The juices are thawing out...and some questions...
Finally I can feel the creative juices beginning to thaw. I’m not sure if it’s to do with Winter or whether it had something to do with that wedding shoot which sucked up a lot of spare time, but I haven’t done anything creative in a long time!
The last few days though, I’ve been starting to experience some ideas, thought, inspiration, etc again! Thank goodness, I was beginning to think I’d lost it altogether!!
Thanks must go to you, the Redbubble community. If I hadn’t been visiting your works and words through all of this, I would have simply dropped the ball. Your creativeness and constant flow of art in all it’s forms has kept at least one toe of mine in the world of vision, colour, emotion, opinion, personality and relationships that is the world of art. It took me so many years to immerse myself in this wonderful part of life, I’m so glad I held on. As someone famous said ””You aint seen nothin yet.” I have so much new information learned from all of you and more locally the Geelong artists and photographers on Redbubble who I have to thank in particular.
As a side thought, I go in and out of wanting to express parts of life that are more difficult. When I do it always gets a mixed reaction. As the subject of prejudice and bigotry in the past, it is difficult to deliberately put oneself ‘out there’ for more of the same. But in my experience, nearly everyone I have met in life has had some taste of those nasty inflictions one way or another. How do you face the not so pleasant stories or experiences from your past? Do you draw on them? Do you put them away and move on to other more positive aspects of life? Do you write about them or express them in visual imagery?
And if the latter, how do you go about these things without hurting or offending the people in your life? I could go on with this train of thought but I’ll leave it there before you wander off, lol.
Any thoughts?
Darren Stones
A few times I’ve written things that draw on past events – in some cases I’ve published, and most cases screwed up the paper and thrown it in the bin. :)
I’ve been searching the bubble of late for inspiration. As a bloke, I’ve been finding it hard to find – most of it seems directed towards the fairer sex. Having spent a fair bit of time behind the scenes creating challenges, I had to find something here which suited me. I found it – finally. Today is a bit of a breather for me, but I’ve churned out a piece of creative writing. Been ages since I’ve done it, and it came about because of something I spotted in the bubble.
So, whether it words or pics, there’s something to find. Sometimes a person will steer us in the right direction.
Jane Keats replied
You and I are on the same page then Darren, I have been scribbling some creative writing down again since coming across “light bulb” written pieces here. It certainly is handy to have such an amazing group of people to draw on at the click of a mouse!
I have to agree with you on the lack of male inspired works though. Glad you will be contributing something to the literary bubble here Darren! Is it to do with males traditionally having a harder time expressing do you think?
rubyjo
well jane, that exactly why i created the rubyjo profile. to be able to write freely without hurting those involved, and my god, what a release it has been. i have no doubt there are issues that would have stayed buried and continued to eat at me otherwise.
my other profile is still up and that is where i direct family or friends or coworkers that want to see my stuff.
if you go this route- be prepared for the occasional person to say you should own up to your art. my answer- i just show them my writings and ask them if they really think my 16 year old son wants to read about my orgasms! lol
good luck jane, glad the juices are flowing again! :)
Jane Keats replied
oops, reply is below!
Jane Keats
Haha, no 16 year old wants to know their parent/s have sex! Good come back!
I have got another account here that I’ve put the ‘darker’ images on and I did think of putting my writings in there actually… I just find it a pain to be swapping from account to account though. Must admit that other account has been a little neglected of late. I actually started it after offending some viewers here on redbubble who “thought they knew me” and were “shocked”. I didn’t want to offend anybody and I can quite understand that some of my tastes are just not appreciated by some people. Well that’s the same for everyone isn’t it. So I now have these two different accounts. But as I say, I find it a bother to keep up, particularly as I have host duties on this account.
Darren Stones
“The winter blues” was the phrase said to me by a friend last week, Jane. I was speaking to him about how I’d seen the Aussie contigent of the bubble retracting from doing things on the site. I’ve seen it happening for at least a month and trying to figure out why. Seems to be distractions, but no more distractions than usual. Just a case of balancing things I think.
I’ve noticed since being a group host that it’s sapped my energy at times. RedBubble need to improve functionality so group hosts can free up their time to create instead of administrating. I’ve been on the case, but it’s a slow road to China.
Males tend to bottle things up and then do their block in one go. Whereas women will get on the phone and talk. When I get the horrors, I tend to bottle things up and then go watch TV. been watching the footy, cricket and cycling of late, instead of being on the bubble in the evenings.
