I tend to spend insufficient time in bed because I love creative work, nature, my fitness workouts, life and awake hour activities in general, so there never seems quite enough hours in the day to fit it all in, so I have a tendency to crib on my sleep time.   I get so used to managing on brief sleep hours, when I do have an important event in the morning and I go to bed early in preparation for it, I find it hard to settle, and I have always used natural sleep aids to help relax myself. One of my favourites is to use a combination of bergamot and lavender oil, just a drop on a tissue or on the edge of my pillowcase.

I think workaholism and sleep deprivation, is a trait of many artistic people.
I think we love 'doing things', so much we resist stopping and allowing our bodies to rest. I know it s an important part of my learning to respect and care for my body, that I must overcome the sleep deprivation,  I inflict on myself, largely by personal choice. That is the problem, I see more advantage to cutting short my sleep hours than I find advantages. I need to read more about the benefits of sleep, I think and make an educated decision that I need to care for myself better.

‘I know I am not alone in depriving myself of sleep in preference to being creative, and I am wondering, what other people do to train themselves into better habits.  I would love to hear your comments.’

I know they say it takes 21 days to form a new habit or to break an old one, so theoretically if I commit to 21 days of being in bed by MN, after that is will become easier to maintain a healthy sleep routine.

 

Q: Did you hear about the dyslectic agnostic with insomnia?

A: He used to lay awake at night wondering if there really was a dog.


I have finally made my optometrist appointment. J. My patient friends may notice an improvement in my facebook status updates, which I write without Reg or a friend, as the proofreader.

I will not be doing so many typos, and will feel safer heading off on our long tour north with the long distance extenze of my vision.

Dyslectics of the world UNTIE!

Dyslectic, Symptoms in adults
some of the symptoms in an adult could include:

·         Reading and spelling problems.

·         Avoids tasks that involve writing, or else gets someone else to do the writing for them.  (Reg is my proof reader, J, I don’t know how I could blog, without a proof reader to pick up some of my ‘bloopers’.)

·         Better than average memory.

·         Often, a greater than average spatial ability - the person may be talented in art, design, mathematics or engineering. It is true, that more artists have dyslexia, that is usual amongst the normal population, so if there is a trade off in talent, J, it isn’t all bad news to have dyslexia..

My advice to the dyslectic,

Do not allow it to stop you doing what you want to do.

If you suffer from dyslectic, foot in mouth disease L when writingJ, here are some tips to help you survive and not offend readers.

Illustrate your work, liberally with non-letter, ;-) signals, that you do recogniseJ, easily, to convey the meaning. That way, if you call a friend a fiend, J by mistake but have the smiley after it, chances are they will see the smile as friendship.

Do the best you can, proof read several times, take a break after writing something then come back and proof read it again so you read what you wrote and not what you thought you wrote.

Do not allow the spelling police to upset you, there are things that you can do that they cannot. It is their ignorance if they are intolerant of another’s disability, not your ignorance for having it.

Occasionally remind people that you are dyslectic, and acknowledge you do a few typed faux pas, you will find most people happy to accept they way you write.

Trade skills with a friend.  If you have an important letter to send, offer to do something for a friend in return for having them proof read what you wrote, before you post it.

Above all, remember that many creative people are dyslectic so do not allow this to hamper your use of words as one of your creative mediums, writing is so much fun J

 

You need to treat art as a business if your business is art.

If you think that artists do not need to work, that it is all play and creating when you feel like it, then do everyone a favour and call it a hobby, don’t expect grants from public money, the world does not owe artists a living.

Art is our choice and we should not be subsidised if we are unable to earn our living at it anymore than someone, should get, a grant to go and play golf all day instead of going to work.

Lol, J, OK I have got that off my chest. Being a professional artist is going to involve very long hours of work and becoming multi skilled.

I have known dozens of talented artists who cannot earn a living at art, because they have not grasped that we need to develop four different types of skills to succeed in the arts and indeed, most professions.

 

1.       Talent We need the talent or skill to have something to sell.  Develop this. Make it a lifetime commitment to be on an ongoing search for knowledge and learn from everything and anything you can, while not contravening the copyright of others, make sure you didn’t have a fool for a teacher, by insisting on being ‘self taught’.
Yes, one can be self-guided, but expertise is learned from experts.

2.       Public Relations skills.If you are not skilled in public relations, then learn these skills. It might be easier to employ someone to do the PR for you, but the truth of the matter is, that unless you have an income aside from your art, few artists are going to have the funds to pay for a good PR representative. So learn how to do this for yourself.

3.       Business skills. It does not matter how well you create, paint or how good the items you have to sell are, nor how well you are able to market these, using your PR skills, if the business side of things breaks down and you make unwise choices accounting for and usuing the income you make.  There needs to be a balance of all skills.

4.       Diversify. Art is a non essential, item. If you look at how the stock market fluctuates, then realize that art is also going to fluctuate, only the fluctuation will be wider. 
No  one, can tell you in advance what artistic skills might peak nor suffer in the next fluctuation. 

