Shifting Gears

Hey people. I finished the last batch of tree sculptures yesterday (Thank God) and am delivering them today (Mon) to a gallery up north. So ends my "holiday push" for this year. I have a couple gifts to make, one personal, and one for a special client, a surprise gift, maybe-- if it turns out.

Prepare yourself, this post is going to be as rambling and jumbled as my brain is right now. Speaking of-- Oh- hey- here's the salad I made for Thanksgiving-- (you can click for a more delicious view)

It came about because my 95 year old grandma can't eat any greens. It's shredded carrots, sweet peas (raw), toasted almonds, pomegranate seeds, and raisins coated in cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, nutmeg and sea salt. Dan says it's so awesome it should be on some cooking show.

I'm pretty happy to have stumbled on something healthy that I like because I'm going to be battling weight gain again for a while. The weather is making getting in regular rides at the trail impossible, and from here on out, if it's actually rideable, it will be frozen, & possibly covered with snow and ice, meaning IF I work up the guts to go at all, it will be at a snail's pace. Not exactly fat burning. To top it off, My leg is still messed up from my last spill, so I can only manage a plodding trudge that could be charitably described as a slow jog.

I need to really get on the eating sitch if I'm not going to be able to burn as much fuel off. Turns out-- if you slow down your activities, and eat primarily cold cereal, candy, and reduced-fat Chips Ahoy cookies, your AssFatAirBags deploy. Boo. Luckily, I now have that awesome salad in my arsenal. Yum.

Very excited about going down to visit Sis and the brood later this week. Isn't she adorable? I can't wait to hang-out, dork-out, laugh my butt off, and just kind of "be" in her space for a while. I really need to slow things down right now, take a beat.

I also can't wait to see my rockin' niece and nephew. Megan is eight now, I'm pretty sure-- anyway, every time I see her she's more grown up. We've always had this "thing", a big connection.

Everyone, even her mom, jokes about how she's like the kid Katie had for me-- my kid out of her body. Fine with me. Thanks sis-- way to take one for the team.

Me and the boy need to get to know each other better this trip. We share a music thing, and like each other, but we're different species so it's harder. Now that he's 5 1/2 I'm hoping the whole annoying toddler temper tantrum stage will be over and I'll be able to meet the human he's on his way to becoming.

I'm thinking about so much creative stuff right now. This is the time of year I plan, and try to rest, but when you do what I do it never really shuts off so it's more a matter of controlling the flow rate. I've been working really hard in the shop for a long time, and need a break from that, but I can't just not think about it at all or it will be March and I'll be behind already.

I have to decide how I want to approach the coming year, what kind of work I want to put out, what shows do I want to line up, what to tell people who want commissions-- when I'll work on those, who I want to partner with for selling-- galleries etc, will I do any public art? Big projects? That's all just simmering.

Writing-wise I'm eager to get back to writing, but this year need to approach that differently than I have in the past. I've learned SO much in the last few years writing novels. The main thing that resonates this week is that I can write-- I apparently have unfettered access to a whole cast of characters I can flesh-out quite handily, and can get into a groove of a voice and carry it along through a whole project. I'm basically a good writer who gets better the more I do it (like all artists), but I really need to get a handle on structure.

I've always begun with a basic idea and kind of rolled with it, usually making outlines as I go that morph as characters kind of go feral. I can really easily get into a flow of some tangent that appears and write tens of thousands of words that seem really good, but since I'm not really following a plotline, it gets pretty sloppy.

Kind of like this post.

Bla bla bla. Anyway, I'm letting the creative hose just kind of run into the stock tank right now and trying to figure out how to make the work I do this year be more "on purpose."

Also I have tons of ideas for a new non-fiction project unlike anything I've done before. I think I'll do it as a new, separate blog first to kind of test it out. Right now the working title is- "The Road To Ruin- Or- How To Be An Artist For Reals, Attitude, MFA, & Brooding Good Looks Optional." It will be really smart alecky, but also give tons of practical real world advice.

What do you guys think? About any of this?

Hey people. Today's Fav Music Fri is value-packed. I love it when art, music, and writing collide. As I've been telling you, I'm still frantically making art for my next show, but my brain is rapidly sliding into revisionland. This makes things like little hooks-- snippets of stories, catch my attention.

