Vigorous and Random Triathlon

"Dragon Tears"

It's been ages it feels since I've written and I have so much to tell you!

Where to start?

I'll do a lightning flash run through:

~Yesterday I brought 6 pairs of earrings to The Whitney. I'm not sure when they will go on display but I'll let you know! I'm very excited (even if none of them sell) and thankful to have such a great opportunity! One of the pairs is called "Dragon Tears Sprouts". The are the siblings to "Dragon Tears" above.

~Also yesterday I taught my first paid yoga class at a place called Iwona Yoga in Queens. I had 9 students and it was truly an amazing and nerve-wrecking experience. I was a sub for another teacher (Iwona, who owns the studio). She called me just a couple hours before the class started. I was up in Manhattan at the time so I planned my class on the subway ride home, ran from one transfer stop to another and made it in time to cram a piece of toast in my mouth, yoga pants on my legs and hop on my bike and bike over as quickly as possible (20 minutes from my apartment). The class I was subbing for was "Vigorous Vinyasa" so I did my best to get some flow and sweat going in the class. I was totally nervous when I started and I'm sure it showed but everyone seemed happy at the end and Iwona still wants me to teach regularly! After my running, biking and yoga-ing I felt like I did a random triathlon. I was pooped and wound up at the same time. What a day!

~Today is a more mellow day (at least as far as running around goes). I have about a zillion pairs of earrings to make for Artists and Fleas in two weeks and for Bliss Boutique. Ashley gave me her old CD player to I'm finally able to rock out to some old school CDs in the studio, drink "Russian Caravan Tea" and get to work!

~When Mikel and I went to Alfred for senior shows we were VERY lucky to also peek into Julie Moon's studio (she's a grad student). She's a freakin' ceramics rock star. Here are some images I took:

I know they aren't the best images but seriously! Check out her website!

~ Also yesterday, (as if I didn't do enough!) I ordered a 3"x 3" stamp that looks like this:

I hope it looks this cool when I get it and use it. I'll see! I want to be able to stamp packages and bags when I sell stuff or send letters, etc. It's kinda spooky but also eye catching I think!

~A final note about inspiration: I had a lovely tea date with my friend Blaise on Tuesday before meditation. We were talking about inspiration and art education (two things hugely on my mind lately). I was talking about the fact that inspiration comes randomly and the only thing we can do as creative people is learn to recognize inspiration when it comes and to learn what to do with it. Blaise made an excellent point then and I hope I am paraphrasing it well enough. She said that inspiration is everywhere, that it's possible to just wait and wait and not see it anywhere. It takes effort to see it! I like this point of view because it is a more active approach to finding/seeing/noticing inspiration, like we can do things to change our lens and see inspiring things around us and that once our lens is changed we see more and more!

The question is: How do we change our lens so we can see inspiration that already exists around us?

I will be also interviewing Blaise in my "conversations with artists" series. She is an amazing writer so it will be fabulous to read her responses. I have a feeling I will be getting responses back from all of the artists I send questions out to at once and then have a long stretch of interviews, but for now, the blog train continues! I hope you are having a great week. Yay Friday!