I think a good way to break out of rut is to go back to basics. Do what you like to do. In photography, photograph what you like to photograph. In writing, write what you like to write. It usually triggers the creativity again and gets things back on track.
Jane Keats
Ugh! Yes hosting can be a time drag for sure!
I do think that Winter has an affect on people’s level of activity in many ways too, I know that I find it hard to start the day when bed is so warm and ‘out there’ is so cold. Not a great way to kick off the day when you just wan to stay in bed.
I’ll agree with you on the male thing too, although not in every case of course. The same goes the other way, I tend to deal with things in a much more male way, ie bottle up. Not that healthy though, especially when combined with dubious mental health haha. That’s one of the reasons I have been trying to gently squeeze out some past, personal and emotional stuff. Kind of like a self imposed therapy.
DesImages
I’ve been hibernating a lot lately. Going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark, freezing southerly blasts (the sort that made Wellington a legend!) and general conditions that just aren’t conducive to photgraphy. Today there was actually a glimmer of light when I went to work, so things are looking up!
Jane Keats replied
Woo Hoo for the sunlight! Hey I forgot you were in Wellies, one of my best friends is there too, Amber, you guys should hook up. She needs some inspiring as well!
John Robb
Jane, a short while ago I was challenged to write a letter to my younger self for publication here on the bubble – it was an interesting exercise in self reflection. Perhaps there is something in that approach for you to discover.
Jane Keats replied
Wow, it’d be a novel haha. That’s a pretty cool idea though thanks JR you’re not as dumb as you look!
Sunnyside Up
I’m glad the juiciness is thawing – it ebbs and flows in all of us I’m sure… except for that Picasso fellow – freak!
Interesting to read everyone’s thoughts and to know we’re all in the same boat :) A couple of issues I need to deal with is it’s fine to have a creative outlet, ideas etc, but you’ve also got to approach them in a business like way. How do you do that? I’m good at starting, full of ideas and inspiration, get things going…and then what??? The momentum stops and then you can’t get it going again!! And when you’re interested in lots of different things, as I am, you tend to just flit around and not achieve anything!!! Which brings you down, you feel shit and good-for-nothing…and well the creative juices freeze up! The other thing is looking too much at other people’s work can be a bit intimidating and for sensitive souls it makes you feel a bit “woe is me”. I read an interview with some fella and when asked who his favourite artists were he said he didn’t look at anything as he found it intimidating and wanted to have no influences to affect his style. I thought that was interesting :)
In an ideal world we would all be un-encumbered, free of routines and everyday chores and able to be as self indulgent as we like, but that’s not the way it is for most people, so for now we must just do our best :)
About people not accepting your darker side? They’ll get over it! Everyone has got one (I’m sure Ghandi was into some weird stuff – now there’s a photo shoot!!)
End of rant!
Sunnyside Up
feck that’s a long comment – sorry :)
Jane Keats replied
You can comment as long as you like! Now prepare for a long reply haha!
That comment about approaching in a business like way, that’s really why I started the other account too. Pissing people off isn’t good for business and I also wanted an account where I didn’t have to think about whether people would like my images or not. NotNow is completely self indulgent!
Which brings me to your comment about being intimidated by other great artists. The way I look at it (and this goes for musicians and singers too) everyone has their own, unique style which is usually the result of influences from life, art and observation. Some styles I like, some I don’t. That has nothing to do with how good they are, it’s just personal preference on style. How good someone is depends (in my humble opinion) on how hard they have worked at achieving their style, how much they have practiced it and how passionate they are about it. For example, my daughters lurv Miley Cyrus, I don’t, but I do appreciate her talent and how hard she works. OK I’m getting off track but my point is that I think we can all worry too much about our own work not being up to some invisible standard sometimes. But in the end aren’t you trying to express yourself. Personally I like flipping through other’s works. If I see something that I love so much that I wish I could do something similar, I set about trying to learn how they did it and then put my own style in there.
Where I get frustrated is when I can’t express what I want to express because of the limits I have with my equipment or knowledge. I do my best with what I have but I’m realising that the reason I’m feeling stuck is because I can’t do what I want to do! Also I have a problem with being patient in these situations.
I want to split in two and have one of me enjoy being a Mum and supportive partner, while the other half spends nights in dingy bars talking to questionable characters and then getting high and pulling some genius out of my arse and displaying it in all the top Galleries in the world’s trendiest cities. Is that too much to ask!!
Jane Keats
Geez that did get long, sorry!!