I've been hearing some Elvis Costello lately on The Current (One of the last decent music stations out there btw.) (And they have a new website, AND they stream...) A couple of songs have really grown on me. Check out this cool excerpt of "Complicated Shadows" below-- I love the mood, the inferences. It totally makes me want to know more. It's very much like the vibe of my stories.



Here's another I really like-- "Sulphur to Sugarcane." It's not the whole song which is sassy and sultry and cool as hell, but take a look at this clip.



These vids were both produced by Blip Boutique who used artist Takashi Kawashima. Can you imagine how cool a book trailer with the right music would be? For those non-writey types out there, book trailers are becoming huge. They're a great marketing tool, especially for YA (my genre). What better way to get buzz going on a teen book than a viral video? If I ever get to this point and actually have a budget, I'll be checking out places like Blip Boutique. (They are not boring- as you can see for yourself.)



This next one isn't connected to them (apparently). I couldn't find any information about who the director/artist involved was but it remains one of my fav's, and since Halloween is coming up again I thought I'd repost it. Enjoy "Walking With A Ghost" by the White Stripes, (original song by Tegan & Sara.)



Erm.. Okay- I guess it tells you who the director is right in the beginning of the vid. Hello! (Hey, no caffeine yet.) Again very in sync with all the stories rolling around in my head, about ghosts and intrigue, plus another great example of that cool silhouette style..

Today I'll once again be welding away out in my shop, jamming-out and trying to untangle about four plot lines. I have three weeks until my next show. After that I want to make a final pre-holiday push to get some stuff out to the galleries, but then am really looking forward to taking about three or four weeks and just writing my ass off.

Fav Music Fri goes DIY

Hey people. This week's music pic is a new one by Free energy called "Dream city". There isn't a video for it, but I really wanted to use it so we're going to try something a little different. Start the cool video I found of absolutely crazy street biking in France. (The sound has been disabled by youtube.) Then go up and click the play button on the mp3 file. Voila-- we made our own video! (The song is a tiny bit shorter than the video but it still pretty much works.)

Dream city takes me totally back to that feeling of cruising in the summer, sure giganto fun is about to break out at any moment. The wind in your face. The feeling of being totally untethered. Awesome.

I love the chorus- talking about "when you know who you are." It taps into that flywheel feeling I get at times, feeling like a match someone has struck-- burning up, but kind of sad too, because you know fire is consumptive-- it's a fleeting sensation by nature, and, well, you know who you are = kind of a freak. But you have to be okay with that because it is what it is. :)

Anyway, give it a try. Either way check out both the sound file and the vid.

In other SueNews:

Here's some shots of my display for the mtb race tomorrow. This was a lot of fun to do. I'm trying to think out of the box about everything connected to my business right now. One thing I love about going to Axman are the funny signs, so what the hell? Here's my version-- pretend testimonials. (You can click to enlarge any of these. In case you can't tell, all the people are "wearing" my pendants. I've pinned actual pendants to the pictures.)






Hee hee hee. Well, whatever. I can see my schedule is packed from now until christmas so if this is going to work I need to have fun with it.

Otherwise I'm kind of bummed I'm still off Penny, but am trying to make the best of it by running. I have one broken rib and one cracked, so, boo on that. Once again my bird-like lady bones have wussed out on me, although I'm not that suprised. It was a pretty spectacular "dismount".

Well, time to go fire up the welder. Have a good weekend peeps.

Weird Wed Returns!

Hey people. This was one of the first things I saw at Second Hand Rose's in buffalo last week. I love this place so much I want to make out with it. It is always, always at least as weird as me and that is a rare quality.

I looked and looked for Little Mister Sunshine. Finally I asked Rose about him and she said, (as if all this was completely normal)- "Oh, he's at home today. He wouldn't sit on his horse the right way, so I went with heads this month." I HEART her so bad you guys.

The woman is a genius. I want to be her when I grow up except we all know that will never happen.


I was so bummed when I loaded this one this morning because I super want a marching band hat. I was so mesmerized by the weirdness I totally overlooked the hat itself. Maybe it will still be there next month.

Okay, This one might be just me. But come on people-- the blank staring eyes? The poking out butt? It's a little creepy somehow.

I guess when your hobby is taxidermy you're kind of up for stuffing anything.

