Success: Depends On Your Definition

Ah, Success. I am infatuated with people who appear to be successful. I want to look, present and act successful and not be the mental sad sack that I feel sometimes when it comes to my art. I know that defining success and art are subjective. Tell my head. That is why I continually and successfully seek help.

When I look at my blog stats and Facebook for that manipulated matter, my numbers are quite abysmal when it comes to popularity and comments.  However, I am playing a role in this by not having a reliable posting schedule, and not leaving comments on other people's blogs as I once did awhile back. A must in blogland. Another factor is getting clarity of who I am writing this blog for, besides myself? Who is my intended audience? Great question as I am in the throes of taking a self-study online class on making a better blog through Alyson Stanfield's Artbiz Coach.com.  I thought I knew but that may change.

Here is a recent link from Alyson that you may find helpful if you have or want write a blog/newsletter:  http://www.artbizblog.com/2012/06/content-structure.html

In April, I attended a lecture through the Chicago Creative Expo presented by Paul Klein, a Chicago art advocate, instructor and former gallery owner on How to Succeed in the Art World. One of THE BEST hours I ever spent. I did not want it to end. I am sharing this video from his website .  Under the video are some highlighted notes from the lecture I attended.

My mental sad sackiness is that my starting over and beginning anew with my work has me still grappling with how to get it out there and JUST GET IT OUT THERE!!!  It's not the how really but WHERE???  Where do I fit in with the new and where do I want to be? I learned last week that another one of the many stores I was in for years with my boxes and was quite $uccessful closed its doors.

Below are his successful words taken from my notes and a few highlights from that lecture:

"The obstacles we find in front of us are the obstacles we put in front of us. It is important to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable is a really good strategy about being ourselves.  The more time we put into our art, the more the viewer spends looking at it."

Three things that will enable you/ME(talking to myself) to have a successful art career:

(I have two out of the three so far.)

• Your art must be distinctive and different from everyone else therefore it becomes recognizable, on a practical level, people can't compare you. (I believe I am doing that - aha success!) You need to be who you are, be memorable and be yourself. 

•  Get MY/your Ass in the Game ( this is the area where I am least successful)

•  You/I Need to Make Good Art ( hmmm, where have I heard that before??!! ) 

Right now, in this very moment, my plugging away at success is still behind the scenes with writing, finishing Etsy, researching venues and painting. My ego and finances are looking forward to the time when most of my grapples are answered, my work is out in full display, I'm making connections and selling my art.  Then I can and will definitively declare Success.

Taking a ME-ni Retreat

Last month I created a short ME-ni mental, spiritual and artistic retreat to like me again. I scheduled time off a month beforehand for this. I was originally looking and planning to get out of Chicago but decided otherwise after getting my work re-$hot again and other thing$. Another time. This was six days of VERY MUCH NEEDED time off in row. I've done 3 day self-made retreats in the past.  So I stayed here and made minimal plans. There was very limited television and telephone usage. It was a good decision.  Here is a small sampling of what I came up with:

For mental, I chose nature, reading a book and yoga. 

I FINALLY made it to the Osaka Japanese Gardens behind the Museum of Science and Industry after hearing about it a couple of years ago. I did not know this even existed until then! How long have I lived here? 29 years? It is a quaint and serene little treasure.  I practically had it all to myself since I went mid-week. After that, yoga class. Went to the lakefront a lot too!

My spiritual fulfillment took an unexpected twist with this MAGNIFICENT find:

I found this stunning wood and jeweled Buddha and table at the Randolph Street Market last month for $60. The Buddha came first for $50 with an authentic import tag which I will not remove, walked around some more, saw the table for $10 and thought what a stunning unintentional match!!  This statue is so beautiful to me and I was so embarrassed that it made me clean out my closet, and get rid of things in my apartment.  Another FINALLY  with definitely more to boot!!  More yoga. Watched a few inspirational YouTube  videos.

Artistically, I painted. I visited artist collectives. I wrote copy for my new still "under construction" ETSY shop and a little on my website. I tried to write every day. Some days were better than others. Trying to write descriptively about your art and coming up with titles for paintings is not easy. Geisha with black hair on red background - yep, truly at a loss.

I found this short video to keep me in line:

I would have loved for the words to have oozed out of every pore of my being so I could get ETSY and my website done. How was that for writing?! They did not. I'm still at it now. But progress was indeed made. All in all, it was a productive and affirming retreat. I shall do it again but make sure I get out of town next time. 
On that note something I wrote: 

I turn my jealousy into aspiration.

I turn my fear into empowerment.

I turn my insecurity into confidence.

I turn my desire into success.

I turn my art into sales.

                              Marilyn

            

Make Good Art Makes Great Sense

I am quite the student when it comes to living, experiencing and having what it takes to be an artist. If you were to plop me back in school right now, I would say I am probably a sophomore?? I have a ways to go before I could ever graduate from The University of Arts and turn my tassel around.  Right now, I am triple majoring in perseverance, determination, and self-expression with a minor in creative meltdowns.

So let's fast forward a bit. Graduation day has arrived. We are about to embark on a brilliant journey of wisdom and counsel and listen to one the most magnificent, and recent commencement speeches ever for an artist. I have played and listened to this many many many times. Well, I am majoring in alot. This was a gift through a Facebook feed (thx alf.) There is something for everyone to take and absorb.It is with great pleasure and honor that I introduce writer Neil Gaiman and the graduating class of 2012 and some of the best 20 minutes ever. I'm auditing for now.