Ah, For a Quiet Mind

Good summer morning my friends. Here on the East coast we’ve been in the midst of a scorcher and the only thing I’ve gone outdoors for is to water the gardens as needed.

Overall, it’s been a year of struggling to deal with my own health issues as well as Bill’s.  Finally, I’ve decided to give myself a break from as much stress as possible and stop imposing unnecessary hurdles and deadlines on myself.  As you’ve probably noticed, my blog posts have less frequent as usual and that will continue to be the case.  I’ll post as I can and when there’s something of substance to share.

It’s been awhile now since I’ve even submitted any art for possible exhibitions and I expect that to continue as well for so many reasons. I am working on some new art, though.  But I’m not going to fret about meeting submission deadlines.  I’ve been finding these to be a barrier to producing the level of work that I want to be producing, and often a frustrating experience.  Instead, I’ll work on a timeline that works for me and reduces my stress levels.

Just as an example of the kinds of things that add to my stress level, I’ll tell you about my most recent process of trying to submit something to be juried.  For days I’ve worked on something to enter into the CCA 2019 OPEN PHOTO EXHIBIT. The deadline was at midnight last night, Aug.1. I spent a lot of time on my first one and when I finished it, I hated it so I just tossed it aside and figured, “Well, I got that out of my system!” and moved on.

Then I loved the second one I did and finished it in the nick of time and rushed to take some pics while there was still enough decent light;  however, I had used my real camera, which I hadn’t used in a long time, and I could not upload the pics despite repeated efforts to do so. I tried everything I could think of but nothing worked. Meanwhile my sciatica kicked in and I was struggling to do this in increasing pain. I was also into a stint of being up for two days without sleep and was growing tired and cranky. So, I grabbed some ice and laid down hoping the pain would go away and I could get back to the computer to figure it out. That was about 5:30 PM and I woke up at 4 AM this morning.  I did find the solution and uploaded my pics, just not on time to submit them.

It turns out that Windows 10 will not upload from this camera. I found this out after finding the original Nikon photo disk and uploading it. Of course, it wasn’t that easy. I had dropped my computer days ago and the CD disk was struck closed and after more time and effort, I couldn’t open it. Finally, I handed it over to Bill and he is the wizard fix-it man! I could insert a disk! It was after that that I opened up the newly installed program which told me that I had to take the card out of my camera and upload them from there.

Everything I do is like this – nothing is easy! Because I haven’t been able to submit anything for exhibition in months, I was disappointed. I’m swearing off chasing deadlines! I’ll share it with you, though. Because I’m very pleased with it and hope to enter it into something!

Although I do love it and it’s finished now, I’m always open to critique! It’s great to see the likes. And yes, it always feels good to hear that you love it, but critiques offer the benefit of what other eyes see and notice, always something to take into the next piece. I do believe that an artist should create from their own inner feelings and with their own personal aesthetics but we can all learn from other perspectives. So please, always feel free to give your feedback here on my blog! If you comment on Facebook, that’s fine, but it disappears; whereas if you comment here, I don’t lose what you have to say – it stays in this journal. Thanks so much for taking the time to read and share in my art journey!