or emailed them to any family & friends either, so this little bloggy blog here isn't the only one lacking marvelous pictures of my trip!

I actually have my hands full at the moment with apartment hunting and slowly packing, trying to get a handle on my issues at the Day Job (tardies, lack of motivation, etc.), carving out some little (very little) time for my artwork, and I think I just might have to re-do this blog here anyway. I've been thinking that I need to have a landing page for my artwork, not just my thoughts about life & stuff, and I don't want to be here linking about the stylish this or that found on the interwebs like everyone else does (because I love you all and already read your blogs, so why do I need to duplicate what you've already got working so well?) so....

Once I move, and have an actual studio area set up for myself, I plan to set up a separate blog to post more regularly about my daily adventures in exploring my creativity. I'm not going to abandon this page here, but the best thing about this page for me has always been getting my thoughts out of my head and out there somewhere. So that is what I'll be focusing on for Ninja Haiku in the future (and then I won't have to worry about the fact that nobody reads this page LOL).

Until then, maybe the occasional post here and there about my struggles (omg why do a quarter of the apartments ads on craigslist appear to be scams of one sort or another????)... take care!

Summer Vacation

I just got back from a trip to Sedona, AZ... talk about a magical place! It's hard to describe the beauty of nature up there, how amazing the famous Red Rocks are. I'm already missing it! Within half an hour of getting to my accommodations there in the Village of Oak Creek, I knew that I would have to return someday. I can imagine myself living there, that's for sure!

I took many, many pictures, and have much more to tell about the trip.... will post more when I get the chance!

Clearing

The past couple weekends I've been clearing out some of the stuff I have stored in the garage. Isn't it funny how we can go along our days just fine without some things (that we've virtually forgotten we own) but as soon as those things are brought back out into the light of day and headed for the garbage, we can't bear the thought of letting them go?

In the process I found 2 boxes filled with financial paperwork going back as far as 1994! So many of pages had my social security number, contact info, even account numbers that are still active. So I started shredding like crazy. It's been taking forever, my poor little shredder keeps getting overheated, and I'm still not done! Isn't it crazy that we all have to be afraid to throw anything away because identity thieves might find it?

Note to self: sign up for electronic statements for all my accounts. Stop the paper madness!

Weekend pictures

Over the weekend about a dozen irises bloomed on the plant in our backyard... Here are a couple of the shots I got on Sunday of them in all their glory! Too bad these flowers don't last much longer than a day, as they are so pretty. By this evening when I looked again not a shred of the flowers remained aside from one shriveled petal!

Blast off!

One of my recent posts has completely disappeared! How is this even possible - has anyone seen this kind of thing happen before?

Anyway, I had left a little update last week about the class that I'm taking, it's called Blast Off and it's for artists who want to take their career to the next level. So far it's been a lot of envisioning and goal-setting and checking in on where we are right now.

Anyone reading this blog would probably be able to tell, I'm nowhere near where I want to be. Heck, I'm nowhere close to where these other students in the class are! It's entirely possible I'm taking this class prematurely. But, I'm not getting anywhere on my own. I am really hoping that this will help me build a foundation to get on that pathway, to get to my dream life. And if I can stick with it, and use these tools to help me do that, it'll be well worth the investment.

Let's see where this takes me!

New project

This Treasury is on today's front page of Etsy..... It evokes the same kind of feeling I'm hoping to get with a new project I'm working on (just bought the materials yesterday!) It's a fabric piece with embroidery, embellishments, etc., and if it goes well I will make it into a product line, as I already have lots of ideas for other works in the same vein!

You can only do so much, so make the most of what you do

Wonderful quote from Alyson Stansfield's Art Marketing Action Newsletter, and one that I need to continously remind myself:

Remember that you’re human. You can’t do it all. But
you can look at the available options and prioritize. Figure out what is the best use of your time at any moment.

