secrets and segregations

is it REALLY feb 1st? yow! this year is in a rush! although i must say, i'm in no mood to rush through it...my craft-bone has started to tickle again, so i've put up all the hoidy toidy stuff for a bit to get with the flow. it feels good to be back in my studio without guilt or stomach pain! at least i'm doing Something here! and since most of it looks like Someone Else's, then there's no stress about showing it or selling it....it's all for me me me. and maybe a friend or two. there's so much chatter lately about art vs craft, and also copycatting someone's work. you know, i don't feel like there's a difference between art and craft. yes, i look at a Jackson Pollock differently than i would, say, a crochet TP holder, but trying to define the difference sometimes just seems like a waste of time. they can each be an outward expression of a soulful musing that needs to see the light of day. each are crafted with the fiber of the artist interpreting the urging within them. if you tell one they are "just" craft, then where do you draw the line? and really, is it just the U.S. that needs this distinction? and then what about folk art? some would argue that those rough hewn wooden roosters are tacky tacky tacky. some would look at a Jackson Pollock and wonder who's kid got into the Paint-N-Spin. so let's all just get along, huh? GO MAKE SOMETHING! as for copying....i am okay with the notion that you take a class to learn a technique to incorporate into your bag-o-tricks. some classes you go to are set up to teach a specific project. some just show you some techniques and then...off you go to use your knowledge. my work is a gumbo of all i've learned from others, all i've made up on my own, and the rest - that comes from a place so special and wonderful...my soul. i'm sure one famous artist could look at some of my work and say "hey! i do that!" another would notice their technique here or there. however...and this is the crux of it...NONE of my work ends up looking anything like any of their work. it is my vision. i may solder 2 bits together, but that does not make me a copier of opie o'brien or sally jean. i may use wire to hold beads on, but that does not mean i'm copying nina (as if i could come close to her magnificent work!). there is certain satisfaction and fullfillment in kanoodling and meditating on a shadow of a flicker of a feeling of an idea until you can snatch it from the air as it flits past...taunting you...then bringing that idea to birth. that is where the meat of it is. i don't give workshops that teach things i feel proprietary. i don't want to share those techniques. it would hurt me to see someone else copy them, knowing how hard i worked to bring it from start to finish. it's not that i am the only one in the world to do such-and-such, but the technique feels like a child that i want to hold close to me for a bit. so i will teach other things, or share tips and tricks that have already grown and left the nest, but some things....not yet. i guess this reflective mood is coming from the ice storm outside....the house and trees are encased. remember those trick ice cubes with the fly in them? that's me right now! little diva was up most of the night with tummy trouble. today she's mopey. it's hard for her to walk on the crusty-topped snow, so i'm trying to help her. we keep shoveling a path for her out back, but the untouched areas hold her interest more. she has a little splotch of pink on her forehead. blush from a compact. she loves pink. you just say the word "pink" and her ears are up like radar. silly girl. well i guess i've procrastinated here enough. time to get something done. but i can't tell you what. :) L.