...and the Sea Changed Her

What in your life is calling you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild iris blooms by itself in the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul? In the silence between your heartbeats hides a summons.
Do you hear it?

Name it, if you must, or leave it forever nameless,
but why pretend it is not there? -

The Terma Collective, “The box: Remembering the Gift”
I love this poem……
there are things calling to me, things inside of me and they call and call…they want me to stay on track with my hearts desire…..but what they don’t seem to recognize is I have yet to name my hearts desire,

I leave it nameless.

When I think about what I would like to achieve this year it is very hard for me to settle on what it is I really want.
Success as an artist, of course…
but I don’t seem to be able to ‘settle’ the inner debate of what ‘success’ means.

When someone makes a Vision Board or a Treasure Map they are supposed to be as detailed as possible. ….the last one I made was about 3 years ago…I wanted to show in more galleries, I wanted to hang in an art museum. I wanted to show in San Francisco and I wanted to teach workshops. The Vision Board hangs in my studio where I see it almost every day….
I was blessed to have experienced a lot of what I had depicted on my board….I do believe having a clear vision is a most important thing...
the business of being an artist is very much about work,
self-discipline,
time management, learning new skills.

Artists create art and then figure out what to do with it….
people have to see it because making art in a vacuum just doesn’t work
for very long…
artists need to share our visions.
So, we market ourselves….
do shows…
do art hops,…
send in jury packets,
follow leads,
enter competitions….
there are the photos that need to be taken and put on zip files & disc..
sometimes, even slides….
We write our biographies and artist statements,.
.I once applied for a show and the jury an essay about me and where I was in my art career and where I was going.
Artists join art groups and show up for social gatherings when most often we’d rather be in the studio...
we join online art galleries,
have fan pages on Face book….
We spruce our studios for tours…
we keep track of our sales and save receipts…
and keep the ’BOOKS’.
I do these things because I want to share my passion…
and the creative high is addictive…
and I need to sell my art to feed my addiction….
so that leads me back to the plan…the path….
What should my vision board look like?
I don’t know.