signing off

I'm off to an Artist in Residence at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. My studio's cleared out and my car is full. So please check back in 2 weeks. I'm sure I'll have lots of inspiring insights and ideas for you then!

Working full time in the corporate world isn't easy when one has the artist's soul. And particularly difficult at this time of year when I so long to be outdoors, or working with windows wide open.

I was finally able to squeeze in a bit of art making this weekend with a project I've had in mind for months now. That is, creating a pair of earrings with the over-sized emblem of the karate school I study at. It's a five petalled plum blossom with three inner circles. They look very hip in that Japanese animae kind of way. Exaggerated, expressionist, not classical Zen. I'm not sure my grandmaster would approve, but I love them.



Links worth visiting today: two. Well, I'm sure there are many more, but these are the ones on my radar today.



One sent by my sister who always sends the greatest.



http://factoid.lavoice.org/heavy/



Make sure you read the first entry in this blog. It explains everything.



The other, a business of art site that I think is particularly great. Sign up for their Art Matters e-letter.



http://www.artistcareertraining.com/newsletter.asp



And finally, not a link, but a thought to leave you pondering. I received an email from my freind Robert in Los Angeles the other day with the following quote and query. I pass it on to you:



"In 'The Blind Assassin', a pivotal female character in her seventies, looking back over her life, states that 'at some point in life, one must make a choice between Romanticism and Classicism.'



I found this to be an intriguing idea, with many ramifications. I looked up both movements and distill them here:



Romanticism: an emphasis on the imagination and emotions, an exaltation of the primitive, an appreciation of external nature, an interest in the remote, a predilection for melancholy.



Classicism: adherence to traditional standards (as of simplicity, restraint, and proportion) that are universally and enduringly valid.



What is your take? Would you see yourself as Romantic or Classical? What do you think are the benefits and drawbacks of each tradition?"



I've been rolling Robert's questions around in my head for a few days now, a multilayered Zen Koan that leaves an enigmatic smile on my lips and in my heart.

It is the most amazing morning. Birds are twittering. Everything seems to get greener by the minute. The lilacs and the crab apple are in bloom. My wild garden is full of tiny surprises.

Coming home for the weekend after a hectic week working in the city (New York) is such a blessing. Even when one comes home to surprises like the cat being locked out of the mudroom, and having to use a rug in kitchen all week as litter box.

I recieved a really touching letter from one of the participants in last week's Sacred Balance workshop, who admitted that he'd rather not have been there, but "maybe my lesson is that I should be more uncomfortable being uncomfortable." I think his insight really captures the essence of what balance is and isn't about. Stretching is always tough, but there's nothing like being able to touch your toes -- or reach for the sky.

Having recently gone through testing for my black belt in the traditional Japanese style that I study, this idea was brought home daily, for about 2 months solid. It was an exhausting process, and one can't sustain an intense level of stretching and testing of body, mind or spirit for too long a period of time. That's what leads to burn out. But by stretching ourselves daily, a little at a time, and/or every once in a while putting ourselves to the test -- we can make amazing, if not always comfortable -- leaps forward.

Today's suggested link: Hudson Valley Materials Exchange. Google it to find the url. The gallery currently has a three person show. And always has amazing materials from industry and business, to recycle and reuse in inventive ways.

Pandas, Picasso, press and more: cut and paste this link and add it to your favorites



http://art.weblogsinc.com/

While I don't have anything particularly inspirational to say myself this morning, I just visited my favorite art blog and Anna Conti does. Be sure to read her May 2nd entry at

http://www.bigcrow.com/anna/journal/home.html

This is a site I check into every few days, and it has lead me to other great art blogs as well. So happy blog hopping!

I am re-reading Women Who Run With the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., and this morning I read a passage that was particularly poignant:



"There is such a loss of meaning when one gives up the life made by hand that all manner or injuries to psyche, nature, culture, family, and so forth are then allowed to occur. The harm to nature is concomitant with the shunning of the psyches of humans. They are not and cannot be seen as separate from one another. When one group talks about how wrong the wild is, and the other group argues that the wild has been wronged, something is drastically wrong. In the instinctive psyche, the Wild Woman looks out on the forest and sees a home for herself and all humans. Yet others may look at the same forest and imagine it barren of trees and their pockets bursting with money. This represents serious splits in the ability to live and let live so that all can live."



Hardly a page goes by in this book that doesn't strike me to the core. As synchronicity would have it, I seem to be reading each chapter at exactly the appropriate time. It's a book I am reading sporadically, not wolfing down in every spare minute. So it is all the more magical and instructive when the ideas and issues that I am reading about parallel those in my life at the moment.



Being all about archetypes, this book will resonate at any time, and every time.

A couple of great lint links!



http://www.lauraperry.com/

http://www.studiocapezzuti.com/lint/lintletters.htm

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly critic and editor (1903-1974)



I think this applies to our art making too.

A link for three wonderful women -- Carol, Kathy and Lisa -- who were in my Sacred Objects workshop at Brookfield Craft Center a few weekends ago. Please keep checking back, as I will be adding more info in bits and pieces. This one is a bit of a read, but fascinating I think. About why we "make things" and "make special". (You will have to cut and paste the url as I haven't figured out yet how to link.)



http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/calebcrain/artistic1



By the way, it was our workshop together than inspired me to start this blog, to which I will be adding a comments feature so we can all stay connected. And ultimately photos, as well!

I have to admit that I wanted more than anything to be outside all day. But despite the distractingly gorgeous weather on Saturday, the workshop I presented at the Highland Cultural Center's Career Development Institute -- Sacred Balance: The Circle of Art, Work, Life -- was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Everyone who participated was courageous in sharing their personal difficulties and experiences juggling the many balls we artists tend to have in the air at any given time.

And special thanks to Elisa Pritzker for joining us with her many valuable insights into the business of being an artist.

It's an amazing experience simply to be in the space that Elisa has created with her husband Rob at Casa del Arte in Highland, New York (check out pritzkerstudio.com). Her living room is filled with art and always new ideas.

I hope that everyone who attended left with inspiration to find the sacred balances in their own circles of life, work and art.

One of the most amazing things I find in presenting these workshops is the unexpected things I learn myself. My eyes are continually opened to new ways of seeing. As I mentioned in the workshop, you never know when some small thing you say may change another person's life.