so, i swore off this whole art thing.

[mopinko]

i had been kicked around, beat down, betrayed, hung out to dry, hated, even.
and loved, of course. but still.

art is a giant sucking sound.

i was getting old and falling apart. i started a farm. done.

course, i learned some digital design, and can pass in that job. job.

course i use my creativity all the time. design a lot of things large and small.

but done. done.

till my daughter asked me to take her first drawing class at the art institute (alma mater) w her. continuing studies. we call it the little school, tho it came first. fine teachers. fine facilities. but cheap.
she is working on a tattoo portfolio.
she has had serious health problems. in fact was on her way to a very good college scholarship and got very sick. after a brazillion doctors she was finally found to have epilepsy.
she is finally feeling better, and working.

as it happens i also recently finished up a mural that i had started in my finished basement. she caught me in a weak spot.

now the juices flowing. shit. this always leads to trouble. exhaustion.
and fun.

woohoo.

eta- mural. my life in this house.
shoot, cant link the pic.
here-
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mo-Clay/120776091304700?ref=bookmarks

[elleng]

1. It's all wunnerful, mop!

So happy to see and hear about this!

[Tobin S.]

2. I'm not much of an artist, but I do write.

Nothing is more satisfying to me than creating something and seeing it through until it is finished. I hope what you are doing brings you some joy.

[lastlib]

3. I flunked first-grade coloring.

I could read on an eighth-grade level, spell on an eighth-grade level, do arithmetic on a sixth-grade level, and she told my mom I was doing all these things "with his age-group." But I wouldn't color. When I did, I couldn't stay inside the lines, and had odd color choices (I'm partially red-green color-blind.) So, to her, I was failing in my education.

Haven't had an artistic impulse since..........

[progressoid]

4. trouble. exhaustion. and fun.

But it usually a good kind of trouble, exhaustion and fun.

[mopinko]

7. the exhaustion

was as much to do with the stbex as it was the art world. it takes so much money. and he was the one w the paycheck. so it was always gonna depend on him.
maybe i will recover from that.

but the exhaustion of a real project is a sweet sort, fersher.

[Avalux]

5. That's the amazing thing about creativity - it MUST COME OUT.

You can feel discouraged, disgusted, completely ruined, used up, uninspired.....whatever. But then something happens, and BOOM! There you are, having fun again, not sleeping, eating and breathing that which can only be brought into physical form by YOU.

Love the mural.

Great to hear your daughter is back on her feet, creating, and sounds like, was the source of your inspiration this go round.

[mopinko]

6. sometimes i think i am more inventor than artist.

it's the puzzles in life that i cannot resist. whether that is a way to use what i have to make what i need, or how to lay out a good document, or a new toy for the birds.

my father taught me that. he was an erstwhile inventor that always thought a couple of good patents was the key to the highway.

[Avalux]

8. You and I are very similar.

When I get an idea, there isn't anything standing in my way until I've brought it to life. My father taught me that too. Did yours ever patent an invention?

[mopinko]

9. nope

unfortunately. he was way ahead of his time, tho. one thing he worked on was a wave turbine to tap the currents on the continental shelf. built a model, and took it to the physics dept at u of chicago. the prof agreed w him that it should work.
often wondered if that model is still gathering dust there somewhere. this was 60's.
another was something called a longitudinal taper pin. stretching the technology at the time, but would have been very valuable.
prolly a second grader could design it now, considering the tech available now.