You know what they say-- you have to hump a lot of frogs...

Once again I'm baffled by the ways of academia.

All I can say is yes, "no pants" usually = somehow cooler.

In other SueNews: Tahdahhhh! Letters! Behold the sign for my open house Aug 2nd. Glittery red paint = cool too.

Also I've arranged to set up a tent and schlep my wares at a couple of bike races this month at the trail. I'm experimenting with a den of iniquity theme-- having a cool little hang out area with treats and relaxy chairs etc. Hopefully the mtb crowd will think my bike gear pendants = cool.

If anyone wants to come visit me, the first race (a ride and run duathelon) is at Hillside park in Elk River (behind Walmart) Sat morning. Remember, me, free treats, the chance to see numerous mtb nutballs go flying over jumps etc, could be fun.... Race starts at 9:00 a.m. Probably will wrap-up around 1:00.

For all those of you who've asked about how I am after my gnarly crash last week-- thanks, and I'm pretty much fine. I may have removed the caution tape a little prematurely though. Had a bit of a rib setback, but that's already doing much better too. I was trying to proceed as normal after the first day because I didn't want to get stiff, and I think stuff heals faster is you move around, blood flow etc. I did, er, let's just say something I should not have, that basically made my eyes practically pop out of my head. I think a rib kind of moved out of place, but it popped back when I went running and took some really deep breaths.

It sucked the day it was messed up though because Dan kept trying to crack me up, making me laugh in a reedy, fat-lady-who-just-sucked-on-helium-balloons laugh in agony.

I hope to be back on Penny in a few days. Meanwhile I'm getting used to running in the heat.

Stay weird people. See you Friday, and tomorrow over on the art blog. :)

Brand New Day

Hey people. It's Fav Music Fri again- can you believe it? Wow this week went fast. Summer is slipping through our fingers people. Be sure to grab a few handfuls before it's gone!

Today's pick is one of my all time favorite songs, an anthem really, about starting over. Suddenly many friends seem to find themselves in this position, some just entering new phases, others literally picking up the pieces and starting all over. Happily my life hasn't blown-up, but the words, "No I won't be scared-- I won't be destroyed" are always sort of playing in my background, making me feel like I could face anything if I had to.

Enjoy The Eurythmic's "Brand New Day". Give it a watch, then listen again with your eyes closed. I promise you'll feel like a warrior.


Edit to add: Funny, it's "I won't be SAD" I guess. I like scared better. Whatever resonates for you right?

In other SueNews:

Thanks to all the friends who weighed in on the last post- the part about staying true to your vision even when the market seems to not be responding. Each of you gave me a boost. One smart pal said, "Uh, yeah, follow your heart and all that, yeah yeah yeah, but also-- quit being so lame about your art blog!" She advised me to get out there, let people know what I'm up to, that I'm still over here doing art. So yesterday I put up a NEW POST and within the hour got mega hits and a few good leads. Some people just emailed saying-- "Hey, cool!" which is always, well, cool! So thanks pal. (You know who you are. ;) )

I have a plan in place for getting work over to Door County-- well, as far as my work goes-- what all I'm making etc. Reservations? I'll deal with that when I have a firm date. The welding mojo is working great, and I have tons of ideas. It would be nice if it wasn't so sticky, but, whateves. Get out a fan right?

In the following your heart department-- I have a chance to make a sculpture for the bike trail (they asked). It would be a freebie, but I do love it over there, and it would get seen by a lot of people and hopefully appreciated. Sometimes that can be almost as gratifying as, er... actual money to us art types. Plus-- it would give me a chance to make something completely from my head. You never know. It could wind-up getting me a job or two too. High exposure etc.

Considering the place is basically a thrill ride, a heavily wooded thrill ride through the dirt populated by adrenaline junkies, this is kind of the vibe I'll be going for:



This is an album cover. The actual design is similar in vibe-- it's not this exactly. I'd want it done by the end of July. Wait-- didn't I just get done saying I have tons of stuff to get done for Door County, plus new commissions, and three shows this fall? (Okay technically, no, I didn't actually say all that, but it is true.) Oh well. (shrugs)

Stranger things have happened. I can sometimes do amazing things on a deadline. Stay tuned.

Weird Wed - "My eyes!"

