“Coffee and Milk,” (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008   

The weeks have passed quickly and as I have been focused on getting my art out of the studio and into the experiment of having it be bought by real people, the task of putting together blog entries has fallen off the list.

The simple act of drawing, sketching, searching for inspiration, and playing with colored pastels has been inundated with business plans and annual budget projections and meeting with bankers and merchant vendors and weekly market managers. In the beginning, I became impatient with these “business” chores, as they seemed like distractions, disengaging me from the act of actually pursuing art.

And yet the mere act of attempting to plan out the next year, the act of calling bankers (who are not stiff or unapproachable at all, by the way), and the act of interacting with other businesses has allowed me to begin to tweak my own business plan. The simple act of exchanging ideas, of being forced to talk to people about what I do, and what I’m thinking of doing, has allowed me to bloom as an artist.

I am realizing that this journey of attaining my own creativity is taking me through a complete, circular revamp of myself. It is showing me pieces of who I may yet become, of who I was and have lost, and of whom I am today. It is showing me not to be afraid, or to be afraid for a minute and then push forward. It is pushing me to attempt to drop in on chamber of commerce network mixers (I’m still working on my fear of that one).

And every day, it is forcing me to identify and respect myself, as I sell my creations to the world. It is giving me the confidence to allow my customers to see my art through their own eyes, to interpret it through their own experiences. It is a quiet interchange, between these customers and myself. I have stood quietly, seeing men and women look through my stack of greeting cards, and look again, and pull cards out and think, put them aside, and keep looking. Sometimes these customers are kind enough to share with me the reason for their choices. These conversations have become part of a thread that adds to my own art, my own journey.

And I find myself craving these days when I drive to the weekly markets, set up my booth, and await these customers. I eagerly await a new face that will share with me a story that I have never heard before, a story that will inspire me to keep going, to keep creating. Their stories will become part of my story, and it keeps going and going, in a path that will survive for years, for generations.

This is something I never planned to achieve, this comfort in facing potential customers. I have grown comfortable in the fact that people will keep walking by my booth without a second look. That is okay. I have grown confident in my own work, and realize that my history, my memories, my interpretation of the details of life, have found compatriots. This is okay too.

It is with that confidence, small as it may be at the beginning of this journey, that I tackle all the other harsher realities of being in business. Yet I am beginning to learn and feel comfortable in the fact that I will always be standing on shifting sand, if only a little more comfortable than I was a month ago.

“Tree of Hearts,” (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008

It never fails that when I write or think about something, the universe responds and overwhelms me with support and information about the same topic I’ve thought of. So in response to my latest blog entry, the universe has provided me with this matching inspiration:

• The same church sign that dared me to jump in, this week says: “It is too soon to quit.” Could this have any better timing?
• In watching a little league game, I overhear a 6-year old yell out: “You don’t have to swing if you don’t like it.” We may be trying to force things to happen because we need money or for something, anything, to happen, that we go down a road that ultimately ends in disaster. Trust your gut – if it doesn’t feel or look right, however promising it might seem - trust your gut, even if it means letting what seems like a good possibility pass by.
• Creative Every Day has posted too very fitting entries, one about rejection and one that contains a very inspiring poem by Marianne Williamson that will keep me going daily.

What are you thinking about, contemplating, worrying about? What are the little signs, all around you, guiding you forward?

“Forest of Offerings,” (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008   

This week, I participated in three art fairs, and in each one, I met up with a person who was on the edge, the cusp, of following their dream. In some instances, it wasn’t particularly a full-time dream, but they were on the edge of either staying true to their personality or wanting to fit in with what the world deemed appropriate. In all three instances, I was more than happy to tell them to stick with their gut and to allow the world to see who they really were. As Luann Udell stated on her blog, and I’m paraphrasing: There has never been anyone like you before on this earth, and after you are gone, there will be no one just like you ever again. So, with uniqueness comes a “responsibility” to share that individuality with the world, in whatever creative form you decide.

In “The Boss of You”, by Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears, the “Personal Measure of Success” exercise asks that I write down what I defined as success (and what I highly love about this book is that while it has business savvy, it strongly encourages you to think outside of just making money and taking over the world). What surprised me, and what I kind of had known all along, was that part of my definition of success was encouraging others to follow their own path (even if it meant they wanted to be an accountant). In many instances, we all find ourselves facing a multitude of roads, and some are proven and tried and successful, and there are others that are unmarked, treacherous, and scary looking. If the Attaining Creativity blog entries can be a light along that scary path, one of the many lights, I will count myself successful.

