Embracing the New You

When you've been stuck somewhere, whether it be a physical location, or a job, or even a state of mind or action - it's easy to cling to it no matter how much it might be the exact opposite of where you want to be. While this seems like it could very well be counter-intuitive, humans are incredibly adaptable beings. We're practically the only animal on the face of the earth that can actually manipulate our surroundings to be something homey and familiar. When a tiger is placed in a iron cage, it can't plant trees and make it seem like a jungle. When we're placed in a cubicle, we can decorate our bland grey fabric walls or put up pictures, we can sneak off to play facebook games or play Words With Friends in the bathroom on our iphones. Humans are really sneaky in that we find ways to make threatening or new environments very, very familiar.

However, when you are on the cusp of moving onto towards your dream, towards something bigger and greater and more YOU, it can be very scary. Our minds will play tricks on us and you'll do whatever you can not to move forward towards the new. When you've finally succeeded in getting that new position or have landed a solo show or got admitted to the school of your dreams or got juried into some giant convention that's far away, you are now suddenly thrown into a situation that is unfamiliar. You're probably used to playing in the minor leagues, and now you're playing against hall-of-famers and your own idols. You're selling your prints next to the biggest names in the art world or you now have to figure out how to quickly produce thousands of handmade items you used to make yourself. Whatever it is, when you're getting close to your goal, new situations, unfamiliar terminology, different and new challenges will appear - and these are all things that make you want to run away and cower behind your old desk, your old job, your old familiar surroundings. To paint how you've always painted, to do things as you've done before, just so we won't have to face the new. But if you continue to do so as you've always done before, you will never embrace the awesomeness that you were meant to be.

It's okay, anything new is always a bit scary. However, we can't let the fear stemming from these new challenges inhibit our success.

You see, it's the Old You that doesn't know how to source national distributors, or how to navigate an international licensing contract. The Old You doesn't know what the art director for the Times wants, or how to manage a team of Disney animators. Perhaps the Old You doesn't know what its like to show in a group show, or how to fill out a call-for-entries form for Spectrum, or what it's like to vend at a craft fair. No matter what level you're on, stepping up to the next evolution of You is frightening, but remember that it is the Old You that doesn't know these things.

The New You, the successful one, is the one that has figured it out. Sure, there might have been momentary set-backs, stumbling points, and a steep learning curve, but you're now one step closer to your ultimate dream. Don't balk from the opportunity to dance with the stars or paint with the legends if you get that opportunity. Maybe you're not ready, but say "yes" anyway. Don't let yourself talk your way out of evolving towards your dreams because you're scared of what might happen. Ever notice that in epic sagas, the hero is always in over their head until the very end, when somehow, some way, they manage to exceed everyone (including their own) expectations of themselves and save the day? It's because that's the way it works. You evolve by stepping up to the plate and getting things done one step at a time.

Let go of the Old You and prepare to evolve a step. While it'll be scary, and can very well be difficult, the rewards are also always that much more amazing and plentiful the deeper the plunge you're willing to take. Now embrace the New You and let's get to work.

Cutting Out The Clutter

The sad, embarrassing truth about Monkey's forlorn desk..

Between the crazy-fast speed of the internet, television, movies, and video games, there are more than enough distractions to last a lifetime of lifetimes. Whether your are addicted to video games (like Monkey), television shows (regardless of how good they are), or anything else, you've got to get organized.

Notice we didn't say that you need to quit these things cold-tofurkey. Our brains need a break every once and a while, and nice distractions like Facebook or board games or the newest Xbox 360 title are great ways to tune off for a while. The danger lies when these distractions really take over and suddenly you've found that you've lost three hours playing Backyard Monsters on FB.

Monkey + Seal are big fans of having outlets - while you might rise to the top quicker if you shut out all things besides your craft, we're a big fan of stability, and the stereotype of the crazy artist who does nothing but draw might be romantic, we think it only works for certain people, and at a fairly large price. If it works for you, great, but if you're like us (and chances you are if you're reading this), this is going to be unsustainable.