Hey people. This weeks' Weird Wed episode brought to you by the official panel of old white bossy dudes-- okay, not really. But isn't this picture great? "After much deliberation, the board regrets to inform you, you are not approved of." Harrumph harrumph harrumph, or something.

After seeing how Port-Wine-Stain Scarface Doll's face came out, Gingham Dress Doll said, "You know, just leave my face off completely. Faces are way over rated."

The rare Peg Bundy doll, highly sought after by, well, no one really.

OK people. See this bed? Once in my thrilly youth me and a bunch of my delinquent friends found this creepy old huge building out in the woods. It had trees growing up through it and was falling apart, but of course we had to check it out. upstairs there was a room lined with old iron beds like this-- and some had shackles on them! a guy who was from around there told us it used to be an asylum. Creepy huh? It felt mega haunted. (~gets chills~)

Wow, not that there's one thing wrong with that, but, pretty freaky for back in the day huh?

"I'm takin' over this here blue bowl see? And there ain't a man among ya tough enough to stop me see?"

Some weird meat chandelier I guess. Ewe.

Akk! My eyes! They're burning! Make it stop!

Behold the wrong badness people-- just look. It's like Sonny Bono meets Sam Elliott meets, er... a buffalo. It reminds me of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers when that little dog runs up to them and it has a human head attached to its body.

Look-- they even make its unit denim clad. I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but it was not. I apologise to all buffalo's everywhere for this travesty.

In other SueNews:

Thinking about work this week. You know the saying, "not for love or money"? Working strictly for money doesn't really work for me art-wise. The work comes out best when it's for love. Right now is pretty lean times for everyone. I've been trying to figure out the magic formula, but it seems to be "move to mainland china and make stuff that sells for $20 or less".

I hate thinking about the business end of it. I miss the old days (like, two years ago) when I could make whatever popped into my head and people would just give me money. I think the best thing for me to do is forget about the $ right now, and just follow my heart. At least I'll be happy while I'm working. If I'm going to be poor anyway, might as well be poor and fulfilled right?

This way when and if things pick up again, I'll have cool stuff to sell and won't have degraded my work. Any thoughts?

New Mode

Hey people. The shop has been transformed into gate bling central. I can feel the potential of this idea. It's different from other art I've worked on recently. It has more of a "product development" feel than a "things burbling up from my subconscious" feel. That's OK. We can go that direction. The other stuff will burble up when it's ready.

Here's the game plan: 3 sizes of flowers, 4 heights of rods, 4 styles of flowers, and also, birds, butterflies, words, and pot/planter racks.

I think this will give me a good, appealing variety for people to choose from, and spread the retail price to cover the loss leaders.

Weird, feel like I'm back in retail mgmt/merchandising mode. Oh well. Like I said, we can do that too. I might be in a show in a couple of weeks to give these a little trial run. We'll see. Don't have deets yet.

In other SueNews:

I am apparently made of fail. I don't think going over that jump in a couple of weeks is realistic for me anymore. I guess my new goal will be to learn how to pop a wheelie. That's still cool right? Also- this is how lame I am- I want to learn how to do a headstand.

Yup. Those standing-on-your-head deals most first graders can do? -- never been able to. When I go upside-down I lose all sense of direction/orientation and just crumple. NASA was so super disappointed when they found out about this. That and the whole math thing pretty much killed their dreams of me entering their space program.

Yesterday I decided to time myself running against some race results from last year over at the trail. Boy, do I suuuu-huuuck.

I've been running all over over there thinking I was getting pretty good- not taking walk breaks anymore, going farther, and getting faster. Apparently I'm only OK at running compared to couch potatoes who do nothing at all. Now of course I have to begin "training". For what? Oh nothing. I just can't bear how much I apparently suck.

Suddenly I feel really inadequate, despite all the new stuff I'm trying out. Part of me feels ridiculous, like, who do I think I am thinking I can get good at any of this stuff this late in the game? The rational part just says, "Quit taking yourself so seriously, and shut up, and have fun." Good advice rational part. I'll listen to you I guess. Today is just one of those days.

Here's how it all went down...

This is how my booth looked at the show yesterday (Sat.).
(Thanks Lynn-- for taking pics.)

If you are here because you mistakenly took a card from this box...