Take the example of the need to diversify, from what happend during the last big depression to my own artistic family, who all survived based on the actions of one family member, my mother, the only one who diversified her skills. 

My father the architect, rated at the time as one of the top 6  architects in Australia, had no essential sevice skills and was unemployed during the last depression.

My uncle, one of Australia’s best musicians at the time, a man who during the peak of his career, left millions to charities due to the success of his career, had no other developed skill aside from his musicianship and he could not make enough money to provide a home for or feed his family during that depression as  people would not pay for his, non essential service, skill.
 
My mother, a dress designer, was able to diversify, from making high end fashion to designing clothing to fit people with deformity, then accept commissions to make military uniforms and her income as a young woman in her twenties, supported three families of six adults and three children, all because she was prepared to diversify her artistic skills when the need arose and not be too proud to take orders or work with heavy harsh on the hands, military materials.

When I informed my family that I intended to be an artist, they were 100% behind my doing this, they never told me that ‘I would not be able to earn my living at the arts’, as many tell artists. They did however insist that I have diverse talents and essential skills.

Back then, I did a science course as my essential services ‘fall back on, if I needed it’, diversification from art. These days with my interest in web design and reliance on computers I would probably choose to study for and have IT Jobs as my essential industry, fall back, should I have times when art needed  subsidising with other work.

Develop varied and essential service skills and your integrity as an artist is protected and you have the financial stability you need as a base to develop a successful artistic life. Happy creating :-)


 

I am promoting a charity auction of scrap booking supplies for the creative person. I use scpbooking supplies to make art cards and art bookmarks.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Scrap-Booking-Papers-and-Artists-materials_W0QQitemZ300392610903QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Scrapbooking?hash=item45f0cb7c57

This auction is for a worth cause so I hope my readers take a look and bid. :-).

Scrap Booking Papers and Artists materials , all proceeds go to the Hope From Ashes charity to assist those rebuilding their lives after the Toodyay Fires of December 2009


Scrap Booking Papers and Artists materials from "Artistic Journey" This package valued at over $100 includes kits to make journals. Items include a range of papers in textures and colours, ribbon, card, charms and ideas/instructions on things to create to preserve your memories


 

Hope from Ashes
The Hope From Ashes auction will run online starting on the date of the benefit concert with new items being put up daily over the next week.  This online auction will raise awareness and funds and give people the opportunity to contribute and help Toodyay people who are rebuilding after the fire.

We have tried to gather together a range of diverse and high quality items and services that in some way reflect the diversity and creativity of the Toodyay community. In finding a gift for yourself you will be giving to the Toodyay community and we hope the excitement and high energy of the auction will be uplifting and inspiring in its way.

The auction has the Hope From Ashes flavour celebrating and demonstrating the generosity, positivity and support that has flowed so readily for and within the Toodyay community.

As well as people from Perth many local Toodyay businesses and individuals have also contributed to the auction, some although deeply affected by the fires through loss of home or workplace. Artworks, craft items, trips away, fantastic meals and even life coaching sessions, massages, motoring items, clothing and collectors plates are just a few of the amazing items we can offer you. The list grows every day so “no napping” or you may miss a fabulous item…which is just what you need!

We hope you will enjoy the items on offer and we hope you have fun whilst you bid big as we pull together to raise much needed funds for the survivors of the Toodyay Bushfires.

If you would like more information about the auction or have a donation for us to consider please contact Bruce or Linda Sharman by completing the website contact and writing DONATION at the beginning of your message.

If you wish to make a donation in person, please use the following Bendigo Bank details. Thank you.
Hope from Ashes
BSB: 633 000
Account: 139 064 364

I had a lovely few hours looking at modern furniture  and home decor, today in a little side street store. 

I came home with three beautiful plump soft pillows with exquisite ruched, cream beige, velvet covers. These will ‘work’ in either my caravan interior, which is cream white and beige, base colours with sky blue and a pin stripe of yellow as the accessory colours.  I love this fresh sun and sky colour scheme. My lounge room in my summer retreat is cool, blue grey walls and ceiling, with a cobalt blue curtains and cream, creamy beige and an interesting, beige grey stone colour that ties these colours together well.

I think this is one of the most important aspects for a painting, a room, an outfit of clothes, to look good, having a colour harmony that works beautifully.

The picture I will illustrate this post with, at the top,  are of two cards from my art work, these are in colours that would work well, in the decor of my summer studio, they are painted using split opposite colour harmonies  which work well with the colours I have described Below are pictures of the bare interior, before my soft furnishings are added, to my caravan.

 

The Giveaway:

In conjunction with Mummified Times Five, I am giving away up to $1000 worth of Maimeri Classico oil paints!

Each prize pack includes 10 tubes of Maimeri Classico paints valued at $9.55 each…so with free postage, that’s a prize pack valued at over $100!! And we have 10 packs to give away!!