The wonderful, and also scary, thing about unmarked paths is that each one of us will explore and find different curves and stretches along our journey. Because of our beautiful uniqueness, none of us will travel exactly the same path. And that is a beautiful thing, because it will make our story even more individual, a story that can be passed on to future generations and maintain its individuality through the ages. What we will share is the spirit, the daring of the journey. We will share the downs of spending days cutting down trees that seem to overwhelm us and the ups of reaching a clearing from where we can see the whole valley below us.

With technology that allows millions of us to share our stories, we can also find comfort and inspiration in how others are faring in their journeys. We can pass kindness forward and help others out when they are feeling low or uncertain. We can ensure that people know that they are worthy of success, and so much more, and that they shouldn’t settle for anything else.

I will end this entry with this: I sit here on a foggy, rather sad looking morning, after an unsuccessful fair in which I sat for hours without making a sale. As I listen to this song and think of the movie “Love Actually” I remember that with death comes life, with loves lost comes new loves, with mistakes come success, and with trying anything new comes heartache and smiles and an unexplainable feeling of delight. Ups come with downs, but the trick, and the secret, is that eventually the sun will come out again (as it is right now), and life will remind you, subtly, in the little details, that beauty is all around you and within you. Life will give you a kick in the butt and demand that you share yourself with the world. So, pay attention to the little details. If everything else around you feels overwhelmingly dark, look for the little light that remains. Follow it, nurture it, and watch it grow until the room is ablaze in fire. I know, I know how difficult facing that darkness is. Keep going forward.

A Bouquet for You (Detail) - Greeting card of conte, and pastel drawing, Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008  

Sometimes, it is the simple things that get us moving at light speed. Things like:

• Waking up at the crack of dawn, willingly and eager
• Enjoying a quiet hour in the morning, in the light of dusk
• Completing a set of business tasks (uploading products to website) by the time everyone else is driving into work
• Chatting with friends and making new ones

What is your inspiration for today?

Dad and I (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008  

Today has been a productive day, in the sense that even though I don’t have a “timeline” for the day, I have been utterly productive and timely in my productions.

I am attempting to set weekly goals, and dedicate days to certain tasks. My hope is that by grouping tasks, I’ll see movement and also be able to focus on creating one day, producing another, selling another day, etc. etc. The outline for this blog was started during my lunch break, which I enjoyed on my back deck, surrounded by the grape vine that is growing beyond control as we finally hit the summer heat. It is inspiring to see this vine simply reach for the sun, reaching for life, attempting to grow and reach and just be so lively! I’ll follow its lead and keep reaching for my goals. Actually, this grape vine has been inspiring me for months. I have seen it change from dry wood to a vine that is taking over the deck chair, a leafless plant that now carries budding grapes (perfect for snacking but not wine). It is also a perfect reminder of the seasons – come fall, this vine will have fruit that will finally have reached its peak. The tiny seeds that began their life in March will reach full maturity in October – and I’m thinking maybe my attaining creativity will reach some form of maturity come October. It’s a nice little story I’ve created here.

On another note, my attempt in this blog is to combine the psychological and business elements of someone who is attempting the journey to attaining creativity. It is not just as simple as following business rules and seeing success come your way. The spirit and dedication are also elements necessary for this journey. The psychological aspect is that there are days when I’m down (when trying to leave a voicemail turns into a 60-minute drama because the wrong phone number is listed on a website) and then there are days when I put on my “good” shoes (symbolically) and just tackle the day and end up talking to the cheeriest person on a Monday morning that leaves me with a smile all day long.

Part of this journey is also realizing that the longer I let myself feel beaten, the less I produce or create or enjoy my life. So I may be somber for an hour, frustrated. If so, I give myself time outs – work in the garden, play with the cat, whatever – and then I hit the studio again and create and research where I can sell, etc., etc. If you are working for yourself, perhaps hidden away in your studio, how do you deal with slump or somber days?

Alongside that realization, that I can simply choose to be somber for just 15 minutes and then go on simply with my tasks, I was hoping to provide a link – but it seems like the show’s website I was attempting to link to is skimpy! So to paraphrase: Going into business, or starting the journey to attaining one’s creativity does not have to be hard. Let me continue. The business idea does not have to be rocket science, the start-up fund does not have to be in the millions, and I don’t have to be a genius. If you boil it down to doing something you love, everyday, doing what you love is easy. It’s putting in the effort and time that will be hard (but worthwhile), but the idea itself is simple. You can start a business with $100 and network with your 5 friends to make a go of it.

