Monday, May 28, 2007

Santa Barbara Dowtown Organization: First Thursday

Santa Barbara Downtown Organization
is hosting another First Thursday
June 7th, from 5-8pm


Don't miss DUG UYESAKA
at the Book Den
13 East Anapamu Street

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The Lovely Sylvia White

I had the great good fortune of having Sylvia White visit my studio yesterday afternoon. After several years of being inspired by her newsletters coupled with crippling post exhibition blues that were making it difficult to get back to the easel, I decided it was time to hire Sylvia to guide me making the next move with my career.

She was gracious and lovely, in addition to telling the hard truths without sugar coating - a character trait I admire, particularly in business. She had reviewed all my online material and came prepared with a consultation kit. She advised me on the holes that existed in my resume and made suggestions about how to fill them. She left me with homework and the feeling that I'm moving in the right direction.

Marketing your work is a matter of casting out your line continuously, keep knocking on doors, keep asking for your work to be seen, and most importantly, know what it is that you want. What is your end goal?

I heard in a lecture, long ago, the line "how do you know which direction to set sail if you don't know which port your are aiming for?" A few minor changes in your steering can multiply the shift in your trajectory exponentially in the long haul, so best to know what it is you are attempting in order to make the right adjustments. Small changes can have enormous impact, which means baby steps.... always baby steps. Growing slowly keeps the fear from ruling your decisions.

Thank you Sylvia for the confidence and the encouragement. Thank you also for the suggestions and even the homework. You are a treasure and an invaluable asset.

If anyone is wondering if I would recommend Sylvia's services? I would say it is one of the best places to invest your time and money.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Testing 1... 2... 3











Back to printing and testing new techniques. I'm printing with some old shingles that were just pulled from the front of the house... using them to print background textures, to be used later in a chine colle process. It's all about experimenting and having fun. Serious Play.

It is starting to juice up my desire to paint again and how can that be bad? I ask you?

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Getting Plugged In

For the past week I have been spending my time tethered to my desk, working at marketing and "spreading my seed" so to speak. I enrolled in a tele-class through smARTist Art Marketing several months ago and I'm finally getting around to employing some of their many tactics on web marketing. There was a list of 9 things to do to get noticed on the internet.

1 - have your own website, of course!
2 - have a blog and post regularly
3 - have a "my space" page
4 - write reviews on Amazon
5 - sell on ebay

Okay, the last four are somewhere in my memory bank. I, obviously, have not gotten around to those other four things, yet. I will get back to you ....

I DO however have a new my space page HERE. Oh, it's still in it's infancy, there isn't much there, but it IS a placeholder for things to come.

AND, I did open an Etsy shop. You can see it HERE. I will be listing many of the prints I make and perhaps some of the stock in my studio that is small. It will save emailing clients all the images of paintings available. I DO adore my dealers, so for my larger work, my newest/latest work will have to be found at their galleries.

Progress. Moving forward. Baby steps.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Freedom from Self Improvement Day

Tuesday, May 15
International Freedom from Self Improvement Day!

Declaration of Independence

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the emotional bands which have connected them with an intent to improve upon the self…

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal and in perfect form – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

— That the only means by which to access this innate perfection is through an embracing of what is, right now;
— That whenever any Form of Self-Improvement becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new philosophies;
— But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object (self-improvement) devolves into Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Self-Improvement, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

We, the undersigned, do hereby agree that for the twenty-four hour period of May 15, 2007, we will cease and desist from self-improving behaviors intended to downplay, deride, belittle, abuse, or otherwise reflect negatively upon our current Selves. And should we falter in this effort, we will embrace our mistakes and missteps with love, humility, gratitude, and compassion, realizing that we are, at our core, absolutely perfect exactly as we are in this moment.

written by Jennifer Louden

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Steven Pressfield and The War of Art

The War of Art
Winning the Inner Creative Battle
by Steven Pressfield

Although I'm only mid-way through the first of three sections of this book, I'm hooked. Steven Pressfield writes an impressive non-fiction book on why creatives have a difficult time getting to their work. I'm assuming, by looking at the titles of the three sections that he will eventually come around to moving through blocks, which he names as RESISTANCE. *gulp* Yep, that's right, my old friend resistance, who is accompanied by envy, frustration and procrastination.

Book One in The War of Art is titled "Resistance: Defining the Enemy" (what), Book Two "Combating Resistance: Turning Pro"(how), Book Three "Beyond Resistance: The Higher Realm" (why).

Here is one compelling page from book one....

p.31

Resistance and Unhappiness
_____________________

What does Resistance feel like?

