A New Studio

A new studio with more space means more art made . . . right? I am still in the process of getting my studio up and running so I can get into a production mode. It’s been a bit since I was able to sit down and produce the amount of work I feel I should be producing. I have a ton of ideas but with the chronic pain and the increase in my pain meds I feel like I’m walking around in a fog and can’t think straight or get motivated to do anything. But with that aside I see light at the end of my journey of pain. I am hoping that a resolve to this chapter of my life is near. It will mean time off to recuperate but the drawing, painting and working on photo illustrations, I’ll be able to do. The pottery . . . maybe not so much until I’m off the crutches. Unless I can find someone to help me out. Either way I am looking forward to producing more work and feel positive for once.

A new bigger studio means that I will now have the space to do and store more work and have space for a gallery to show my art. No more will I have the cramped quarters with everything on wheels so I can move them around and out of the way every time I want to mix up some clay or glazes or sit down at the wheel and produce ware. No more finding room for ready to fire wear so it doesn’t get broken. I’ll be going from a 130 square foot space to a 2000+ square foot studio. It’s my hope that this coming weekend or the next weekend will see my new digs up and running with everything in place. I still have to find an electrician to hook up my kilns so if anyone can recommend someone let me know. I look forward to having more light, more space and better access, warmer in the winter, to my kilns.

So onward and upward . . . let the production begin.

Struggles

The struggle with my forms continue. I seem to get to a certain point and then it all gets messed up. I know the moves it’s just getting them in the right sequence and make sure I don’t get moves from one form mixed in with another. My pain level has increased which doesn’t help with doing proper stances or techniques. The pain meds make my brain mush and I can’t retain anything. This is most frustrating since forms were my favorite part of kung fu and perfecting them has always been a priority. What really frustrates me is how the pain is now dictating what I can do and how I do it. Every step I take is a painful reminder of how a disease can affect ones well being. I’ve exhausted all avenues and now it looks like I’m slated for more surgery to fuse bones together. Hopefully it will give me complete or at least some relief from the pain. There goes another wasted year.

Techy Stuff

I’m not a big fan of technology. Sure, I have a computer, iphone, music thingy and I work on a computer all day, but I’d rather be working manually with my hands. There is no greater feeling than crafting something by hand from a wet lump of clay, piece of wood or metal or a combination and turning it into a piece of art others can enjoy looking at or touching. I think that the younger generations are and will be missing out. Everyone seems to be plugged into some device of some sort and missing out on the simple pleasures of life and nature. Even on construction sites I've seen where someone is texting. I believe that most people are hooked on techy stuff, so much so that they wouldn’t know what to do if their devices were taken away, lost or just stopped working. Notice how “vice” makes up the main body of the word device! Yes I believe they would even go into shock or withdrawal just like a junkie.

Technology, at one time was supposed to free up our time and make life easier. Instead it has made life complicated and hectic. Everything has to be done faster and faster and we are expected to produce more and more. We have to fill up every little bit of time doing something like faxing, texting, calling . . . where does it end? Everywhere you look someone is sitting in a restaurant or fast food joint, walking or what really gets me, driving while talking or texting on a cell phone. People have lost the ART of conversation, slowing down, smelling the flowers or just sitting and listening to the birds, waves or other symphonies of nature like a breeze blowing through the trees. Where does it end. Give me the old days when life was simple and easy.

But that is just my view on technology which I could really rant on and on but I won’t. How about for one day we don't use our cell phone to text or talk, don't use the computer or the music thingy. Let's just sit in a park on a nice sunny day and watch and listen to nature for once.