Another way of looking at it is that I can make going into business difficult (I can butt my head talking with people who don’t understand me or are not providing me with answers to simple questions) or I can go into business and follow the paths that are simple (dealing with people who are attentive and are so good at their jobs that for a split second I think of going back to the “real” career world). I do have a choice in my success and if I wanted to be frustrated every day, I would have stayed put in my cubicle.

If I can share just one thing I have learned in the last couple of months is that once I set my mind to a particular task (for now, let’s say selling in weekly craft markets), I have been bombarded with e-mails from people I don’t even know or have come across articles giving me tips on how to sell at craft markets, or any type of insurance I might need, or names of managers for craft markets. Sure, the difficult part has been following up on all this new information. But I have had so many different solutions become available, that it actually has been fun! Sometimes it is just as simple as putting a thought out there and seeing what comes back. I am usually surprised and wonderfully happy with ALL that comes back.

My challenge to you: do you follow on a business path that has been marked with disaster (unresponsive vendors, delays in customer service, etc.) and hope that in the end things will turn out okay or do you turn your back on negativity (it’s their loss, not yours) and opt to follow the business paths that lead you to helpfulness and attentiveness and stress-free success?  

 Flowers, Anyone? (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008  

I started the day early (thanks to a couple of women who worked together to help me start the day at 5AM) and have just kept going.

I have passed through the emotions of elation (for completing a simple task within a designated time) and extreme fear (I’m considering joining a weekly craft market in Monterey, CA and I am shaking in my boots at the thought). And now, as I have continued to just keep plugging along, the fear of actually selling my wares (and myself) have lessened – but only slightly. 

In the interest of keeping myself sane, at least for the next couple of hours, I am refusing to keep thinking of the possible obstacles. Obstacles like “do I have enough variation of things to sell, how will I display my creations, who will buy my stuff, can I do this by myself?” I am simply deciding that with each nagging thought, I will take a deep breath and think of a solution. It may not be perfect, but as long as I remove the obstacle, I can keep moving forward. And the good thing is that within the next couple of days, as I program my mind to keep thinking up solutions, the perfect answer might just arrive at my door, and I’ll be ready to greet it.

On another note, as I continue to research and read blogs and books and ask other creatives out there for guidance, advice, and feedback, I’ve come across an old acquaintance. Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz coach, was someone I found on the web years ago (when I made my first attempt at attaining creativity). Through the beauty of the web, where I go to one page and then jump from one link to another page to another page, I found the Art Biz coach again.

And so I’ve been checking out her blog and trying to find the time to enact her suggestions and comments. Today’s topic has to do with blogs, so it seemed appropriate that I dwell deeper into the article and see what I needed to do to “liven” up this blog. The suggestions and comment s are good, and along the similar lines of other “pimping up your blog” entries. Although one of the suggestions is to link up (and I’m doing that right now), the reason why I bring the article itself up is because we can get so bogged down with suggestions and spend time reworking everything that in the end, we don’t get anything done.

I’m more than willing to follow the suggestions the Art Biz pointed out – because they work. But this is something to do moving forward, and to check in with myself and make sure that this is the type of blog that I would like to keep up, and for you to visit. I do know that putting in links will result in more traffic (all those trackbacks, permalinks, etc.) but I don’t want the entries to be just highlighted linkable text either. And since this blog is about a journey to attaining creativity, sometimes there may not be links to put in, since everyone’s experience in regards to attaining their own creativity is just that: their own.

I do look for blogs and websites that inspire me, and by inspiration I mean that they uplift me, or the blogger may be going through a rough time, but they are still expressing themselves so well that I am inspired by how they are still progressing through a dark time. There are of course plenty of websites and blogs that give tutorials and tips about the business of attaining creativity, but I’m not sure yet that I want to overload this blog with all of the “textual” side of creativity.

I am resolved however, to insert how I integrate the non-creative side of this business with the creative journey itself. With keeping my mind open, and in looking for solutions, I bumped into this TV episode and caught at just the right time to hear that I should be saying YES to just doing, even if they are unknown, scary, dark, unknown, scary. Being in the journey to attaining creativity means that there will be plenty of unknowns and if I am to properly continue on this journey, I need to say YES to fear, to doing things outside my comfort zone.

