Talking with my closest friends I keep hearing myself saying: "It's so easy to tell you to do just what you want, but doing that myself feels too spoiled and irresponsible." For decades I have loved the process of asking someone to tell me their most unrealistic dreams, then walking with them through the process of realizing that there's no legitimate reason besides fear (typically) preventing them from doing it. I'm going to start following my own advice.

I'm going to take my need to make pictures more seriously and explore the possibilities of being a working artist. Maybe people will want to buy my art. Maybe I'll find grants (grant winning is my current profession) for individual artists. Maybe I'll win the lottery. Whatever it takes, I know I won't get through my day to day life if I don't have effective outlets for all the stuff inside me. Writing is helpful, but making pictures provides different kinds of relief.

I've got a second set of pictures hanging in the North Deering (Auburn Street) Starbucks. Four are new, and one is a repeat from the first set. I repeated the one because it has been, by far, the most popular as far as people having great things to say about it. It also relates to the drawing hanging below, so it's possibly my first experience with a "theme" or pictures that have a sort of direct relationship with each other.

I'll share the pictures that are hanging in Starbucks here. You can view more photos of the Starbucks set-up process as a slide show via flickr.




The next post will be a bit of the story of the process of creating "germination." I'll be setting up an etsy.com shop (or something like it). Offering these pieces for sale feels strange as I can't imagine someone else wanting them. Then again, who am I to decide what's right for someone else? There's an arrogance in assuming I have any idea what other people may or may not want.

So, I'll lay it all out here and let everyone else decide for themselves. Despite the challenges I've been facing and am facing, holding responsibility for only my part is the richest and most authentic way of living I know.