weekword | LISTLESS

Katy (creating misericordia) chose the weekword - see her blog for links to more interpretations

2 x sneak peak

a sneak peak of a painting in progress in my studio today...

... a sneak peak from the pre-opening of Camilla's exhibition tonight. If you want to have the chance to buy something you'ld better hang on the lock on Saturday!

I can fly

You know that they say bumblebees are not supposed to be able to fly because of their complexion - but they don't know that they can't fly, so they fly anyway...

To remind myself of the bumblebees and that we are the ones limiting ourselves (I can not do that) I keep the words "jag kan flyga" (=I can fly) on my studio wall. This is to very much amusement to my studio neighbour who keep saying things like "can you fly yet?", "you better not taste any wine as you already think you can fly" etc most times he pops over. He hasn't asked why I have that text though.

Today I mounted big new papers on boards and now I'm doing my best to start an intensive painting period... without limiting myself in any ways... (better lock the windows!)

Victor Castillo's art amuses me.

fixing lunch in my studio

The other week I met Cecilia for a coffee and she gave me this beautiful cutting board (and we had such a nice time!). I keep it in my studio - and now I just want to make salads and cut colourful fruits and vegetables on it for lunch. Starting tomorrow I will now have a concentrated period in my studio (more or less) until Christmas. YES!

If you want to learn how to make patterns like Cecilia, she gave this great tutorial last week- part 1 and part 2.

Art as Business: Teaching/Giving Workshops II

I've had this writer's block for this Sunday Post. I wanted to be consistent, to be funny, to write about how teaching art is business... but everything turned out horribly dull, confused- and, and, and very uninteresting.

So instead of writing about making money, marketing and great plans I'll let you know how I've taken these 3 great courses through teaching art these years (and they even paid me to take them!):

- 10 people sit at their desks waiting. They are quiet, some have their arms crossed. Many are sceptic. You have to open with the right lines. (rehearsing the first little speech is never wrong)
- You learn to speak up
- Anecdotes and metaphors will help to get the message through
- Humour is never wrong
- If you manage to start out great you have to live up to their expectations - and be even better in the end. The important is to convince them to pay attention in the beginning, keep their interest during (you don't have to be as good then) - and finish by being fantastic (so they'll feel: is it already over?)
- If you can show how to do something instead of just talking about it - do that!
- If you have several different classes you can test everything on one group first - if not good change it (When I've been teaching the same subject to different groups I've tried to vary which one is the Guinea pig)
- Never give them a chance to even start doubting your competence. First impression does last and will be hard to overcome if not good.
- Confident is not the same as arrogant. After establishing that you are the authority in the class room a little self-distance will make you appear human and make you more liked.
- It is easier to be self-confident when well prepared
- If you are truly self-confident you will be able to answer "I don't know, but I'll find out for you"

- Everyone wants to be seen. Make a great effort to remember names. If you are really bad at it let people know - and try instead to remember other things about them. If you remember where they live, how they take their coffee, what they love to paint, that they have a grand child who is a dancer - they'll feel seen by you even if you forget their names... (ok, ok - I admit: I forget names!)
- To be able to read people is the key to all relations. To respect their personal space. To see when they want help even if they say nothing. To let them be when they give you those signs.
- To let some people just do what they want - they are not you. (I once pressed a little old lady too much. She was really making improvements but then she suddenly wanted to go back to painting flowers ... but I wanted her to keep improving. She never came back... )
- Don't just talk about yourself. Ask what experience they have in the field.

These three courses has helped me very much in my Art as Business when it comes to presenting sketches and ideas for boards trying to get commission jobs, establishing contacts with galleries, talking in front of (big groups of) people at meetings - and much more.

As I got this writer's block when it comes to the teaching art subject I'll not continue to force it - even though there is much more to write about. Next week I will instead write about networking as an artist!

[this is a post in my series Art as Business. see sidebar for link to the other 14 posts]

weekword|LESSON

- Love, can you please sit properly when we are eating

- You are still not sitting properly. Why don't you listen to Mummy? It can be dangerous, you can slip and hurt yourself!

- That's even more dangerous. SIT DOWN!

....

- I told you so. This is what happens when you don't listen to me I chose the weekword. The other participants are Aimee, Anne, creating misericordia, Esti, Thereza, Anairam, Sarah, Cecilia, Caroline, Lotte and Aris Next weekword will be chosen by Katy (creating misericordia)

more about commissions

Every night when I come home I see this series of enamels I made for my own tenant owner's association. And I am pleased with them - they are welcoming, they help orientation - and they look kind of nice.

There are commissions and commissions. If you get to do bigger jobs for municipals/regions/the state etc you get more artistic liberty, but you will anyway always have to take into account where it will be placed and who will see it. Then there are other jobs where it is more about creating complements to the architecture or adding some form of decoration. In the latter case it is very often art with a specific function and has to please the majority of people seeing the art piece.

When it comes to making art for a tenant owner's organization it is always the latter. They are "public decorations", they are supposed to beautify - like flowers in the garden... I see it as a challenge to make something that's pretty good under the circumstances. Of course a series of road killed wild animals for all the entrances in a building would contain much more than just "decoration", but it's not what people want to see every day coming home from work. And the kids would be sad to see dead animals...

Sometimes I might be whining about wanting to work on my own art, but I am actually happy not having to compromise there...I can compromise with the wild animals instead!