A Little Blogging, A Lot of Embroidery

Today in my email I found my weekly newsletter from ArtBiz and the fabulous Alyson Stanfield (http://www.artbizblog.com) about having a fire in your belly for your work and your blog. Lately I have been immersing myself in embroidery, inspiration, blogging and promoting my work(actually the promoting my work is the hardest part and a big part of Alyson's blog for this week).

Embroidery wise I finished the front of the hand bag and will show you the finished project asap. I've been making lots of sketches and can't wait to start my next project. I'm trying to get a little looser with the sketches and trying to change things up enough for a change but not so much that I lose my style. Trying to incorporate different stitches and colors and contrasts. I've been embroidering a lot(I reward myself with embroidery every time I do something domestic win/win situation).

Inspiration and blogging sort of go hand in hand. I love to visit the blogs of other artists and read about their process and their artistry. Bonnie Samuels had a lovely blog the other day which highlighted three wonderfully artistic fiber artists. So exciting. And my wonderful blog friends on the side of my blog also inspire me and maybe light a match under my behind to get to work and get myself out there. They also inspire me spiritually, nurture my love of beauty and give me much needed support when I need it. Whenever I really need just a wee bit of support I come to my blog and find it in the comments of others. It's great really, especially if you are a solitary artist(which most artists are). I've also been reading inspirational and spiritual books and watching Ovation TV and movies. The other day I watched the Graduate(which I saw when I was 10 years old at the drive in with my parents with Carnal Knowledge of all things, my mom thought it was Cardinal Knowledge, love that story) and was taken by how artistically beautiful the Graduate is. The camera angles the music. Fascinating. I'd watched it again a few years ago but didn't appreciate it's artistic beauty.

And promoting my work well I've been doing that too and have a few things going on but not anything definite yet so we'll move on. I realize the idea that I have to be more enthusiastic about promoting my work which is the hardest part of what I do. I'm a people person, always have been, always will be. I once worked for a lady who told me I could sell ice to a snowman, but for some reason when it comes to my work I fumble my words, I break out in a cold sweat and either say too much about my work or too little about my work. I'm trying to work on that as a spiritual practice because my work isn't really about me but my relationship with the universe but it isn't as easy to say that to someone in person as it is to put it out there on my blog. So there it is.

I think I have the fire in my belly. Do you? If not read the blog mentioned in the first sentence and sign up for Alyson's newsletter. Happy Stitching.

I was going to start a completely new blog entry on this and I will expand on it tomorrow(I love to have a ready made topic) but both Sybil from Painter of Blue and Lynda Lehman from Peripheral Visions have lovely inspirational interviews on Abbey of the Arts(Sybil) and Creativity Portal(lynda). So inspiring and wonderful please read them.