The Bottom Line

My top priority right now is getting art done for the art fair. Everything, including the fair itself, takes a back seat to that. If I can just keep my mind and effort focused on that for the next six weeks, I will have a nice body of work for that event and beyond. So I set my goals: seven garden-friendly assemblages and seven paintings, all of various sizes. I hope to have more, but that will be enough, seven new works in each medium. I have three paintings so far, although two need further work. No assemblages as of yet, but we will see. If my body and mind balk at doing assemblages, why then I will keep painting.

I do not currently spend enough concentrated time on production, so that is one thing that has to change. If I simply make the decision to not get involved in busywork, dinner parties, and large house and garden projects, it should be possible for me to have a decent production of work. Non-working time can still be working time if I am thinking or reading something relevant to work. Working in the garden or driving to the grocery store is inane enough to allow me to think about compositions.

No matter what I read or think or learn about other artists and things going on in the area, what I would like to achieve or do, it is irrelevant unless I have product to show for my time and intent. And that’s the bottom line. It doesn’t get any more real than that. The sales and the resume cannot happen without first having the product. This needs to be the summer of the product.

Ideally, I’d like it to be the year of the product, but we will see how things pan out at the end of summer. If I focus on product now, however, it increases the likelihood that the rest of the year can be about product, too. And after that, I'd stand a good chance of actually achieving something.