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Mine was relaxing.... I tried very hard not to pressure myself over my (percieved) lack of productivity, since that it just counter-productive. I did scan lots of pages from the sketchbooks I've had over the years. Funny but for an "aspiring artist" I sure don't sketch all that much. Of course I've heard the advice "sketch every day", I really should try it. Hey, maybe I could even upload sketches to the Moleskine community pages?







I went to the beach on Monday, capturing snapshots of the surfers and other beach-goers. Here are a couple of the better images. They never turn out as good as the scenes look in real life.... Like with that railing I sat behind which is getting in the way of so many of the pics I took! I'll have to give myself the project of cropping & enhancing the photos....

Nothing is original

Quote first seen on one of my newest favorite blogs, emptyspaces (reading his blog is like experiencing poetry through sight, memory, and dreams - thank you, deartroy! I hope you don't mind):

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work(and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery-celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from-it’s where you take them to.” - Jim Jarmusch

The Newest "i" - the Clayton iHouse

Today Yahoo had an article about a pre-fab home called the iHouse, just put on the market by Clayton Homes. It's green, baby! and oh, so stylish.......



The detached "flex" room could be used as a home office, studio, etc......Oh, to have a home with a studio right out back! I think this is my new fantasy....



A big fan of the iHouse has created a fanblog with some good info, if you're interested he's planning to tour one of the models and will post a review in a few weeks.

Checking in

I can't believe it's been (almost) a whole month since I've posted! It's seemed like such a big hassle. I always feel like I should be posting while at my day job, since I'm just wasting my time there anyway, but then I get paranoid that someone will catch me. And once I get home, it seems like I should do something more productive first, and I run out of time. Why do I always run out of time, it seems like nobody else I know has this kind of problem here in the hyper-multi-tasking-fast-moving Silicon Valley, but hey that's probably just my perception, right? Maybe I should start bringing my little netbook with me so I can blog away during my lunch breaks once in a while. Hmm, need to get a case for it so I can carry it with me....

To be honest, I'm not even sure what my future plans are for this little blog here. I'm still looking into setting up some kind of store on Etsy, hopefully with original artwork and collages and some prints too. And I'm toying with the idea of having a blog that will match my etsy store name (once I've decided on a name!) and leaving this here for my occasional rants and raves.

Oh well, stay tuned. Something interesting's bound to happen....

Vacation mood worn off already!

I took a mini-"vacation" this past weekend - really more of 2-1/2 days in the country with nothing at all to do but decompress from the pressures of real life. Already I am sick to death of being back at work. This happens every time I go away - I have ONE day back where I am in a more positive mindset, and then the second day *BOOM* - it's like I never left at all. The depression and anger all return. Because really, what can a few days away solve? Everything I dislike, all of my struggles, my feelings that I am not living my life the way I should, they're all still here. The only thing to do, and this is SOOO long overdue, is to change my situation in any and all ways that I can.

This week, I'm putting the charge upon myself to look into setting up a store on Etsy. I'm the kind of person who needs to look around, research, look around some more, dip a toe in, retreat, and then maybe jump in slowly. No diving for this girl! But, the sooner I set up a store the better. Been wanting to for a couple of years now - since I first heard of Etsy - and told myslef I would do it after I was "more ready". Well, I'm never going to get myself "more ready" until I have the need to, notwithstanding my recent jump in productivity in my artwork. The way I'll create the "need" to get down to business? Um, yeah, set up a store already! Then I won't have an excuse anymore.

Weekend away

I'm going out of town today for a three-day weekend..... I know I've been more or less ignoring this blog lately. Perhaps the time away will recharge my batteries enough that I return with renewed dedication.... I have been working on my art quite a bit, have been developing a new technique, and spending quite a lot of time actually after work and the last couple weekends. The last 2 or 3 weeks have kind of passed in a blur. I'll post some pics when I have a chance.... I likely won't be around any wifi hotspots during the trip and my camera's already packed, so I'll just have to leave you with that teaser!