I have been
so busy with work and the end of the year, just thinking about blogging is
exhausting. In my guilt I started thinking about
why I blog. Like many, I started so my friends and family could keep up with me and even see some of my art. Since then I've made many more friends than I could have ever imagined. In fact, tomorrow I'm attending
City of Dionne's
SoCal Bloggers' Luncheon to meet and mingle with girls I've only chanced to be virtually acquainted with.
I've often read on your blogs your apologies for not being able to post, and I know how
fickle we readers are: when someone stops posting what we like, or posting consistently, we
quickly lose interest. Why should that concern me if I am doing this for those who are already my friends?
Art. It all comes down to
art. If I am truly honest, I could say it's also about
money.
I am an
artist,
not a marketer. I'm not a businessperson who knows how to market herself, nor do I have the resources to hire someone to do this for me. I hardly know how to market my
Etsy shop. The funny thing is, I know that this is
exactly where most of my artist friends are. It's too
hard to do the business, so we are content to paint in our homes, giving work away or tucking it under the bed for "one day when..."
I certainly have made a few
great friends, several of whom love and support me, many of you are wowed when I put up a new painting, but I'd hardly say I've made a steady income from my work. But I'm not ready to give up. This is often a conversation I have with my husband, and he is just as frustrated as I about how to do it, but neither of us
knows what to do. But I'm not ready to give up yet, I keep plugging away.
I
love painting
teacups for you, carving
handmade stamps for you,
making felted bowls and pouches for you, painting your
walls and your
portraits. I love it.
I want to do it more.
I also want to
inspire you. Some of you who read my blog have told me that I've inspired you to be more creative, to be craftier, to try something new...
And truthfully, honestly, that's probably the
best part. That's also why I teach. I've had students ask me to make something for them to purchase from me, and I always respond by telling them I'd rather
TEACH them to do it themselves. Then there's the student who will never go on after my class to do anything in the field, but if I've taught them to use their BRAIN
differently, to learn to be
creative problem solvers in life, then I've done my job. I don't mind if they don't become artists.
So at the end of the day,
why do I blog?
1. To share my life with my loved ones
2. To help my artistic career
3. To inspire
If someone can inspire another, there's no telling how far-reaching the impact can go.
Why do
you blog?
Who has
inspired you?
What
new thing are you going to do this week, this month, this summer?
Each year our Juniors and Seniors take a 3 day trip to Catalina Island, where they bond, are challenged spiritually and physically, and learn much about each other and their Creator. This year, Jon and I got to chaperone for the first time. I'm tellin' you, we had as much fun as the kids.
We were very excited to do this event, especially since this year's seniors were Jon's and my first class that we taught 6 years ago when they were in 7th grade. They are like our first born children, but are more like little siblings.
On competition day, there was a relay race, in which students had to begin with a 9-person wheelbarrow, followed by a goldfish transport (with the mouth being the vehicle...fish must remain in tact for points; only 2 got swallowed), and ending with a spelling bee where they had to spell a word on the ground with their bodies.
There was a flag-making competition, which included clever team names and a team cheer or song. Jon's was "Pink Eye...Fear the Puss (Ya, we're contagious)!" They won extra points for following the theme of Fear Factor. Gross. Seriously.
In the midst of all the fun, we had a very entertaining, very stirring chapel speaker named Jurgen Mathisias (or Gurgles Mattresses, according to spell check). Many of our students found themselves brought tearfully to their knees, moved and convicted between bouts of laughter and outrageous praise.
The competitions ended with the ultimate competition: teachers stood on the floating dock with colored flags on our waist. One person from each team had to swim to us, pull their team's flag and swim to the kayak in the distance. That's me on the dock on the right.
The rest of the kids screamed and rallied their racers from the shore...I was proud of the one GIRL who competed in this one; and she placed 3rd!
We had beautiful solitary times as well, campfire songs and worship under the stars, s'mores and night hikes. This was, in many senses, the best camping trip, chaperone event, or vacation I've had in a very long time.
I'm crossing my fingers to get to go with them this May on their Senior Europe trip too. Let's get those prayers rollin' now folks!
Art. It all comes down to art. If I am truly honest, I could say it's also about money.
I certainly have made a few great friends, several of whom love and support me, many of you are wowed when I put up a new painting, but I'd hardly say I've made a steady income from my work. But I'm not ready to give up. This is often a conversation I have with my husband, and he is just as frustrated as I about how to do it, but neither of us knows what to do. But I'm not ready to give up yet, I keep plugging away.
And truthfully, honestly, that's probably the best part. That's also why I teach. I've had students ask me to make something for them to purchase from me, and I always respond by telling them I'd rather TEACH them to do it themselves. Then there's the student who will never go on after my class to do anything in the field, but if I've taught them to use their BRAIN differently, to learn to be creative problem solvers in life, then I've done my job. I don't mind if they don't become artists.
Why do you blog?
Full time subbing for our other art teacher and PE teacher:
Somewhere in there I found a bit of time to paint, wrote up an 8th grade boy for breaking into the vending machines, handed out all the art awards at the ceremony, and got the PE class to start calling me coach. Oh, and I'm going to make a bet with them on the last day of class: I buy the snacks at Nutrition Break for the winning team. (Winners = $1, Losers $.50)
So in all my busyness, I can't think of inspiration to blog about, other than what a glamorous job we teachers have. So here are a few random pages from an old sketchbook.
In an art room of self sufficient kids entrenched in a final project, sometimes I get to sit down and do my own thing.