So, what to do when you're trying to balance your day job, your art, and all these other crazy things. Oh yeah, and a social life as well. While we've already talked about how you can't actually multitask, the idea we want to present today is that you have to cut out the clutter.

We're not the tidiest people, and especially before a show our little Monkey + Seal cave gets totally covered over with art debris. However, the type of clutter we're talking about is the clutter of life.

Whether it's too many facebook games that you feel guilty about playing, or if its a messy room that distracts you while you're painting, or if it's your email inbox getting constantly full, chances are you're feeling like you need seven hands, or possibly a clone or two, to be able to handle it all. This is the clutter of life, and if you feel like we do sometimes, it is drowning your creativity.

The way out, the lifesaver, is order. Whether that means cleanliness to you, or having a rotting piece of roadkill hanging above your desk dripping black blood, whether it means waking up at 6am to write or maybe waking up at 7pm to start painting, order is whatever formula that works for you.

What we mean is that having some sort of routine (like always painting on Tuesday and Thursdays from 7pm-10pm, or making sure you have a cup of tea ready before you sit down to write), whatever it is, is super helpful to the process of creating. The hardest part about this method is that you have to stick to it. Willpower, like muscles, need to be exercised, and if you try to block off entire days every week, it might be a bit much. But, if you have a few hours set aside every week and you stick to them zealously, you'll eventually be able to increase the amount of time set towards your craft (if you so choose).

Alternatively, you can also use a timer to gauge how much time you spend on distractions. We have a handy-dandy little timer we got from a dollar store that we keep by our main computer so that we can say "We're only going to spend 15 minutes on emails," or "We'll only spend 20 minutes watching YouTube videos" or whatever sort of limits you need to set-up yourself. This way, you can focus on whatever distraction you want and then you'll have someone else watching over you to remind you when your time is up.

All in all, it isn't necessarily about eliminating fun things from your life, but it is about finding what's the right balance for you and to cut through the clutter so you can focus on your important work.

The Root of Fear and How to Defeat It

There are lots of things to be scared about in life. Giant robots, clowns, chainsaw monsters, being homeless, death, scary old rich people who don't care about other people - there's lots to be scared about. There are even giant plant/boar/fungus/frog hybrid nightmare beasts to worry about. But really, all our fears, at a very basic level, all boil down to one single fear.

This fear is what paralyzes us when we should be taking action. It keeps us awake at night worrying, it prevents us from leaving our day job. It seeps out from a deep, primal part of our brain and often times, we don't even know it. It is a fear so deeply ingrained in our mind that unless you're specifically aware of it and looking out for it, it'll operate stealthily, right under the plane of consciousness like some evil fear ninja assassinating your success.

It is the fear of being inadequate. It is the fear of not being "enough."

When we're afraid of monsters, we're afraid that we won't be strong enough to defeat them. When we're afraid of losing our jobs, we're afraid that we won't be able to find another one. When we're afraid of being abandoned, we're afraid that no one else will save us and love us. When we're afraid of people not liking us, we're afraid that no one else will. When we're afraid of asking for help, we're really afraid that no one will.

Pretty much every fear stems from this fear of inadequacy. While we may feel competent and skilled and awesome in some aspects of our life, if we're afraid of anything (which we all are), it stems from the fear of not being adequate. This fear is strongest because it is so hardwired into our head. Ever since we've been alive, we've seen other people not be enough. We've seen the hero die in horror movies, not strong enough to combat the ancient evil. We've seen business close down and people lose their homes. We've seen homeless people on the street, drug addicts on the corner, people who hate their jobs but are seemingly stuck there. We've seen people fail tests, people get kicked out of school, people who our parents talked patronizingly about or with pity. All our lives, we've seen people being punished for failing.

