Sunday, August 12, 2007

Rambling thoughts.....


This blogging thing is harder than I thought it would be......I'm always thinking now about blog entries. Now all of a sudden, everything is subject to being written about. The thing is.....who cares? So you will just have to suffer through my ramblings.

Lots of things have been happening since I posted last......

I went to Lambtown, in Dixon, CA, with a couple of friends, which, while I had a good time, the event itself was a let down. In years past it was huge, covering several blocks of the downtown area. This year, for several reasons, it took place in a park and wasn't anywhere near as big as the other times I had gone. There were only what looked like 2 sheep to shawl teams. We didn't stick around for the other spinning contests so I don't know how those went. I did meet someone from Ravelry, miss "M" of Sincere Sheep. If you haven't signed up to beta test you need to check it out. It is an awesome, on line fiber community. Mostly knitters, lots of spinners and crocheters, too. You can find almost anything there connected with fiber. I can't begin to describe it, go check it out. I will warn you it is an addicting time suck! So, at Lambtown, I did do some stash enhancing...5 skeins of some lovely fingering weight wool, 4 oz of space dyed superwash Merino from the Royal Hare and 4 oz of some beautiful natural dyed merino/silk from the Sincere Sheep. I don't know what I will do with the rovings after I've spun them up....they were just so pretty!

I showed my artwork at the first annual Art Gala at Cartlidge & Brown winery yesterday. Fun event......I helped the winery with getting the word out to artists to show. For a first time event it went very well. We had about 30 to 35 artist showing. Was a beautiful day, there was music, food and wine, what more could you want? I also sold a couple of pieces, bonus!!!!! Great day all around.

I've been having a conversation with a friend that keeps cropping up with others. It is the whole argument about creating art in the first place. The argument is complicated. Are we artists or or salesmen? I belong to a few artist groups and it is interesting to me to watch the whole issue unfold. I consider myself an artist. My work is not created just to sell. I create my pieces for myself. My art is my therapy, it is my play time. It is something in me that needs to come out. When I go for long periods of time not doing my art, I get weird. I need the outlet to center myself. When I show my art I don't expect to always sell something. It is always a rush for me to hear how my work affects others, how they see it. And when I sell something, thats a big rush! That's a bonus. Granted, I am lucky in that I don't have to live off of the proceeds. I would really starve! I do have a real, full time job, that has nothing to do with art. With all that I do now with my art, showing and learning and creating.....that is paying my dues. I'm creating a following, I hope, a name for myself, so that if and when I retire, I will be able to supliment my income with my art. But I meet so many people that focus entirely on selling their work. So they get lost in the commercial aspect and in my mind are no longer "creating" ART. They are just spewing product. And then they complain that they are not selling anything. If you are at an art show it becomes evident very quickly the difference between art and product. Yes, it is always good to sell, but is that your initial reason for creating your art?????? I suspect this argument will never end.
That's enough for now, this is jumbled and disconnected, just like my thoughts right now......lets see how long it takes me to write my next entry!

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