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A few days ago I managed to go see the exhibition Savage Beauty at the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum) in London.
I didn’t know much about McQueen or the exhibition itself before going and if truth be told, thought it would have been a completely different type of exhibition until someone at my day job mentioned it was about fashion.

After having been to the exhibition I wanted to write something fantastic about it. But while looking for pictures to use in this post all the emotions I had experienced came rushing back and I found myself doubting if I would be able to do it justice. I just wasn’t sure if I could accurately describe the sense of awe it inspired in me.

The first room with its concrete walls and a warehouse kind of look. The fashion torn, fabric frayed. Uniforms and tailored outfits. The second room dim-lit, covered from floor to ceiling with elegant gold framed mirrors and the fashion in leather, latex and feathers. The wooden room with kilt inspired gowns, some of them reminding me of the neoclassical empire cut dresses. Some of the robes seemed to have come straight out of a story book, fit for some great empress with billowing red fabric and incredible head pieces.
I must say that despite not being overly enthusiastic about fashion I was amazed. The sheer volume was incredible and I loved how you could see the different cultural but also historical influences in the various garments. Like the kimono inspired dress and the rugby influenced attire.

I can not say what was more fantastic the fashion or the spaces constructed to hold it. Every room as grand as the next; the darkened room with skull and bone clad walls holding pieces inspired by meat, flesh and animals. Dresses made of brown, black and dark grey horse hair and green yellowy glitter (paste?). The immense space several meters high with black box-framed creations, giving the sensation of having stepped right into the section of McQueen’s mind where he might have imagined them. Stacked on top of each other, dresses, accessories, shoes and more.

I didn’t know a lot about McQueen, and only know slightly more now but I was truly impressed.

What an incredible job the V&A did of displaying and enlightening us of Mr McQueen’s legacy! It is sure to linger in the hearts of many for a long time to come.

Disclaimer: I’m not claiming to know the exact fact about McQueen or any of his work, this was purely the impression the exhibition left with me.

-jeanie

As an aspiring artist I find that you need to be really and truly dedicated to what you do to have any hope of getting where you want to be. But what does that actually mean? Personally I like the word dedication and I’m sure I’m not alone to think how important dedication and being dedicated is.
As someone who’s first language isn’t English and to some native speaker as well I’m sure, you sometimes think you know what a word means; but if asked to explain the meaning of the word though find a certain lack of words. I think this is quite natural with a language such as English with it’s vast vocabulary and every so often i like to look up words to see if I know their true meaning or otherwise educate myself.
Dedication: “The quality of being dedicated or committed to a task or purpose”

I was quite surprised when I found this definition, to me it didn’t seem to include the full scope of the meaning of the word. However if we instead look at “dedicated”
Devoted to a task or purpose. Exclusively allocated to or intended for a particular purpose.

Now this seems more like it. I think that anyone who has a passion or a dream, be it football, ballet, poetry or art will be able to relate to this. And anyone who knows a person like this should read this if they want to understand them better. This also applies if your passion is dentistry or accountancy, but for someone who does or want to do acting, dancing, art or any other non typical occupation this is on a different level.
For someone who wants to be a programmer or a lawyer I’m not saying it will be easy, I’m sure that it is, it’s own type of struggle. But at the end of the day once you have educated yourself, be it at a prestigious university or years and years of evening and weekend courses, there is always the possibility to eventually get employment doing what you like.

As an artist however whether you studied for years or happen to be naturally talented the likelihood of getting employed as an artist is minuscule. When i say artist just to be clear, I mean someone who paints paintings or sculpts sculptures. I don’t mean someone who does graphic design that can work for a advertisement company or the person who illustrates for books, even though these are likely highly competitive.

As an artist there are two main choices; get employment and have an income until your art work can sustain you or live as a poor artist doing art and struggling to get by until hopefully you are able to sustain yourself. Actually there is also option three: have a wealthy family, partner or patron who supports you so you can fully focus on art… how ever this doesn’t apply to most people.