To enter, all you need to do is:

-comment on any post ON EACH of Kathy Shell’s blogs (listed in my blog side bar and below):

http://www.artslim.org/
http://www.cards-art.com/
http://www.kathy-shell.net/
http://www.doggiesblog.com/
http://www.gray-nomad.com/
http://www.bloggermuse.com/
http://www.functional-art.net/
http://www.postcards-art.com/
http://www.campfire-yarns.com/
http://www.fridgemagnetart.com/
- then go to the competition post at

http://mummifiedtimesfive.net/2010/02/01/spotlight-on-kathy-shell-giveaway/

and say why you would like to win a 10 pack of Maimeri Classico paints.

(Both steps are mandatory to be in the running to win this prize)

Giveaway finishes 15 Feb 2010

 This blog post has been illustrated by postcards from the art of Kathy Shell. These can be orderd through the artist's postcards-art web site or purchased 'direct from the artist', in her caravan awning studio

Visual images speak louder than words.

"If you don't move, you get fat”.  That is a message that as a creative person I need to keep in mind. Painting and writing are mainly sedentary activities and I need to find ways to make them more active.  I do this by painting on my feet, walking back and forth to view my work from a distance.  I get out on my feet to research stories I write.  Even so, a lot of the work is far more inactive than is good for me and I need to plan activity breaks in my day and not allow my obsession for my creativity to take over and deprive me of exercise, or for that matter sleep. Therefore, once I post this fabulous visual image and reminder of why I strive to remember to be active, I will say goodnight :-),


Apparently this statute, and another of Lincoln grown portulant just sitting all these years in his chair at the Lincoln Monument for too long, was part of an advertising campaign by Advertising Agency: Scholz & Friends, Hamburg, Germany

I remembered a lesson I was taught and always remembered and use and have passed on to my students, like many lessons in one medium. you can apply it to any art form, and life itself.

I remembered this technique, the other day, when chatting with a friend about how we go through periods of indecision and lack of motivation in life.  I use it when I lack clarity in knowing what to do next.

It’s a simple technique; it simply requires you to ask yourself questions.  Just make sure your asking the right questions.

‘Ask the right question and you usually get the right answer’

If I relate this for a moment to how I learned the technique and taught it, as an artist, it was in response to ‘How the painter knows when a painting is finished?’

 Explanation: - The average unskilled art student and self taught artist, overworks a painting and ruins the potential it had with excessive work.  They keep finding more that can be done, to do in the work and they are never content with it, never feel it is ‘finished’. As a writer I am learning to apply what I have long known as a painter, to get to the point quickly and not ruin what I’m saying with excessive waffling. In life, it’s recognising what needs to be done and when it’s OK to step back and rest. When you look at a work in front of you, don’t say, “What more can I do”, because there is always more to be done, you could put birds in the sky, rocks on the ground, another blade of grass, there is never an end to the, ‘What more can I do’, question and the project goes downhill, looses the breath of fresh air, enthusiasm it started in and the multiple layers of paint result in a work that simply, cracks.  In life, If we keep looking at life with a ‘what more can I do’ question I think we become what is in danger of cracking. Sometimes the best thing to do, is nothing. J.  Be patient with yourself.

Try this question next time. It makes for great artists and some brilliant art works.

Step back and look at the picture from afar and ask the right question the question that on reflection should bring forth the right answer:- 'What more does it need'?.

What more does it NEED?If while you look at the work, the project on hand, you do not hear it ‘speak to you’, to tell you clearly, something it ‘NEEDS’ to have done to it, then STOP.

Towards the final phase of every great art work, of every life project, you reach the point where the plan has been made, the block in has been done, a little refining has been done and your now at the detail, fiddly bits stage, this is the stage when a good art teacher instructs you to do ‘more look than put’. I think that advice I learned can be used in all the art forms, including life. Most of my life mistakes have been from wanting to rush in, over commit and try to ‘fix things up’, rather than step back, observe, do a lot more looking on than putting on and asking, 'what more does it need', not 'what more can I do'?. Using my observations tool and looking back over my life, using that tool would have made me a better parent, and certainly have spared me the stroke, workaholism gave me, now that’s another story about someone who tried to fix everyone else’s problems instead of realizing if she didn’t care for herself, she would be no use to anyone. J.

Today I try to observe and make corrections before things reach that sort of breaking point.

An artist learns to put the brush down, take your mind off the project, walk around the block, get the mail, look at and smell some roses, sleep on it, turn it upside down, look at it through sun glasses, lol, J, take long breaks and come back and take a fresh look at it again, leave enough time after the block in and refinement stage so that you stop seeing the brush strokes you put down and see the overall picture.  Then, only when the work speaks to you, DEMANDS that it NEEDS something, do you know what finishing touch, detail, you can do to ‘lift’ the work and have it ready for your signature, COMPLETED.