The challenge for you today is: are you willing to say yes to the scary parts of attaining your own creativity? Share your success story of overcoming a fear, big or small.

Photos of today’s inspiration: two bouquets of flowers from around the garden, a scarecrow in the vegetable beds - albeit a bit early for Halloween, Martha the white paw cat makes her blog debut, and what better way to enjoy the late afternoon sun than with a sweet rose wine and some 7-up? Photos by Pia Walker, Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008    

Sunday again (or maybe not), simpler (but not so easy that it’s boring), easier (this one is a keeper), etc., etc.

Without a normal routine (I seem to get in and out of routines and can’t make one completely stick), my weekends have become part of my every day workweek. And I don’t mind that, since I’m doing something I enjoy and I’m passing the hours doing fun and creative things. But it also means that if I come across a creative mess that I can’t seem to get out of, I’m not allowing myself to just veg out for a day of rest (or 2 or 3 days of relaxation).

In my attempts to find my creative path (and the joy there is that I am on the right path and have figured out my style and the colors that make my mouth just smile) I keep bumping into technology. Eons ago, when technology was new and supposed to be helpful, I became one of those semi-geeky people who learned everything there was to know. And I kept learning and adding to my repertoire of technology knowledge for years after.

But now, in the spirit of being more connected, I find it ironic that as I attempt to do everything wirelessly, I am surrounded and strangled with cords! As I move around my drawing desk, grabbing for pastel pencils and different colored papers, my elbows play tango with the earphone wires of the iPod (never mind what happens when I’m dancing solo around the house) and I feel the little earplugs pulled from my ears. As I attempt to transfer digital photos to my computer, my knees need to remain perfectly still so that I don’t knock the camera over.

I recently read another creative’s blog entry about being overwhelmed with technology. I had to reply to her, and smile as I did so, because in this journey to attaining creativity, I find myself spending way too much time keeping up with technology, time that I could and should be spending actually creating. When did this technology, that was meant to be so helpful, become a hindrance? I do find myself, again in my attempts to create a daily or weekly routine, trying to dedicate a day to just techie stuff – blogs, websites, uploading photos, online selling. Otherwise, I find myself remaining stuck to the computer, plugging and unplugging devices, and inside the house, instead of outside getting inspiration for my drawings, my creations.

It could all be as simple as my drawing on a piece of paper and setting up a chair and a table on a busy street to sell my wares. And yet that would be so “unprofessional,” wouldn’t it be? Yet for just an hour or so, I do wish it were that simple and easy.

Here’s to wishing and moving forward regardless. 

• A boy dressed in red rain boots, enjoying the 70-degree sunny day
• A woman walking away from the farmer’s market with 6 bouquets of flowers, so many that I could hardly see her face
• Three children playing violins and violas with all their might, and producing a mighty fine tune
• All sorts of flower bouquets for less than $5, freshly cut and fragrant
• Fresh strawberries and all kinds of berries, planks of produce fresh from the farms, smelling like fresh ground soil and intriguingly inviting me to make a delicious meal
• The beauty of a sunset by the coast
• The surprise of buds finally peeking through the dirt in my vegetable garden

A challenge for you: what 5 things did you experience, hear, see, taste, or touch today that motivated and inspired you?

I have found that whenever I am feeling so out of sorts that I can’t see upwards, a day comes and arrives with a windstorm. The kind of high energy winds that move your hair no matter which way you face and shake your soul. I think of those days as personal gifts, just for me, with the purpose of shaking me loose from my depressions, my fears, my confusions. The more time I spend outside, surrounded and encircled by these powerful winds, the more their force blow away all doubts and clear my mind so that I may see the way out of whatever maze I have found myself in.

As I am just starting out in this journey of attaining creativity, I find myself wavering, over and over again, not knowing of the response towards my work, and at times not knowing what my work should be. And so the last couple of days, after putting together a simple business plan and some financial projections, I have felt beaten. How could I ever think that this would work? How would I dare jump?

And today’s winds came, from the ocean all the way up the mountains and over the century old redwoods and into the valley and my house. As an astrological water sign, you’d think that water would be my source of inspiration, of movement. And yet it is only when those windy days arrive that I feel rushed forward, propelled into action. Isn’t wind what makes water move, what creates motion and is the start of waves in the ocean? So it makes sense, then, that strong winds would create the perfect days to clean house and get moving.