Instead of this box... (click to zoom)

We'll just take a brief break from our regular programing while you safely exit to my art website (link in upper right corner under "Looking for my artwork?") Hmm hmm hmm (random humming and whistling..., maybe some muzak)

OK. If you're still here welcome. What you get on this here blog is the completely unvarnished version of me, often with extra sauce, so if you're down with that-- cool!

Yesterday after I got home I was still really exhausted. Shows are grueling because loading up is always super physical and I have to do it all by myself and is usually a fiasco because my stuff doesn't fit neatly into anything so there's all this foam padding involved and things get damaged etc. Then there is the unloading and set up, more strenuous hoopla involving Dan (thank God), and then the next day I have to get all gussied-up and be really up all day and also not eat or take a break because it's just me there all day long, after which I get to tear it all down and reload and tote everything home. So it's always a long weekend.

Last night I was feeling a little crabby about the pile of money I wanted to roll around on not being as cushy as usual. There will be no private jet shopping-- or, you know, shopping of any kind, in my immediate future. The money I made was all the hard way, 5 & 6 & 20 bucks at a time instead of the 5 to 8 hundred dollar chunks I've grown accustomed to. I've been a little spoiled by shows that sell out almost before they open, and always doing really well. Times is tough now though. It's all different.

Here's some cool stuff that happened at the show:

Some friends showed up who have absolutely no money, just to be supportive and come see the goods and say hi. (showin' the love-- yay)

Some client/friends came by and bought a few things, probably mostly to just be supportive and say hi. (more sue-love-- all good! Thanks!!)

One new friend, and one old friend bought more significant pieces, because the art resonated with them, and they wanted to support me as an artist. (How lucky am I to have such cool friends?)

One couple who I've seen around at shows told me they've been wanting a piece of mine for 10 years. Now that I had some recession priced stuff they were able to afford something they both really loved. (Awesomeness!) (They got the piece on the ground next to the lit shelves in the shot of my whole booth-- a wall piece I just finished fri before loading.)

Some people stopped by to tell me about things they've bought from me in the past, and how much they're enjoying them, or to show me to their husband/wife/sister--whoever was the recipient of a gift made by me at some point, and they told me how much they love it. (Super cool.)

No less than 3 retired welders got dragged to this thing by their wives who said stuff like, "I was a welder for thirty years, and I have to tell you, I could never do that." They went on to tell me how cool they thought my stuff was, one or two things anyway (everyone liked the horses) and talk welding and admire my over-all welding pwnation. (I eat this stuff up with a spoon. Welder-love is for some reason especially sweet, probably because it feels like reaching between two worlds.)

Now I'm looking ahead. If you do what I do, you have to roll with it. What next? What will I do different next time? What's coming up I can capitalize on? What other venues might I try? I already know of a few things that cost me sales probably. Hindsight is 20/20. Most people say that regretfully, but if it's 20/20 you're kind of a dumbass if you don't learn from it. Learning is good- valuable.

Tons to think about, process, and plan. One thing that is going to change immediately is my pace. My life has been non-stop overtime for two months and I'm fried. I've blown off family and friends and myself (eating crap, not sleeping, wearing out my parts). That isn't conducive to making this life livable. When it becomes joyless, your art is eff'd.

Today running, relaxing, vegging with Dan. Tomorrow-- ????

Bring It.

Hey people. After hearing from AgentCoolAssChicka last week I went into proof-reading-like-a-mofo mode. It’s all I did between approx 7:30 p.m. Thurs. and 7:00 p.m. Fri. besides sleep a little. After sending my 85k word baby out into to world attached to emails saying variously, “I don’t expect you to get through this in 2 weeks, but I’ll take whatever feedback you can offer in that time frame” and “try not to make me suicidal” I promptly fell into a Girl Scout Cookie coma.

An online writery type pal (you know who you are O Evil One) posted a link about Samoas Fri and I became obsessed. They had to be obtained, and, in my fragile state, had to be consumed—all at once. I know, my AssFat almost laughed itself off. Can you say running like a mofo this week?


Now AgentCoolAssChicka is twitting about her 575 unread queries, and her 175 files of unread material and I once again feel like a needle in a haystack I haven’t even jumped into yet. Insecurity—it’s a bitch yo.

