The Vintage Key: Kama Darr Artist.

Family Time

 We had such a good time with my husband's sister and our nephews during spring break. Here are the kids painting some pottery during their visit.

my daughter, Piper concentrating on her project

 

John working on his pig...it turned out really pretty after being fired.

 

 

The whole group, auntie Kiki, Rhys, John and Piper working hard.

You can't be a perfectionist and an artist at the same time...I didn't know.

I really didn't get this until recently. I have been so unmotivated lately when it comes to creativity. My mind has been going in circles trying to figure out what it is I want to do this year for festival season. Do I want to continue with the typewriter keys, buttons,etc.? Or do I want to spread my wings and try something new. I still don't know. My problem is I want to do a little of everything (including painting every room in my house a different color) and I don't want to be labeled as the "one" who makes this or that. So instead of creating, I have been thinking about not creating and enjoying things I normally HATE; bbookkeeping, balancing the checkbook or paper work. Anything, that when completed is either right or wrong. But after much confusion about why I was enjoying this so much, and much sadness that I was enjoying this so much, it was brought to my attention that you can't create and be a perfectionist at the same time. I was using all this stuff I don't like as an excuse for not having a bit of creativity in me at the time. To some, this might be a very easy concept to grasp. But I had no previous knowledge of this reasoning. So as soon as I experienced this moment of clarity I was able to be free and not paranoid about what was happening. And before I knew it, I was back to work and doing some of the same things and a lot of different stuff and not worrying a whole lot about what would happen. I have to tell you I was so relieved to be over that feeling. Below are some things I have recently enjoyed working on.

It's All About The Picture

Yesterday was spent teaching Articipate to a bunch of wonderful and very well behaved kindergartner's in my son, Rhys' class. However, Rhys wasn't there because he was home sick for the 100th time this year. I guess that's what happens when you don't go to daycare. You catch every little thing imaginable your first year. And this would include the chicken pox even after the vaccine. The subject, which is not one of my favorites, but still fun to teach to such little ones: Still Life Portraits. Yeah fruit, plates and tables don't really do it for me as far as interesting pieces of art go. But I do really appreciate the talent of the artist very much. For me though, ehh...little boring.

After the class, it was straight back home for a few hours to work on jewelry. One thing I really needed to do was get some decent photographs of my work for the shows and my website. Really, we all know how important the photos are. Who hasn't heard "a picture is worth...." so I need good and recent photographs. A professional photographer is not even a line item. I have tried and tried with no success. I easily get frustrated and quit. For those who know me know that I have zero patience for feeling idol. So I had to figure out the answer and I had to get this off my list today. Some light that must have been out (for the last week or so) went off and I quickly realized my wowonderful husband who minored in photography at some point in his life could take the pictures. And so he did and so it happened. There still not the best photos but they are perfectly fine for what I need them for. So thank you honey for once again helping solve my problem. I love ya!

Photos will be up this afternoon. I will also be introducing some new things at that time.

About Time!

Okay, I have been trying for months to get the courage and "time" to do this. Every morning after getting the kids and Dr. Darr off to school, I would grab my coffee, sit down, take a deep breath, and begin the process of starting my very own blog. I knew I really wanted to do it because it would be something fun and exciting and a way for me to share some of the beautiful things in my life with those who are interested. Or not...and just by chance stumbled into my blog looking for something else of interest to them. Whoever knows..it happens to me ALL the time. But first, I would just take a quick drink of my coffee and look over some of the blogs I have been romanticizing over for months. I mean, I can't type and drink my hot coffee at the same time. RIGHT? And before I knew it, I would hear a low sounding knock on the door and a little sweet voice calling out "mommy" and that's when I would realize how long I had been lost in this world of beautiful women/artist who have shared some of themselves with me through their blog. My 5-year-old was already home from 1/2 day kindergarten. Nooooooo, there is no way I have been on here for 3 hours. The weird thing is that these women who have had such an impact on my life through their work have not a clue of who I am or how they have influenced me. By simply sharing themselves and their work on their blogs they have inspired me to be a better mom, wife and artist. For that I thank them. I know once I figure this whole thing out, I will be able to share some of those women with you. But for now, I think I will go grab my coffee and take a look at some of my favorites.