I recently discovered a podcast call Startist Society. It was an instant hook--I think I kind of did a binge listen at some point and then realized I should slow down. Good thing, too, because the creators (Laura Lee Griffin and Nikki May) decided to go on a break.
In one podcast, the featured guest was Peggy Dean. Now you probably know Peggy Dean, or maybe you've heard about her? If you haven't, let's just say she's one amazing artist who finally identified what it is I am. And do.
The term she uses is MULTI-PASSIONATE. In the podcast, she talks about building a multi-passionate career. Why is that important to me? Well, for the longest time I've been telling myself that I should focus on doing just one thing. If it's pattern design, I should just do pattern design. If it's sculpting art dolls, it should be just that.
In a sense, it's why I gravitated towards making art dolls. I not only got to sculpt, I got to paint and sew as well. I could even take the painting and sewing as far as I wanted to depending on the concept I had for the doll. But it wasn't enough for me. I still wanted to keep exploring other disciplines. And all the time, at the back of my mind, there existed that lingering doubt.
Then along comes Peggy Dean and just like that, I felt better! In fact, I now feel so relieved, I'm going to confess that I'm doing three things at once. Well, not exactly at once. The appropriate word is simultaneously.
First off, I have another website that's dedicated to proofreading services. HUWAAT??? You read it right. I took a course in proofreading. Took me forever, mind you. It's one thing to be checking students' essays about a work you assigned. It's quite another to have to go through essays about toaster ovens, cabinets, and even Facebook. The good thing is that when you're in the zone, it doesn't really matter what the darned essay is about anymore. You're just there hunting down bad punctuation (among other things).
Then I enrolled in Liz Kohler-Brown's class on Class Creation. I know her from her Skillshare classes. When I first received the email announcing the class, I decided I had to just focus on my proofreading and the art doll sculpting. Then a few days later, boom! I was in.
All I can tell you about that is I came home from church (where I do all my wheedling and whining and soul-searching), checked my email, saw another missive from Liz and clicked on the button. It felt right--no buyer's remorse a few seconds later or at any time after that.
That's number two.
Number three is I'm also taking a class on sculpting art dolls with cold porcelain. Are you still with me? I would've shown you something of the cold porcelain but just as I was about to make some, I realized I didn't have any cornstarch. So our cold porcelain show and tell will have to wait.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to announce that I'm once again part of this year's AWEtober. Every year, children's book illustrator Shirley Ng-Benitez invites several artists, writers, publishers, and even editors to be part of a project that benefits different organizations. The participants put up an original work of art, a critique session, etc., for auction on Instagram.
Last year, I had an art doll for the auction. This year, I did't have enough time to make one worthy of an auction so I decided to put one of my digital designs on a notebook and a mug. It was also, I thought, an opportunity to try out a company called Stationery HQ recommended by someone from YouTube.
Since my guiding word is Shoshin, I put the included the word Wonder in the design. This was one that I had just hanging out in my Procreate files. Then I decided that I'd add this year's AWEtober badge so that the notebook and the mug can serve as souvenirs of the event as well.
My auction runs until the 25th of this month. You can find it on my Instagram account (@artdollstories) or by using #Awetober in your search so you can see all the other items being auctioned.
That's it for for this post. Hopefully I can show you some progress on the cold porcelain sculpts soon!