While I was finishing my little horse today I was thinking about how slim my chances at publication are, and how much time I was taking on such a small, probably not very expensive sculpture. A smart friend was observing the other day how this economy will weed out weaker businesses. Publishing people are talking all the time now about how no one’s buying anything, and people are getting laid off left and right. Art sales are down too.

I was more determined than ever to make the little horse as awesome as I could, no matter how long it took-- and I will keep ramming my head into the publication brick wall until either I get through, or my head is reduced to some kind of gross meat knob that will completely rule out future book jacket photos.

If you’re a creative pro, now isn’t the time to quit striving for extraordinary. Maybe only really special things will make it through the marketplace’s filter right now. Does that mean some crap won’t also get through, or, sadly, even some extraordinary things will be overlooked? No—But I for one am bringing my creative A-game.

If I wind-up never having anything else to show for it, I’ll be able to hold me head up knowing I didn’t quit, and I didn’t lame-out.

Have a good day people. Now-- caffeine, shaking it vigorously, welding a bit, running like a mofo, and more welding. Then, maybe skiing. But caffeine immediately-- stat! (blinks blearily)

Keepin' It Real

Man, It's tough out there people. Yesterday I learned from an artist friend, working one of our many fall back options-- getting a job at Target to help pay some bills, (often referred to as a J.O.B., not to be confused with actually working for the man)-- that Target is now laying people off. That's one less option.

I'm not there yet, and besides, this post isn't even about that. It's about keeping your creative mojo going despite what's going on in the world around you, even when it seems the sensible option would be to purposely go as commercial as you can. This will surely be as convoluted and strung-out as my thoughts this morning, but try to stay with me.

While hubby and I were checking out some late night T.V. this week we caught a couple bands. Most of you guys aren't that into my music but hang with me. One was Kaiser Chiefs, the other was The Killers. They both have albums they're promoting (duh), and I'd say enjoy similar levels of popularity. Kaiser Chiefs looked pretty standard for their performance, typical brit-pop band. The killers' front man was wearing some bizarre, obviously homemade jacket with a bunch of feathers glued on to form some kind of epaulets. He also was sweating profusely and looked pretty twitchy, actually kind of insane in his black eyeliner.

We got into this whole conversation comparing them. I kept trying to show Dan how while there was nothing "wrong" with the Kaiser Chief's, they just weren't giving it up as much as the Killers. Their song was catchy, and they did a good job. Their guy was hyper-aware of the camera which made him seem vain and bugged me, but hey-- the other guy had an actual costume-- It wasn't like he was "no-big-dealing" it. It was just that I could tell in some way I still can't fully explain, the Killer's music was coming from somewhere inside, or somehwere bigger. The Kaiser Chiefs' had manufactured a hit, while the other guy (Killers) was laying it out there, come what may. Somehow the stakes were higher and I could just sense it.

That's our job creative types. To lay it out there, bare ourselves at some level. It's obviously possible to succeed without doing this. I'm reading a book right now by an author I've really enjoyed in the past, but this time round, it feels like a phoner, a little formulaic. I'm sure he's still doing pretty well though. We've all seen example of this I'm sure.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit someone who began as an art client, became a collector, and now is kind of a friend too, even though we don't really hang out. She and her husband have my art all over their super cool house, displayed alongside many other gorgeous pieces. She has a lot of my older work, stuff from when I used to make things so fast and sell them so quickly I usually didn't even take a picture of them, stuff I'd forgotten about.

Her son was there- this super cool kid, well-- twenty. He's already collecting his own art, and has the greatest energy, just someone you know is one of the good ones. It was so inspiring seeing them again, and seeing all my art in this fantastic setting being really loved and appreciated. It made me excited for moving into my new shop (next week now, I'm being told) and to start making art the way I used to, before the move, before losing my workspace, before having to always be in crunch mode in the driveway. I'm looking forward to just laying it out there, being ok with making a bunch of weird crap in order to make room for the good stuff to get through.

This approach makes no sense in this kind of "market"-- or doesn't it? It's the only way I know to make real art (or writing or whatever), to tap into that whatever it is that separates the real from the manufactured. I have to believe it's more important to preserve that than anything else. That's when you become inseparable from your art, for better or worse.

