So I don't know if this qualifies as a piece of art but it's what I worked on yesterday and I'm pretty proud of myself for making it :). On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I attended Jennifer Lee's Right Brain Business Plan online workshop via CreativeLIVE. Both Jennifer and CreativeLIVE deserve a separate blog post each, but I'll try to manage it with one.
First of all, I've had Jennifer's book for a year. I bought it after reading someone's excited review of it, and I liked it right away. I read it up to the point where you are asked to actually do stuff, and even a little bit past that point, and then I put it away until I had time (which, as you know, never really happens). I did sign up for her newsletters (which are awesome, by the way!) and when I saw her offering a free online video workshop, enrolled right away.
That was the first time ever I've heard about CreativeLIVE. Their main idea is offering great video courses online, with the opportunity to watch the streaming videos on the day of the course for free (plus, you can participate in the chat). If you want to re-watch it later, you have to pay. I loved Jennifer's class (although it is very challenging to dedicate the whole day to something like this, while also taking care of the kids). My head was spinning by the end of each day, from the amount of information given in both the course and the chat accompanying it, and my own ideas. I made quite a few connections with creative people of all kinds of professions and I am definitely going to attend more CreativeLIVE courses.
Now, back to the Right Brain Business Plan (abbreviated as RBBP). The main feature is the connection between your creative, intuitive self, and the real world of business and money-making. These are some of the questions Jennifer asks on her website, and it's a "yes" to all of them for me:
Do you dream of making a living doing what you love?
Does the very thought of writing a business plan make your skin crawl?
Are you looking for a fun and accessible way to map out your business success?
Right now, I am at the very beginning of it. I created my vision collage. The process was very intuitive and soul-searching in itself. I think being in my current creatively-adventurous-30-paintings-in-30-days mood helped quite a lot with letting go and seeing what I come up with. And what I came up with is this accordion book you can see below and, in flattened-out version, at the top of the post. I made the book itself out of a manila file folder, by cutting it in half horizontally, gluing the pieces together, scoring and folding the pages. The stuff I glued on it came from magazines, catalogs, and internet. And prints of my own artwork :)
I had quite a few revelations while I was working on it. My MAJOR revelations were 1) that the work/life (im)balance is the source of greatest stress for me right now and 2) that I really need a support group. The latter was surprising, because I've always thought I would be glad to just lock myself in my studio cave and paint my life away. Turns out, I need a little bit of good people now and then :)
Here is a little summary of the ideas in the collage:
- Get more of my art into more homes.
- Have a dedicated studio outside of my home, one that can also serve as a gallery and a teaching space. See if you can find my "Artist's Butler" :) Hey, a girl can dream...
- Travel.
- Teach. I want to launch an online painting course this year!
- Get a mentor. Become a mentor. Find a support group.
- Have work/life balance. Easier said than done, but I guess naming the problem is the first step to solving it, eh?
- Enter and win shows and competitions. Get featured in magazines and online.
- Travel more!