First, unhappiness. We feel like hell. A low-grade misery pervades everything. We're bored, we're restless. We can't get no satisfaction. There's guilt but we can't put our finger on the source. We want to go back to bed; we want to get up and party. We feel unloved and unlovable. We're disgusted. We hate our lives. We hate ourselves.

Unalleviated, Resistance mounts to a pitch that becomes unendurable. At this point vices kick in. Dope, adultery, web surfing.

Beyond that, Resistance becomes clinical. Depression, aggression, dysfunction. Then actual crime and physical self-destruction.

Sounds like life, I know. It isn't. It's Resistance.

What makes it tricky is that we live in a consumer culture that's acutely aware of this unhappiness and has massed all its profit-seeking artillery to exploit it. By selling us a product, a drug, a distraction. John Lennon once wrote:

Well, you think you're so clever
and classless and free
But you're all fucking peasants
As far as I can see

As artists and professionals it is our obligation to enact our own internal revolution, a private insurrection from the tyranny of consumer culture. We overthrow the magazines, TV and MTV by which we have been hypnotized from the cradle. We unplug ourselves from the grid by contributing our disposable income to the bottom line of Bullshit, Inc., but only by doing our work.

Oh Boy!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Kneel and Worship Molly Gordon!

She's done it again! Another amazing newsletter that should get you out of your seat. Read it, use it, love it.

Authentic Promotion®
Volume 9, No. 11 • May 8, 2007
Molly Gordon, MCC
Sign up at Authentic Promotion

Features
Tending the Seeds of Purpose

Sidebar
The Bedside Table: Presence, Purpose, and Awareness

Tending the the Seeds of Purpose

"[How can] a tiny seed create a huge tree? Seeds do not contain the resources needed to grow a tree. These must come from the medium or environment within which the tree grows.… In a sense, the seed is a gateway through which the future possibility of the living tree emerges."
from Presence, Human Purpose and the Field of the Future, by Peter Senge et al

"In our lives and businesses, you are both garden and gardener." Molly Gordon

I first published this article in September of 2004. I wrote in the introduction, "Every cell in my body knows that Time has quickened its march, and that if I am to be a gateway through which the future will emerge, it is time for me to wake up." It's now May, 2007, Time is marching just as briskly, and I am still waking up. Will you join me?

It's time to wake up to purpose, and I don't mean the kind of life purpose that we can wear like a top hat and cane as we soft-shoe our way to prosperity. No, I mean the kind of purpose that is emergent, mysterious, utterly our responsibility yet utterly beyond our control.

I do believe that we are each and all both garden and gardener, but I do NOT believe that we are THE garden or THE gardener. In other words, while we are each unique participants in the dance of creation, we are also inseparable from every other participant in that dance. Everything we do in the garden of our lives affects and is affected by what everyone else does and vice versa. What's more, somehow there is a collective garden and a collective gardener, though most of us are light-years away from conscious, let alone skillful, participation at that level.

If this is true, the way we conceive and conduct business is of the utmost importance for ourselves, our children, our neighborhoods, our planet. The choices we make each day will shape not only our personal legacies, but also our cultural, environmental, and political legacies. Yet too often, I fear, we draw back from this realization and all that it implies because we cannot tolerate the contrast between our responsibility (HUGE) and our control (minuscule).

Enough theorizing. How can each of us tend to the seeds of purpose within our hearts and souls and within the hearts and souls of our communities of interest?

1. Cultivate response-ability. Ask yourself: "In what ways – no matter how small – can I tend the garden that I am and to the garden that I am part of (my community, my relationships, my industry or profession)? Make a list (keep it SHORT), then do one thing every day. Here are some examples:

Tithe 10% of your income to causes that you really care about. Don't wait until you have more money, just do it.

Learn to tell the truth without brutalizing the other party. (Fred Kofman's Conscious Business audio program will teach you how to do this.

Look at your practices and habits, and ask yourself: what kind of reality am I generating by living this way? If you are living on a diet of energy bars (guilty!), perhaps taking time to make a salad or cook some veggies would put you more in touch with the earth, at a cost of 15 minutes a day.

Love and respect are not feelings; they are actions. If your relationships are under-nourished, decide now to feed them with awareness, attention, and commitment. Review your outstanding commitments (implicit and explicit). Respectfully renegotiate any that you cannot fulfill.
When doubtful, afraid, or confused, pause. Breathe. Connect to whatever it is that you hold to be of transcendent value. Then ask yourself, "If I truly believed that my action could bring more light to the world, what would I do now?" Don't be surprised if the answer is small and simple. Just do it.

