enlightening experience

i was in chapel hill last weekend doing one of my favorite art shows. i met an artist named Beverly, after talking we found that we had a lot in common with our art career journeys. when you find someone that you share your own true nature with you can talk for hours and hours. it feels so good to be able to get it all out to a person that actually understands and is also as interested as you are.

she asked if she could do a little blog on me on her blog called art prescription, so we set up a phone call and just talked. now what i want to share with you before i share her blog is the enlightening experience that happened while talking with her.

an enlightening experience is when you are aware of what you are doing but you are not really aware of how it affects you in a deep true scense of what makes you who you really are.

so once you actually hear your self say it and you have to express it you become aware of how it affects you.

she asked me about licensing and why i would be reluctant to have my designs mass marketed. so i responded with." ive been doing what i do which is art shows and selling my handmade items to stores for about 12 years now, and if i didn't do these 2 things i would feel empty and depressed. i get my joy from interacting with people and seeing them purchase my art and see how they are inspired by something that i created. that is what keeps me going and is what motivates me to keep doing what i do. if i were to sit at my desk all day and paint which i couldn't do anyway because my art is a spontaneous inspiration i can only paint when i feel it in my soul to get out. that's when i create art that speaks to me and others.

but to not be able to interact would be very depleting to me. and this is how Ive always done it. to be able to sell my things to a store and have them call me and place a reorder because they sold everything, well.. this is a good day. that's what keeps me going.

so to have a beautiful day like last weekend where i worked my butt off to get ready for this show, as i do all of them, then wake up in the morning and drive 2.5 hours and set up my booth and sell my art work for 6 hours then pack down and drive home. and think of all the people i met and talked to and that purchased my work. this is a good day, this is where i find my most happiness, this is what makes me, this is it.......

now i did not know this was true until i heard my self say it. i had a goal that liscensing was the here all be al,l and once i reached that point i would be to my up most success. not that i did ultimately reach it but i was presented with some offers recently and turned them all down because i do not want to loose what truly makes me happy. and that is, doing what i have always done. so see sometimes you don't realize that you are reaching for happiness in other places and all along its right in front of you. this was my enlightening experience.....but i had to hear myself say it to know for sure. having these enlightening experiences is what makes us wise and confident..............here is what she wrote.http://artprescription.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/a-stand-out-in-the-crowd-featured-artist-michelle-defillipo/