Finished my second weekend in the new store. It’s still not as full as I’d like it to be, and I think there’s still a wall where I want to strip the paper and put up new paper for a more coherent aesthetic, and the store is in dire need of more light, so I’m working on that, but it’s coming along, coming along.
I’m figuring out little things, like I love giving kids bookmarks. Bring a kid to my store — they’ll get to pick out a free bookmark! That’s just fun. We also have candy. 🙂
One of the nicest parts of it is that I get so many compliments. I am a Leo, and I am fueled by praise. Lots of people wander in to check out the store, and when they find out I make the pieces, they tell me they’re so pretty. And these people are smiling, and happy, and I just love that.
I’m still not sure when I’ll be comfortable calling all this art — mostly, I feel like the last few years of very steady (some might say obsessive) making have been more like a self-funded course of study? A very eclectic course of study? Nothing like an actual art program, but I read a lot of art books, and this covers my supplies costs and a bit more, which is very helpful. I can tell I’ve gotten a lot more skilled in just a year or so of compulsive making-making-making.
I can sort of see art on the horizon, at any rate. Most of my pieces are pretty. A few of them, I might call beautiful. And maybe some are starting to have some emotional power to them? A mood, an invitation to feel a certain way… well, we’ll see.
It’s funny — I spent thirty years as a writer, and I still write — I’m writing to you right now. I’ve got a story turning over in the back of my head, and a novel I’m hoping to find time for (probably not until the semester ends). I have essays being revised, bit by bit.
But it’s also a relief, in a strange way, being able to make art that doesn’t require precise thought and language. So much of my work requires the analytical part of my brain (and that includes teaching and nonprofit and school board work too). Analysis requires more and more effort to focus properly these days, even with my ADHD meds to help. I feel like I only get about 4-6 good hours of it a day now. Is this menopause, or ADHD, or just being 53? Who knows!
I know that I get tired of thinking so hard and so much.
Let’s just look at the sunlight on the pretties instead, okay?
