Life is Now

6.5 x 6.5 x 2"

As a young adult, and certainly before then, it seemed that life was something I was preparing for, something that would begin once I finished school, once I established my career, once I fell in love. I had high hopes for my eventual life. But these hopes came bundled with an equal measure of worry and apprehension – maybe things wouldn't work out! Even my most optimistic moments were in themselves a double-edged sword. The present always paled in comparison.

In the midst of my angst, I came across Ram Daas' Remember, Be Here Now in a friend's apartment, which made me laugh. Though I only thumbed through it briefly, I found myself thinking about the book for weeks. The message sank in gradually. Life – my present-time, right-now life – improved.

It occurred to me today that I'm ready for a refresher of this idea. I'm working on that.

In the meantime, a few creative inspirations:

Kate Bingaman-Burt's Obsessive Compulsion blog: charming drawings of what she bought today. (She's been keeping track for years.)

Check out innovative packaging from a designer/environmentalist's perspective at: the Dieline.

Colorful organic forms in collage with paper, ink, colored pencil, like none other - by Emily Ann Pothast.

Meticulous abstractions in drawing, collage, and 3d by Sam Messenger.

All of the above found via Share Some Candy - so much more to see there. Check it out.

NEWS FLASH

mixed media (ink, pencil, crayon, watercolor),
on 100% cotton paper, 8.5 x 11"

"You're not charging enough for your work."

How many times have we, as artists (and designers, and freelancers), received this dubious compliment? I suppose if we are busier and poorer than we can sustain, it's a comment worth thinking about. Otherwise, it implies a "should." Be very wary of "should"s, people, whether generated by the restlessness of your own mind, or by someone else's.

My response, regarding my daily collages, has been this: As soon as I sell one, we can talk. This may sound flip, but Cay Lang, in her excellent book, Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist (by far the best practical guide to being a professional artist I've come across thus far) backs me.

Says Lang: "At the beginning of your career, you want to place your work inside the standard price range for the type and size of work that you make, and at the lower end of that price range. The advantages to this strategy are many. By pricing the work low, you will begin the process of getting the work moving. More people will buy it, which means more people will want to buy it, and you will start to develop a following. Pricing the work low creates room for the prices to increase, which makes you look successful and places your work in even higher demand."

Truth be told, I'm not so much strategic as going on gut instinct. I know no better incentive to make more art than hooking up with people who want the art I've already made. But it is difficult, I'll admit, to part with these pieces for just $45 (which includes not only the minor masterpiece in question, but the cost of the envelope, postage, a cut for Paypal, plus gas and my time to and from the post office,). Taking all of this into consideration, I made a promise to myself: Once I sell my first collage, I'll raise prices.

Well I sold my first Daily Collage this week (#32, see below). Additionally, I received word that another sale is looming (the buyer is in the process of choosing her favorite). As a courtesy, I've given this second buyer until the end of the month. I'm extending that same courtesy to you.

Here's my NEWSFLASH: True to my promise, the price on Daily Collages will go up from $45 to $65 beginning August first. (Shipping, within the U.S. anyway, will still be included.) [Note from the future: these prices are out-of-date, and Paypal "Buy now" links have been removed, at least temporarily as I make adjustments.]

Consider yourself fairly warned!

You can see the whole Daily Collage series, as a slide show, in the order it was created, here. And in their original blog entries here. If you want one that isn't labeled with a "buy now" button [or if you want more information], email or post a comment and I'll set up a Paypal link for you.

#32 - SOLD

From the Sideline: A New Perspective on Routine

Chakra-Mandala portrait #2, detail. Oil on canvas, 12" x 12"

There's nothing like illness to help call into question one's typical daily routine and the life orientation behind it. Sometimes, thank goodness, it doesn't take much of an illness. For me, for instance, the last five days of achy misery on the couch have been highly educational.

Day one and two, Tuesday and Wednesday, I still managed to write my three Morning Pages (a la Julia Cameron), make my Daily Collages, correspond with clients, and make an effort to at least contemplate my "Projects and Actions" spreadsheet.

On Thursday, I wrote one token Morning Page, and, during a burst of good intention late in the afternoon, began a collage only to lose steam part way through. Finally, under headache-induced duress, I gave in to sleep, a Sex and the City DVD marathon, and my husband's offer to skip his yoga class in favor of making me dinner.

On Friday, between naps and DVDs, I wondered why it had been so hard to let go.

Today, I'm glad to report that I'm sitting upright again, and I finally understand: I've been working too hard. Playing too little. Spending too much time alone. When a free moment crops up, rather than calling a friend, having fun, or relaxing, I've been choosing, almost without fail, the less-difficult thrill of knocking just one more item off my perpetually growing To Do List (or, for a change of pace, adding an item or two). For some of you, the idea that work might feel easier than relaxation or reaching out for human contact might seem foreign, maybe even enviable. It does have it's rewards (I'm an excellent hire, for instance, and an exemplary student). But here's the rub:

As much as I want to feel well again, as much as I am enjoying my work these days, as much as I'm excited by most every item on my ever-growing list, I am NOT looking forward to reengaging in the grind that has become my daily brew.

How depressing is that?

It's time to balance all this "Living Art" with a little more "Arting Life."

Stay tuned...

MA: Loosening Up

Color, line, boldness, hallelujah! Compare this to yesterday and – not to say one is better than the other – but clearly there is change afoot, and a potential new theme emerging in my emerging collage-a-day practice.

I've been saying this for months: I'm interested in exploring and exposing figurative and literal spaces, dreamscapes, the emotional landscapes we feel we inhabit alone, when in fact the terrain is familiar to us all.

So no wonder I'm drawn to playing with maps in my collages. And no surprise I was brought up short in front of a Paula Scher map of Manhattan in my latest perusals of New York galleries. And of course it resonates with me when Julia Cameron suggests (in Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance) that we be honest with ourselves about where we're at, specific about where we're struggling, where we're stuck. "Think of it as putting out your coordinates," she advises. "You want the Universe to help you, and, in order to help you, it needs an accurate account of where you are."

The truth is, I've been stockpiling maps compulsively, with the unspoken hopeful expectation that one day these pages would find their way into my work. "Someday," I am realizing, if I'm willing to take a risk or two, can very easily translate to right now.