Totem:  Sun Dancer, hand made, clay collage wall sculpture, 26" long x 8.75" wide, by Tammy Vitale

I posted yesterday and then tried to add a piece directly from an email, which (and I knew this) erased the whole post.  Why is it we keep doing the same things and expecting a different outcome?  At any rate, I didn’t repost, but it definitely informed today’s post!

Sun Dancer’s name comes from the woman dancing in the blue tile and the yellow pot shard above her which makes me think of a sun.  I noted, when I put the detail picture here, that the detail picture almost looks like its own collage.  Normally I’d redo it because backgrounds should be clear (I obviously wasn’t paying attention), then I thought it looked like a collage in it’s own right, so I left it.  Such is the influence of Leah’s November AEM (Art Everyday Month).

The piece I was trying to post yesterday was Tama Kieves e-newsletter. Trusting the Jouney Times.  If you’ve read this blog for long, you know that Tama is at the top of my all-time favorite writers on keeping on keeping on with your art.  Her book, This Time I Dance, belongs on the shelf of any creative person out in the world of creating and selling.  It is in the trenches real writing about how never to give up.  As is her newsletter, linked here since I can’t copy it without erasing my whole blog (what is is about email format that erases blog format?  anyone know?).

Here’s an excerpt for those of you who won’t click over (I know you’re out there – and this time you should really go ahead and click over –  her work is worth it):

"Stay innocent.  Forgiven.  Unconditional.  Untainted.  Curious and alive.

"Turn your back to the world’s statistics, predictions, and noise and turn your heart toward the silent knowing that only you know.  Your true work is not of this world.  it comes from a wellspring of power beyond limits and conditioning.  Do not limit an unlimited flow with your artless assumptions and conclusions about the past.  This is not about getting our hopes up…but keeping our creative conviction strong.  We will have what we need.  We do not know the timing or the form.  But we are always in a new circumstance, always standing on holy ground.  Receive the gifts of the moment, even if it’s just interest in your business that doesn’t pan out yet.  Resist the temptation to allow the past to shape or foreshadow the potential of the present.

"Personally, I have a fantastic business guru.  His name is Emerson.  My dog is the best teacher I’ve ever met for staying true to desire and nothing else.  He is part black Lab, part Bassett Hound, and all tail-wagging fabulous force of joy.  He does not live life based on the past – that would be training – and he has no use for that.  He breathes only enthusiasm.  For example, he tries to get on the bed and I tell him ‘No!’  He backs off.  It doesn’t crush his feelings nor does it apply for more than a minute.  He doesn’t think it’s a trend or a reflection of his worth.  He just leaps on the bed again.  I tel him ‘No!’ but he’s not thinking ‘this is how it’s always going to be.  I’ll never get on the bed.’  Pretty soon my Velcro pet has managed to get himself on the bed.  I look over at him as he curls up in bliss and comfort and I melt.  Emerson gets to stay on the bed.  All he did was stay in touch with his singular desire and try again.  And again and again and again.  Every moment presented a new set of rules and conditions for him.  Anything else, would be training…" Tama Kieves, Awakening Artistry.  Those of you who live out West will be particularly happy to check out her calendar and find all the dates she spends in your territory.  Coming up on the East Coast:  New York and New Jersey (and Wisconsin if that counts as "coast").  I’ve been to one of her workshops.  I’m waiting for her to get within driving distance to go again.  She’s that good.

Do you have a plan for your success?  Have you written or painted or collaged or danced or sang it into life?  It has to come out of your head (the abstract) into the world (the concrete).  You have to taste it and smell it and touch it somehow.

Mary Cole, at Your Daily Gem, quotes Napoleon Hill (Today’s Gem):  "Reduce your plan to writing…The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire."  For those of you who don’t write, see the preceeding paragraph.  There are many way’s to write our plan.

Eva Gregory on Insight of the Day, quotes Og Mandino (today’s Insight of the Day): "The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them.  Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to achieving your dreams."

I subscribe to both these daily email reminders of who I am and why I do what I do.

thought for the day:  Here’s a great exercise in abstract to concrete – and it gets away from that scary "business plan."  I borrow this from a Mary Kay exercise (yep – I sell Mary Kay, too, and believe me if you want to learn to sell, check in with their amazing training program):  go out with a camera and take pictures of the way your life will look once you have reached your goal.  House?  take a picture of the one you like the best.  Car?  Same thing.  Gallery – take a picture of the outside and the inside (if they’ll let you).  Shops?  same thing.  Show?  Go to the show you want to be in and take a picture of the set-up you want for your work.  Paste all those pictures on a bulletin board where you can see them every day.  Then, every time you see it, say (outloud – it can be a whisper but must be verbalize):  "All this and more is mine for the taking."  This is a business plan.  The Universe will pay attention.

p.s.  More guerilla art marketing…as soon as I finish this post, I’ll be off to all the named links above to let them know I have given them a shout out today.  And you know what?  They’ll pay attention.  How do I know?  I’ve done this before.  Every little bit helps.  And we’re all out here in this together.  Create your web.  Weave it strong. "No dress rehersal.  This is your life." (The Tragically Hip).