As I sit and contemplate what I saw at the American Craft Council Show in Baltimore, I'm reminded of the ongoing projects I have in my studio at home: Ties and fabrics here, stained glass over there, a quilt hanging on the drawing table, and paintings sitting quietly in the corner, begging for another layer of paint. There are so many things that I love to do and so many mediums that I love to work with. That's why I always find it so hard to answer the question that is inevitably asked: What do you do? (add on one glass of wine)
That one little loaded question usually means that I end up explaining myself for the next five-to-ten minutes about how I love to dabble in a bittadiss and a bittadatt and how I do accounting work, but I'm not an accountant. Truth is, I try to do everything that I'm physically able to. Being "multi-unfocused-and-equally-curious" is wonderful when it comes to art. However, I might be running into a little bit of a bit of a problem. Bizznaz-wise, that is. To develop my crafts into a business, like the many hundreds I saw this weekend in Baltimore, I'll have to focus more on a unifying idea. I don't know what that idea is yet, but my guess is that it might have something to do with ties. It'll have to tie it all together. HA...HA... hmmmm... sorry for the joke. I tried, it was the best I could do... it was lame at best. (another glass and half of wine) Which means that ties, fabric, stained glass, painting and quilting might not mesh all together like I want it to, unless I start pushing some boundaries and exploring new tactile ground. That last sentence took me awhile to write and sounded PRETTY PROFESSIONAL (another half glass...)
In the end, I think I'll have to focus a lot on this question. What do I want to do? My first answer has always been to make others happy. But to make me happy, I'll have to find a way to create everything that I'd like to, regardless if it's sell-able or not. It's hard to find a picture to go along with my words, so I'll insert this one. This is how I feel when I think of art being my life. And for now, that makes me happy.