2. Reject cynicism. I don't know about you, but I am tired of being jaded and ironic. It was fun back in the 70s, but it's 2007, and the world needs our loving commitment and wide-awake attention.

I'll say it again, tithe. Putting your money where your heart is makes a great antidote to cynicism and invites gratitude. Scale your giving to your resources so that both may grow.

Practice appreciating others. Marvel at the many ways we move in the world. It's amazing how intriguing folks are when you drop the notion that you should agree with them or they with you.

Laugh at yourself and others. No need to pretend we're all perfect; while that may be true in the absolute sense, in the manifest realm we're all really pretty funny. A belly laugh is an act of celebration, not cynicism.

Make a list of your chronic complaints – the beliefs you hold about why your life and work can't be different that are so ingrained you hardly even know you hold them. (Tip: ask a co-worker, spouse, or friend to clue you in.) Then look for evidence that you're mistaken.

3. Give up magical thinking. Yes, the world needs loving commitment, but we can't heal or deal effectively by romanticizing ancient wisdom, retreating to suburban Pleasantvilles, or lounging in bubble baths while we burn incense and listen to chant.

Put magic to work. Unpack the symbols and rituals that speak to you; explore the interpretations and implications of the images you find significant. Journal, dance, draw, and talk about what you discover. Then put your insights to work in the world.
Cultivate a loamy seedbed for yourself (go ahead, have a bubble bath). But if you don't get out in the sun, the rain, and the wind, you won't grow. Better to be a weed than a hot-house flower.
Act. Walk to work, even in the rain; get up 30 minutes early to pray or meditate for the well-being of the world; turn off the TV and volunteer five hours a week to the cause of your choice; practice listening thoroughly to others before speaking your point of view. The point is not to endure discomfort for discomfort's sake, but for the freedom you gain when comfort is no longer a limiting factor in how you show up or serve.

4. Tend the soil. As Peter Senge and company point out in the first quote, no matter what kind of seed is growing in you, it can't grow into a tree without nutrients.

Perhaps your inner life could do with a bit of compost. (See The Bedside Table for a powerful tool to develop the neurological components of increased awareness.)

Maybe your physiology could use a shot in the arm (aerobic exercise, anyone? Pilates?).
Or perhaps what's most wanting is connection, the exchange of attention, caring, even touch with other human beings. Join a book club. Take meals to the sick. Say hello to the checker in the supermarket.

5. Shine. In the words of Marianne Williamson, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small in the world doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

When you feel really good about yourself (and I hope that happens often), pause to savor your capacity to experience in that moment the blessings that are present in every moment.
When you feel bad about yourself, pause and wonder about the mysterious workings of the world. If somehow your suffering or discomfort or errors were the compost for all of life, could you live with that?

6. Keep it simple; don't over-simplify.

Keep it simple. Gardening, life, work – these are all vast endeavors. Yet in any given moment there is only one weed to pull, one breath to take, one email to answer.

Don't over-simplify. Anyone of my suggestions could be a perfect fit or utter hogwash depending on your circumstances and how you interpret what I have written. If you're a working mom or dad getting by on 6 hours of sleep, getting up 30 minutes early to meditate for the good of the planet is probably not the best move.
Namaste'.
______________________________________________

Talk Back: Please send your questions and comments to letters@authenticpromotion.com. Do not use the return address for this newsletter or your letter will be lost in cyberspace. If you do not want your letter to be quoted in future writings, just let us know.

Like this issue? Please feel free to pass it on or to reprint the article on your Web site or in your own e-zine. All I ask is that you forward the newsletter in its entirety and/or that you include the following paragraph and copyright line if you reprint the article.

This article originally appeared in the Authentic Promotion e-zine and is reprinted with permission from the author. Molly Gordon is president of Shaboom Inc., a coaching and training company that delivers hope, help, and hilarity to Accidental Entrepreneurs so that they can thrive doing work they love. For more information, visit http://www.shaboominc.com.
Copyright 2007, Shaboom Inc. All rights reserved.

Privacy Statement & Subscriber Info

This mailing is part of a regular series of more or less weekly newsletters and informational mailings about our products and services. It is sent only to confirmed, double opt-in subscribers who have signed up at mollygordon.com, shaboominc.com, authenticpromotion.com, learntolovemarketing.com, or by emailing a subscription request or signing up at a partner Web site.