So after what seems like the most long winded way possible; anyone who chose option one like myself, its not easy.

The sheer amount of will power it sometimes takes to sit down and work on your art after you come home from a long day at work, with half the week still to go, when all you want to do is to relax a bit before going to bed. When you have to say no to going out with friends to perfect the design. When you try to explain that just because you aren’t at work doesn’t mean you aren’t working. When you spend your lunch break, the transit time to and from work sketching and making notes. When you miss the person you like but have to keep on going.
That is dedication to me.

I love making art so for me it’s a price I’m happy to pay.

-jeanie

Have you ever had a feeling or an idea that felt so amazing that you felt you had to realize it? An idea so great it couldn’t possibly become anything short of fantabulastic? So inspiring that you just had to get started straight away?

I find that when these ideas hit for me, they rarely do so on their own. One idea sparks the next and while the creativity is bubbling that inspires new ideas until you almost feel the need to stop thinking to leave room to actually realize them, preferably all at once. Or the one thing that is even more frustrating; when you come up with new ideas as you are working on something else that you feel so strongly about you’re ready to abandon the current project.
It really is tempting to start a new project the instant you think of them but I’ve found that is quite useful to not always give in to the impulse. If the idea is a genuinely good idea it will survive the completion of a current undertaking, Whereas if the idea really wasn’t that great when you come back to it after a few days or weeks it will feel very obvious your time was better spent else where.

It is easy to say however and not as easy to do. Currently I’m working on my partners logo, redesigning a tattoo for my mom, started a water color painting as a gift and feeling highly inspired to start a big new project… It seems like I still need some practice when it comes down to it. But I don’t mind it’s all a learning curve that will shape me as an artist and a person.

-jeanie

Documenting my progress has always been something I’ve made a habit out of, because by the time you finish a painting you will have forgotten what it looked like half way through. That one particular moment when you were ready to give up but pushed through it and ended up with a great painting for it.

As you do when you really get into something; I decided to take it one step further and make a video out of it to really be able to see the whole process. After spending ridiculous amounts of time researching software and hardware alike, calculating how many photos I would like, based on the desired length of the final piece, I got myself a camera and set it to take a photo every five seconds…

Eight months later I finished my painting with a smile on my face and a sense of accomplishment. With +15k photos, swallowing up 103 GB of my hard drive I set out on a patients trying mission to make it into a video.
Another three weeks later I completed the editing and here is the result:

-jeanie

So the moment of truth, if this test is successful this will post to my blog and the fb page simultaneously.
Let’s see if it worked!

– jeanie

It is funny how something so inconspicuous as balance or the lack of it can make such a big difference.
As a creative person I am only starting to begin to understand how my need to create dictates what balance is to me. And the fact that I get increasingly irritable when I don’t allow myself the time to be creative is altogether new to me.
Like most people living in a big city there never seems to be enough time for all the have to’s and all the want to’s.
With information available at a click of a finger the amount of frustration and impatience that builds up when you don’t have time to do the things you love.
Personally I found this site helpful in changing my way of relating to things. As well as allowing my self to work on my art regularly in what ever small way.

-jeanie

You start with a blank canvas and a rough idea.
An idea so vivid and clear in your head
and yet to take on a physical form.

As you sketch, the idea develops and becomes reality,
slowly evolving into something tangible.
The itching in your fingertips,
the anxiousness and excitement to get started.
The white of the canvas waiting for you,
looking at you as if in question of what it is to become.

When the idea is finally polished into depth, space and perspective
and the idea matches the sketch,
how high aren’t the expectations.

As you prepare the canvas
what you really want is to paint,
the creator in you impatient, eager to get out.
This the most tedious part of painting
but an essential part non the less.

And before you know it, the time for painting is upon you.
The explosive urge to get started,
now replaced with a sense of calm.
All the pieces that needed ironing out,
neatly folded and put away.