Last week I had done research on weekly craft markets and had remembered the Old Monterey Market Place. So to check it out in person, today I drove down the coast towards the beautiful town of Monterey, California.

The drive, swirly with the winds (those winds really were strong), started the clearing of my head, and I found myself thinking about my ultimate goals, and how I had defined success (remember that I had hinted it was not associated with loads of money or celebrity type fame). I may still now know the full way of how to meet my financial projections (yikes!) but I have to be thankful for something I wrote out last week. It does help to have focus on what I want the end goal to be, and with that, everything else, I still believe, will fall into its rightful place.

The hours spent at the craft and farmer’s market were well worth it and I walked away with an amazing amount of notes, all pertaining to the customer base that would be at the market, comments about displays, weather and how it would affect displays. Above all, however, I had fun, and with those winds, and a feeling of youth and excitement, I found my brain clear, refreshed. I felt my spirit lifted, engaged with my daily life, and willing to continue to move forward.

As I drove home with my first basket of fresh strawberries of the season, I sat in my quiet car (no music, no radio) and as I listened to the winds hissing through the windows, I kept thinking, I kept plotting, I kept progressing forward. How could I not feel uplifted as I drove along the sand dunes of Sand City, and saw the beginnings of the foggy haze that would cover the strawberries field of Castroville and Watsonville, and looked out onto the wild ocean being colored by the descending orange sun?

Although it was a successful day just because of the thoughts and notes that I was able to produce, I acknowledged that as an artist or any entrepreneur who is working for themselves, and probably at home, it is so essential to just get out of the house, at least for one afternoon, once a week, and just interact with life – other people, other experiences. The feelings of failure can accumulate so much quicker if I also begin to feel stuck physically in my house. If I want inspiration, although the redwoods around me provide me with plenty, I also need to change my habitat, see children smile, men buying flower bouquets, teenagers playing violins, and enjoy fresh strawberries!

A Flower for You (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008  

In the later part of this week, I’ve been experiencing:
- Having a constant feeling of being overwhelmed. I find myself having tons of ideas – not only creative creation ideas but marketing ideas, selling ideas, promotion ideas – but having no idea on which way to go. This con is all about having a lack of focus.
- Lack of direction – since there are so many ideas, my energies are directed everywhere and nowhere. Again, this con is all about having a lack of focus. Am I seeing a pattern here?

Although I’ve been drawing and creating pieces this week, I have not put up anything on my shop or done much else to actually begin to sell my wares. I began to realize that I was simply just drawing and hoping that everything else would fall into place. Well, I kind of knew that nothing would fall into place on its own, but I was hoping that my momentum would direct me to the right place and time.

And in its own way, my momentum has. It has focused me on actually penning down my ideas and focus, and now that I am seeing my goals written down, I know much better how my creations fit into place, and I know how to create work that ties into my goals.

I spend what I call an administrative hour each morning dealing with e-mails and checking out other people’s blogs (the only negative about that is that most people haven’t updated their blogs by 7:30AM!) but I use that time to get inspiration for the rest of the day, figure out new tactics on networking and promoting my work, and get rearing to go for the remainder of the day.

At Creative Everyday’s Springy Inspiration blog entry, I found out about The Boss of You blog and got immediately to doing the first list of exercises on their book. I got so excited after doing the first three exercises (and Lauren and Emira finish the chapter off by telling to give yourself a treat – how much better can finishing up business objectives be!) that I did a quick search of where I can buy their book locally (doing what I can to help keep things green). So this weekend, while I’m getting more art supplies, I’ll also be cruzing down to Bookshop Santa Cruz and picking up their book.

I also found some very creative and simple marketing ideas on how to promote my work – the ideas there were so neat that I have been thinking about how to implement them nonstop this morning.

After writing down my goals and being amazed at what I actually wrote down as my measurement of success (hint: it’s not about money or popularity but about being part of another person’s journey to attaining their own creativity and freedom from having to live the “standard” life), I can see clearly one of the pros of simply jumping off:
- Having so many ideas and realizing that I can think, that I am creative, and that I am good and worthy of success.

Although I am one of those that despises writing goals down, I have come to the age and time in my life in which I realize the power of doing so: Having your goals and your desires stare you in the face every day is a powerful reminder of why you are following your passion, and a visual reminder that gives me focus and drive.

Have a great weekend, full of ideas, and goal setting, and creations!