Some days I feel like I’m making great progress, while on others I feel like I’m moving at glacial speed. The past few weeks have been more glacial than not – mostly because while I’ve been creating lots and lots of components, I’ve been struggling with finishing pieces off. That happens to me sometimes; I’ll get most of the way through a project, and develop an aversion to doing the last little bit.
These clematis hair pins, for example, have been waiting to be photographed for about three weeks. My pile of finished but unphotographed pieces has grown unwieldy, so I finally took the time to get the photos done and edited. There are actually more pieces left to photograph, but I’m feeling pretty good about having finally gotten photos of these pieces – since they’ve been waiting for a while.
Sometimes I wish that being an artist could just be about creating art; maybe it can be for some people – but if you want to operate on the level that gets you exhibitions and grants, you have to spend a significant amount of time on the business side of art. That is, working on marketing, developing your ‘brand,’ and putting your work out there. Is it worth the stress? Yes, but there are some days when I wish there was a bit less of the business going on and more of the art.
Speaking of thinking more about the art, clematis have always been a rather interesting flower to reproduce – because they come in so many variants. Real clematis flowers can come in many shades and even many different shapes – though most often they are purple, pink, or white and have a bit of a star-like pointed petal.
Most of the tsumami-zaiku clematis examples that I’ve seen have been mutli-color; generally white and pink or white and blue, and often have lots of ken (pointed) petals involved. I’ve often considered changing up how I make mine to reflect some of the more interesting varieties of clematis – ones with striped petals or lots of small fluffy petals in the middle and larger petals on the outside – but I have yet to try it.
There’s always so much to explore with art, and I often wonder if one lifetime will be enough to accomplish everything I want to do with art. Probably not, but I’m sure that it’ll be worth the effort of trying – even if it means having to do all the annoying business bits!
Anyhoo, that is all I’ve got for today. I hope to see you guys again next week with more crafty creative projects.
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