Creative Life 2016- week 43

October has been a wonderful month in many ways. I've had several weekends now where I've been able to demonstrate metalsmithing and share my knowledge with the public. This weekend, I'll be teaching a class on chain maille at the garden (which I had the experience of promoting on Live at 9 this past Monday! - Click here for the video)

I've become kind of resolved to the fact that I am a living creature with biology that doesn't always match up to what I (think I) want- for a long time, I truly believed that 'humans' were evolved past things like circadian rhythms and seasonal cycles- oh how wrong I was! I am such a slave to my body's sleep and active cycles, and mine are off from what the world expects. Attempts to adhere to this arbitrary and incompatible schedule reflect in my health and mental status on the regular.
I tried the whole waking up with the sun thing, and it was glorious... I was so much more alert, even on less sleep, than when I wake with an alarm. My true lament comes from the realization that no matter what I try, my most creative hours are between 8pm and 2am. I was trying to figure out where my mojo went in the evenings after work when i would go to the studio and try to make. I stayed late one night, and discovered I was leaving the party before the mojo kicked in! I tested it a few more times and confirmed, I can create new pieces with wild abandon, crank out my pseudo-production work and get my Units per Hour to an actual range where I can make a profit selling my art when I work between 8pm and 2 am! However, the schedule for the rest of my life is very incongruent to this block of creative time.

See how productive i can be during the right time of the night?!? And i really need a few more nights like this to be ready for Crafts & Drafts on the 12th of November. (It's a great show- lots of great work and a wonderful, festive environment. I highly recommend attending it)

Creative life 2016 - busy season

So, this time of year is my busy season, both as an artist and just as a person. Most of the shows i do all year are in October and November, and this year I also took on demonstrating for Tn Craft week, which was actually a lot of fun, but it was also rough on my shoulder.. I enjoyed meeting people and hearing stories about their journeys- both the specific trip they were on and their larger, life journey. Individuals are usually pretty awesome, and it's fascinating to me how people's experiences vary so wildly.

As a person, fall is *my* time. My personal magic is strongest now and it will continue to grow until I wear myself out some where between Thanksgiving and the Winter Solstice. I'll hermit a little until the new year, where I force myself to get out, otherwise I spiral downward into taking stock of what I didn't get to over the past year, even though my 'new year' isn't until later, I still find myself harshly judging by societal standards. My resolutions for this year are to be kinder, to myself and others, and to put more effort into eliminating overly processed things from my life, be that food, goods or experiences.

2016 has been a rough year. I'm discovering that it hasn't just affected me and my little circle. It's been wide reaching, especially amongst the empaths. It makes me wonder if all the negativity in the world is just overloading our circuits and we aren't able to keep the walls up to keep the bad stuff out while keeping the plates spinning to keep the good stuff happening.

I've watched my circle of friends shrink as people change and I moved one of my best friends to the other side of the country less than 2 months ago. It's been hard to fight the feeling of isolation and to stay engaged. I would say I've failed more than I've succeeded. The desire to buy some land somewhere secluded and build an earthship and a tree house is strong most days.

Hermiting is not good for me long-term, although i think I do need a few days alone in the woods or on the beach to recenter, recharge and clear some of the debris from my heart and soul of the last year or so. I have a lot of stuff in there trying to get out- visual arts, music, dance, words... But there's so much in the way that it just trickles out in frustrating spurts.

Creative Life - Tennessee Craft Week

I had the pleasure of doing some metalsmithing demonstrations this past weekend at two of the TN welcome centers to raise awareness for TN Craft week and Tennessee Craft.

I was at the I-40 downtown Memphis center on Saturday and the I-155 Dyersburg center on Sunday. I met some really awesome people and heard some great stories about people following their dreams and seeing the world. It was quite inspiring.

Creative life 2016- week 40

Not much studio time since I got done traveling- my nights have been filled with getting things back on track from my month away from home. I did take some photos last week that I thought were worth sharing. :) I have demos at TN Welcome centers this weekend, Pink Palace Arts & Crafts fair in less than 2 weeks, River Arts in less than 3 weeks and then a great chain maille class at the Gardens on the 29th. I'll be on TV the 24th to talk about my work and my classes. October will be pretty busy, but in a good way- for the reasons I like to be busy. Hopefully, I'll be creating like mad over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for new work!

The tree I always stop and visit when I go to Olive Branch for onsite service. 

The view from Cabin 6 at Natchez. It was supposed to be a nice weekend with woods wandering but instead turned into an unplugged weekend of cabining. 

Reflections early in the day on Pin Oak Lake

Reflections late in the morning on Browns Creek Lake