That's what I'm doing with the writing too. It's weird working so diligently at something you may or may not ever get paid for. I guess the bottom line for me is, I can tell in my own work, what's real, the stuff that comes from somewhere else, v.s. the stuff that's perhaps still alright, but product. I don't want to settle for less than real.

Does any of this make sense to you creative types? Can you feel the difference when you're working on something? Is it immediately apparent or does it evolve?

The Morning After...

Hi everybody-- If you picked up a card at the show at Burroughs School in S. Minneapolis Sat and are interested in finding out more about Sue Seeger's artwork you should click this link and go to my art website. This is more of a personal, writing and other hijinks's blog that probably won't interest you.

For all you other people who came looking for the promised edgy, weird, and occasionally funny stuff -- stick around. Or better yet scroll down to labels and check out the selection. If weird is what you're after "disturbia" is one you'd probably be into. There's also plenty of "hilarity", "coolage", and "incurring my wrath". I also talk about "art", "writing", "welding", "jamming out" and well, pretty much anything else I darn well feel like.
So-- the show, the show, the show. It went ok. Sales were down almost 50%. This use of math lingo is shocking I'm sure, coming from me. What it means in "normal people language" is this--
Sue's $ is < !!!!, but > @#%*! People are learning something from the new economy that I've actually known for a looong time now.

See, I sell cool stuff. In some cases beautiful stuff. I don't sell food or oxygen or any other addictive substance-- nor do I sell "hot cakes" which I'm told are made of awesome, although I've never had one myself-- anyone else? Thing is-- the world isn't ever going to run out of cool, beautiful stuff. There will always be plenty of it around when you do have $ too. This means you can wait it out.

What I just said up there-- "I sell cool stuff" isn't how I like to look at what I do. I think of it mostly as, "I create cool stuff", but we art and writery types that want to actually make a go of it have to occasionally deal with reality. People have to buy your "wares" or else you wind up being someone with a very elaborate hobby and several strung together low-wage jobs.

This brings me to finding that magic tipping point between your creative and marketing sides. Usually when you begin to get all stressed-out about $ it messes up your creative mojo. You're really beter off not thinking about it and just pretending it'll all be fine. Case in point-- my stained glass pieces v.s. Elmira v.s my attractive little groupings of trees.
Some of the stuff I made for this show was strategic, and some made no "sense" at all-- I was just following my creative impulses. Deciding to begin Elmira the week before this show made no sense what-so-ever, but man, am I ever glad I did. No, no one bought her, but that doesn't matter that much to me. Someone will eventually because she's a good piece. But I got so much out of making her.

I've been missing my characters from the novel, and the heavy work load for the show was beginning to make me feel more like a welder than an artist. I needed to dip back into the nearly trance-like state of allowing the creative energy to just pour through me.

Some of the other stuff I made (stained glass), although attractive, probably wasn't as loaded with creative mojo. I think people, people who are into art anyway, can feel the difference between "art" and "product". The stained glass stuff was mostly strategic because I needed to be productive every single day and some days couldn't weld outside. I had to come up with something I could make inside the garage and so stained glass it was. They're nice, but didn't really sell.

The trees are a good example of the perfect balance for this type of show. It's an attractive design I really like, and came up with for pure pleasure. Now I'm identified by them at this show somewhat and people always buy them and pretty much freak out if I don't have them. Do I enjoy making dozens of them? -- no-- it's total factory work, but the design still contains the original mojo and it translates into each one. Plus, I can't make myself not care about how they come out. Each one is obsessed over somewhat to achieve the ideal level of randomness. They are half art half product. Success. (at this level)

I have lots more to say about the show-- how a student teacher incurred my wrath during set-up, how thrilling and bizarre it was to see two old high school buds after 25 years, how cool it was to reconnect with my old boss from my last "career-ish" job I ever had, but it'll have to wait. Dan's making me coco-wheats and I have a large amount of vegging out to catch up on today.

Thanks to everyone who came by. I know I don't show up at your places of business and cheer you on, but it really meant a lot to me to see all the friendly faces yesterday, like I am one freaking lucky gal. Thanks.

Moooooo

The first batch arrived today!

(Click for a bigger view) these are the one's for my art site. The Slag Hammer ones should arrive tomorrow or the next day. Stay tuned....