Three Painted Ponies
Watercolor on Board
Framed and ready to ship.
6 x 6 inches $145 includes painting, frame and shipping in the USA.
Small watercolors along the Journey.
Contact me to purchase: Laurie
© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 1998-2011
Here is the frame on the painting. A custom black wide frame. Absolutely gorgeous.
Who Are You?
We just returned from a break neck trip to Santa Fe to deliver 24 paintings for my Show in Denver in mid July. That is why I missed blogging yesterday as we drove home 11 hours straight.
Riding for long journeys and experiences from life give cause to reflection. I visited several galleries in Santa Fe since I had REAL work with me to share. I was offered representation at one gallery for sure and am truly excited about the possibilities. When you are 'on' for interviewing or selling yourself or your work it is draining. That is what caused the reflection and the writing of this blog this morning.
Who are you as an artist? Who are you as a person? The most challenging thing to accept for an artist is the reality of having to sell not just your artwork but yourself. You are a product entity in a whole.. you and your art. In this world of massive competition and struggle how do you stand out? What makes you unique? What makes your artwork unique that when viewed someone says, "Artist SO and So painted this" or "this is Artist So and So". You and your work are indivisible. Your work is your fingerprint in the art world.
Somewhere along the line if you are doing this right, the marketing part, you hit the wall and want to crawl slowly away from the heavy hitting and just create again. Retreat, renew and review where you are. Learn new things and play again. Rediscover a new voice inside of you.
Do you ever 'replay' incidents in your head and moan, 'Why did I say that?' Or think about ways you could have responded better to a conversation?
Several months ago I wrote about shields we all put up to guard ourselves from hurt. Those shields not only guard us (or we think they do) but they keep us from seeing in the mirror who we really are. Who are you?
When thinking about artists that I have meet over the past few years, most of us love each other as well as admire and respect each other. Jamie and Gretchen from New York that I meet last fall are probably two of the most genuine, giving, caring artists I have met. There was absolutely no shield in place; no protection or hiding or misrepresentation of who they were. Open, loving, welcoming, creative women. No agenda list. No expectations. Only genuine warmth and welcome to the Hudson River Valley. I believe they are both so passionate about their work that nothing else interferes with their creativity.
I literally stay running in circles between painting, marketing, wife-ing, grandmothering, mothering and back to promoting and helping close to 750 artist with their marketing, advertising etc. Who am I?
I know what am I, and that is tired! While I accept the responsibility to be professional and the need to be 'on', it gives me pause this time. Can I live the other way? Is that possible?
Is that not what is offered to us from God? Drop the shield and stop playing the games and over-working. What is it all for? What does it gain you in this lifetime or with Him? Why is it all necessary? Who are you?
On the way home in the car yesterday I begin to reflect on this. Who am I when I am not 'on'? My shield is so thick I cannot see around it to step back and view it from outside looking in.
Time to renew and reflect this week. Praising God for a good night's sleep. It was needed.
Laurie
"For the director of music. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.”
Psalm 19:1-2 NIV
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