Who is my business in service to?

Deana bought one of my scarves

I've been doing a lot of thinking and journaling about my "who": who do I want to work with? who do I want to be around? who is the customer I want to work with? And I'm having a bit of a conflict. If I draw to me people as customers who I enjoy being around, that would be creative, fun people with integrity, compassion, an appreciation for beauty.


In truth, this does seem to  describe the people who buy my hand painted silk scarves. But what do they need? They seem to have it all together.


I have a strong desire for my art to be of service, to reach deep into people's pain and sorrow and do a healing.  I want my art to lift people up and to connect them with the Source of All Joy. However, I have been told-- and part of me believes--that art is a only luxury, for people who can "afford" it. 


That perception, that art is a luxury,  is in direct conflict with my desire to be of real service to people who are hurting.


The truth is that we are all in service to Divine Source. Since we are expressions of the Divine Source, that's where guidance, wisdom, truth, love, and the ability to act comes from.
 Mark Silver, Heart of Business

What the world needs...

I woke this morning thinking, why am I creating more "stuff"?? Don't we have enough "stuff" in this world?? As an artist, I do create stuff, beautiful stuff, stuff that is both useful and beautiful, but stuff, never the less. Even if I sell everything I make (what artist does? Even the most famous have tons of paintings that haven't sold!)...even if I sell everything I make, I'm putting more stuff into some one else's world.

And how can I make a living as an artist, if I don't make and sell art stuff?

Why do people want stuff? Tara Gentile has some ideas on this, in her Biz Women article "7 myths that make earning ugly". She says:
One thing the recession has taught us is that “stuff” is not enough. People want more than another bauble for their neck or a tchotchke for their shelf. They want something with meaning. They want an experience of your art that changes their perception or triggers a feeling or memory.


asllsls

Portrait of my Business

Who would have thought to draw a portrait of a business? That's what Kelly Rae and Beth Nicholls asked us to do on the second day of Hello Soul Hello business class.  I kind of let go just to see what came out, and here she is. I think her name is HeLaDi--Salish for "having things just right". I wasn't surprised that her power stick (spear? staff?) was heart tipped, or that her hair/head is flowing with ideas and images, but I was surprised to see the super cape-- and where did the dog come from??

I have been feeling very watched over lately. I mean when my car was totalled, I wasn't even scratched! A fraction of a second either way would have been disasterous! So may be that's where the dog protector came from; he is my guardian Angel.  He puts me in mind of my beloved, who liked to think of himself as Bob-Dog.

The very next day we had to identify our superpower. I think mine is the ability to connect with the good in people.

I'll try to link to blog posts showing what my classmates have done with this assignment, as I become aware of them.
Lori Moon
Rachel Payne

Singing Road: phase 2, colors

Time to decide on colors. Sometimes I try several versions, but this seemed right the first time.

Next step apply resist so that I can paint the silk in reds and golds, then steam it.

OK, now how do I put on the black?


I'm having trouble with my computer, uploading my photos, so I can't show you how it looks with the golds and reds over the leaves, but it is stunning!

The Path Unknown

I've been really really spacey lately. I think it is because my car was totaled and  my computer crashed. My transportation and communication systems were down and my world is still shaking. Email messages have disappeared. And I feel a bit lost about my path from here out. It looks dark and vague from here.



Kelly Rae's Soul Business Class is just what I need now!

Singing Road Phase 1

Some pieces need to age like good wine in the making. This piece, Singing Road, is like that.

I enlarged the 2 1/2" zentangle by 500% early last summer. 
The maple leaf background I did on silk in the heat of summer, when cool shadows were welcome (thence the cool blues and greens). I wanted to give the effect of dappled shadows on a road.

I used big leaf maple and Japanese maple leaves from my own trees, capturing their images by brushing resist on the leaves and silk. Where the leaves blocked out the resist, I brushed on dye. The dye traveled up to where the resist was brushed onto the silk, filling in the shape of the leaves with color.

All fall and through Thanksgiving and Christmas, these pieces hung on the wall, waiting for me to get back to them, while I created lovely hand painted silk scarves for the market.

 Next, the design will be traced onto the silk with washable blue fabric pen.

The Path not Taken

"two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

These words from a Robert Frost Poem, "The Road Not Taken", have been a...mmm...touchstone for me since my teen years. I was already taking "the road less traveled", and I still do--at least sometimes. 


Problem is, the road less traveled is often the road less maintained, the one with the most pot holes. Heck, sometimes the road I've taken turns out to be a deer trail that peters off in the wild! Then I have to backtrack and find the my way again. Sometimes I feel like I'm bushwhacking, and boy is THAT frustrating and time comsuming! Or the road disappears and I have no idea where I am going! 


That's what I've been feeling like lately, like the road has disappeared, or maybe it's lost in the darkness and I just can't see it.