Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Arm wrestling myself: the long-term wounds and incredible rewards of self-doubt

Finished a painting today. The strokes just 'worked', and it just came together.. but that's not always the case.

When a painting 'works', you take a step back and try to figure out why, so you can apply whatever the 'magic formula' is next time. When it doesn't work, it makes it all the harder to start the next one. --in fact, it becomes tedious work.

You toggle back and forth wondering whether you had too much self confidence at the start and took the process for granted. Then, I like to blame things that really don't have any affect on the end result-- like whatever crap music Ralph's playing. Because, you know, crap music can ruin a painting.

So, following this line of thought, the formula's the answer. John Lennon had the formula. Babe Ruth had the formula. I just need to get the formula.

But that's not it either. IF there was a formula, it would compromise the discovery and growth, and the whole process would become mundane. That's when a creative process becomes a factory product.

It's a juggling act. If it was all struggle, I'd give up and go get an office job. If it was all ease, well, then I'd get bored and go get an office job.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

New Innovation (Let the Bad Times Roll)

Not trying to paint rosy (that wasn't a painting pun) the recession and bad economy, and I'm certainly not a 'silver lining' kinda gal. But where did all these cupcake places come from?

Lots of them. And they're all up'ing the bar. GREAT cupcakes. I didn't see a cupcake 'specialty shop' 5 yrs ago.

The 'cupcake phenomena' isn't an isolated incident. It's a larger trend of people getting creative and coming up with great ideas to keep things in forward motion despite our economy standing still.
These are the people causing innovative positive change, not waiting for *things* to change.

Here in Orlando, we have great alternative art spaces thanks to curators who show art, no matter what. Frankie Messina, Michael McGrath, Steve Parker, Tre Harris --they MAKE successful art shows- with or without a gallery. Charity benefits and auctions in empty real estate open houses, craft fairs in parking lots.. so why would someone with a long-standing radio career rely on the radio to continue to do what they do best? They wouldn't.

JB WeBB is the newest innovator we've been fortunate enough to work with. Thanks to creative people like him, we all continue to move forward.