All that remains is the joy of creating,
seeing it spring forth as it comes to life before you.
Feeling as if completely shielded from everything,
An absolute calm so at peace with the world
and yet at the same time the anticipation
mixed with intrigue.

A mind so clear on what lies ahead of you,
even thought the path is uncertain.
Painting becomes your own world,
you are in charge, without worries or problems,
just moments to learn and improve from.
Anything is possible and you have all the tools to achieve your goals.
An ethereal calm; first a line then a brush stroke,
an incredible joy simmering under the surface.

As if looking through someone else’s eyes
that patch of blue becomes distant skies.
This spot of brown an eye studying you curiously.
As if woken out of trance, almost seeing for the first time,
the white square is no more.”

I was recently reading a discussion about weather art had to have a meaning or not. This is something I have thought about a lot as an artist that focus on beauty.

I think you can either make the argument that everything has a meaning to someone regardless of how deep or almost nothing has a meaning in the sense of the profoundly deep. A chair maker is unlikely to have a deep conceptual meaning in mind for his latest chair other than to make it comfortable. (No disrespect to craftsmen, I’m just guessing here).

But I think when most people say art has to have a meaning, what they are really asking about is the concept. E.g a sculpture of a dog and a boy could symbolize loyalty and never ending bonds between friends and so on, in a world that is becoming increasingly online based.

In my opinion as an artist if you feel one day like painting a yellow square just because you were in the mood for it I think that is fine too. If someone comes along and wants to buy it isn’t that just a marvelous bonus?
The person will either feel something when looking at this yellow square or maybe it will make them remember a childhood memory or that funny incident at the market. Or it might just add a bit of light and joy to their living room.

I don’t think every artist on the planet has to devote themselves to highly thought provoking art.

Does art have to have a meaning? It already does.
Just like the meaning of the chair is somewhere to sit down and rest your legs, raised above the dirt on the floor, I believe the meaning of all art is to enrich our lives, in any and every way possible.

– jeanie

In a world where you are not the only one doing what you do, how do you stand out?
How do you make it with such an abundant amount to compete with?

Lets face it very few people get a “lucky break” and are rocketed into their career of choice by a good Samaritan who introduce you to everyone you need to know. And not very many have the rich family that we all sometimes secretly wish we had, supporting us, so that we would be able to focus fully on our passion.

If you like me like to create and when its no longer only about sending off CV;s and cover letters to find the right employer (who is looking for someone of your caliber at the same time that you are looking for someone to hire you).
When it is all a matter of being self sufficient despite thousands or tens of thousands of others of similar skill and strengths. And even more who by far are your superior in the subject you love, all competing for the same thing. How do you give yourself a chance to succeed?

Resilience.

I keep pushing on through the failed attempts, keep trying after every lost competition and every rejection. Telling every person I meet about my art one person at a time. Always thinking of new ways to show my art. Having the strength to stand strong and never lose hope and sight of my dream. Enduring with saint like patience, waiting for my own moment to come. Building a presence, marketing myself, improving my skills and learning new ones and doing everything in my power to succeed.

For when all those who are just as good or better than you have changed priorities, given up on art, changed career, temporarily stopped creating for one reason or another, you will find yourself competing with good odds of reaching your goal.

In an attempt to launch myself in to the public eye I decided to try thinking outside the box. It is after all seemingly the solution to everything these days. Having had a first try at this I realise how much more challenging this actually is.

If the box is everything that has been tested and works properly the outside of that box is every idea that is yet to be tried out and determined if successful or not and with it all the problems and issues of an untested fresh idea. So why would I or anybody else for that matter bother with heaps of additional problem when there are plenty of good solutions available?

For most “good” just isn’t enough, for me the sheer amount of other people already using the inside of the box means I will easily get lost in the crowd or if unlucky not even found to begin with. If I can manage to get past issues I meet I may have a much better chance of getting to where I want to be.

On the agenda right now; how do I make a company realize/ convince them they need something they do not yet know they need?

To be continued …