The Bedside Table: Presence, Purpose, and Awareness

Presence, Human Purpose and the Field of the Future, by Peter Senge et al
We know that our subjective experience both as individuals and in organizations has everything to do with the culture we create, the success of our products and services, with profitability and effectiveness. But we don't know much about how to deliberately tap into and work with this subjective aspect of work. Senge and his co-authors have written a moving and provocative exploration of how subjectivity relates to objective experience. Highly recommended.

I was an off-and-on meditator for decades until I suspended disbelief long enough to try Bill Harris's Holosync, a sound technology that facilitates creativity, deep rest and relaxation, and experiences of insight and connection.

Three years later, I'm a solid fan. I don't feel the program replaces meditation and prayer any more than injecting a neuro-chemical can replace having a lover. (Yeow!) At the same time, Holosync has made meditation the rule rather than the exception in my daily practice.

If you are profoundly allergic to direct marketing, be aware that Bill is a tireless marketer. If you try the first recording in the series, you can expect to receive a lot of mail, and a lot of it is actually quite informative. If you hate that kind of thing, just phone or email Bill and he will stop.

If you have specific questions, email me at holo@authenticpromotion.com.

Conscious Business, Fred Kofman
Kofman's tapes distill some of the best theory and practice available around effective communications and performance enhancement. Discover the power of being a learner. Find out how to tell the truth without antagonizing others. Learn how to have conversations that result in commitments and follow through.

The Work of Byron Katie
The Work is a radical (and simple) process of inquiry that unravels the mares' nests of your painful thoughts to leave you free and whole. I can't think of a more direct route to living with grace, love, and power.

How does this apply to business? Have you ever had a thought about business that made you suffer? I thought so... You are going to love this work!

Order Here

Publication and Reprint Info
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Molly Gordon, MCC. Copyright (c) Shaboom Inc.(r) 2007. All rights reserved. Visit our extensive archives at www.mollygordon.com .
You may reprint material from Authentic Promotion in other electronic or print publications provided the above copyright notice and a link to http://www.authenticpromotion.com is included in the credits. Please send a copy of the publication along with a note referencing the reprint.

"Shaboom, Inc." and "Authentic Promotion" are registered trade or service marks of Shaboom, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Shaboom, Inc
Life could be a dream!
PO Box 195
18718 Third Avenue NE
Suquamish, WA 98392-0195
P 360-697-7022
F 801-996-7022

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Shaken AND Stirred


There are, officially, only 24 days left of the exhibition at Sullivan Goss. This morning I spent in the gallery moving out the paintings that have sold and rearranging all that were left. What many don't realize is there were 6 paintings edited from the show because there just wasn't enough room. They have now emerged and are hanging in the main space to be seen.

I felt it was time to shake things up, move the energy in the gallery space and feature some of the paintings that may have been over looked. First thing on the list was to move the three beauties out of the window. They are now happily displayed inside, front and center. *SIGH* I'm happier knowing they will have a three week feature.

It's important to keep stirring, not only for the viewing public but also for my sanity. I start to feel a staleness in the gallery and after working so hard to complete the show it can be disappointing. This was a long run, two months, perhaps when a show is only 4 weeks it's not as critical to kick up some dust. With the publicity and hype over the opening long past and the reviews fading in the rearview mirror how does one keep the party alive? Shifting work keeps it fresh not only for the dealers working, but also for the viewer that likes to visit more than once.

I feel better already.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

On Blogging

blog (blŏg)

noun:
A website in which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative.

verb: blogged, blogging
add new material to, or update a blog

derivatives: blogger

Origin: a shortening of web log


Someone said to me recently "what is a blog and why should I care?" If you guessed that it was someone over the age of 40 asking, you guessed right. I'm posting the answer to this question here, chances are this active questioner will never find the answer unless they are in communion with someone, anyone, younger or computer/internet savvy.

I came to making my own blog through an art marketing seminar. It was listed as one of 9 things that you can do to be seen or found on the internet. Not only is it a fluid form of communicating with your tribe, being available to your clients, and sharing your process with a large art community, every link and word can be a line connecting dots that create a larger audience for the masses of internet users in the world. YES, the WORLD.

Ultimately you are helping yourself be visible. The internet, blogs, myspace, and youtube are incredible tools for the individual to create a personal landscape for any and all kinds of relationships, business or personal. The breadth of uses for the opportunities that this tool offers are limitless (at least in the mind of this one little blogger).

To not know what a blog is? Amazing! To not take advantage of the tool? Crazy!

Blogger makes it painless. Yes, even if you are an octagenarian. Don't wait. Get connected.

Did I mention that it's FREE! How can you not?!
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