After my initial angst, I am now rockin' and rolling with Street Bling, having moved on from creating the pieces - well, 12 more to go I discovered last night in a recount - to making tags and figuring out packaging. So I've spent most of the weekend in front of the computer or sprawled out on the floor with the paper cutter. This is what cottage industry and life as an artist is all about.
A little help (well, lots actually) from my friend Sanae in designing the hang tag, which I've noodled into a few sizes for versatility, and I'm a step closer to pulling this project together.
Some may read the above and think: well why not figure all this out before hand? But the fact is that I've never done anything on this scale before - except perhaps getting ready for craft and art shows. And every time I do something of this nature, I get a little more experience and a little better at it. It's part of what I call "Wildcrafting Your Life" - one of the workshops in my Magic Medicine series. It's all about living and creating the way ancient peoples moved with the seasons and herds they hunted. Gathering what comes our way and choosing to focus on what's important in the moment, or season of our lives, and trusting that we need not be perfect from the get go. We will find exactly what we need. Exactly when we need it. It's always here.
Earlier in the week I got a lovely e-mail from artist Earl Bronsteen, whose work I blogged about in July. He found my post about him in a blog search engine, and is sending me a copy of his "How to Become a Famous Artist", which is available on his website as a downloadable file. It's a great read, and while working this weekend, I realized that a good deal of what I'm doing these days should qualify me as a famous artist. Much of what I'm working on is ephemeral and repetitive and made from garbage. So I'm thinking that what Earl does better than just about anyone is get his name out there by doing things like getting in touch with someone out of the blue who's blogged about him. It's given me that little moment of insight. To be your own marketing and PR person just takes a little more guts and a little less fear. Who cares what people think of us? If we are doing what we love, and putting it out there with love. That may sound a bit corny, but think about it. Why else would we be here? Why are you on the planet?
Yesterday on the motorcycle, I finally remembered to start chanting on our way back from a few errands, and had forgotten that the helmet has fabulous acoustics. (We haven't been riding all that much this summer because Larry's had a hand injury. But this time of year is really the best anyway.) Something in the way the wind wizzes by and my voice bouncing off all the cushioning causes a bounce back that sounds like I've got back up singers.
It's a great feeling. And I'm thinking we all have back up singers in our lives. We just have to hear them, feel them, trust that their presence is always with us.
Today, of course, is a day most of us will never forget. And what I remember most to be honest, is that the weather was as perfect as it's ever been. There was a dreamlike quality to the presence of day, as if it were not really possible. So beautiful and horrible at once. And this year with another large scale human tragedy so fresh in our minds, I am reminded of Joseph Campbell's famous words, paraphrased here: that we must learn to take joy in the sorrows of the world.
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