Because with our hyper-competitive world, there is one winner and a bunch of losers. One person takes home the grand prize, no one else does. You win the gold, or you don't. You get into the school of you dreams, or you don't. Even then, you graduate as valedictorian, or you don't. We have been conditioned from extremely young ages to believe that you are either the best or you're nothing. It's an all-or-nothing binary world that we're told we live in. We get encouraging pats on the head when we come in second, but everyone knows that it's still not first.

However, fuck all of that.

You see, your binary world is baloney. Being second place is still awesome, and failure isn't something to be ashamed of. Failing is an opportunity to learn and grow so you can come back even stronger the next time. There are millions of grand prizes out there, and truly winning is figuring out that your competition is yours alone, and really the only person playing against you is yourself. You are your biggest adversary, but you are also your biggest trump card.

You see, you are way more crazy amazing than you think you are. I can already hear you thinking "well, I'm not really that great." NO. Turn off the inner voices, shut up your parents and teachers and peers, and listen for a second.

You. Are. Amazing.

YOU (not that other person, you). Are. Amazing.

If you have read this far, it's because you're interested in whatever you are afraid of. If you're interested in what you're afraid of, it is because you want to crush that fear and move past it. If you want to crush your fear and move past it, it is because you want to change and that, dear reader, shows that you are already above and beyond most people. Most people don't care about fear, as they live by it. They are too scared and too paralyzed to even search for a way to defeat it. By showing the slightest inclination to defeating your fear, you're taking the first step to conquering it, and gosh damn that's a pretty amazing thing to do.

You have the capacity to do something amazing, and its only fear that is holding you back. Think about all the projects you'd do, or the places you'd see, or the freedom you'd feel if you could just get past that fear and doubt that you can't do it. You CAN do it.

Marshall your resources. Ask friends and family for help. Create action plans, think things out. Do your research. Start taking baby steps and you can do whatever your mind can conceive of. It might not happen as fast as you want it (Monkey wanted to be a billionaire yesterday, but that didn't happen), but if you constantly keep taking action and keep on moving forward, you will make it. I guarantee it. The only way to truly lose in life is to give up and let the fear lead your life. Just remember: you are more than adequate, you are amazing.

Why Being A Robot is Easier

Life is full of choices. We can choose what to eat for dinner, what to watch on YouTube, and what to listen to while we go jogging. We can decide what we want to paint, or which model to hire, or what sort of landscape you want to research. For the most part, we have agency.

Agency is the ability to make choices. It's basically the foundation that American was founded upon - freedom. Without agency, we'd be trapped in a pre-programmed cycle that is boring, predictable, and completely out of our control. We'd basically be robots. We would do whatever we were programmed to do, function how the overseers would tell us to function. Pretty craptastic life, if you'd ask me.

So while I don't think any of us would want to be mindless robot sheep-lemming creatures sitting in a box, often times we make the mistake of giving up our agency to others. We decide that its a lot easier to go the way of the robots and just throw our hands in the air, close our eyes, and follow blindly.

You see, responsibility is the burden that comes along with agency. If we choose to do something, we have to take responsibility for the consequences. Too many of us want the freedom of agency yet make excuses about not acting how we'd really like to. If you want to get into galleries, you have to send gallery owners/curators your work. If you aren't showing in a gallery, and you haven't sent anyone your portfolio, you can't say "Oh, they wouldn't take me anyway" - that's being irresponsible. You need to take ownership of your life and take responsibility, even (and especially if) that means fessing up: "I'm too afraid to send my portfolio to gallery XYZ." There is nothing wrong with being afraid. Fear is a biological necessity that keeps us from killing ourselves doing stupid things. However, we have to learn when being afraid is holding us back from realizing our potential as amazing human beings.

Lots of time we cut ourselves short and underestimate how great we really are. Excuses prevent us from really growing because it shields us from the sometime harsh reality - we have a lot more agency than we think. While we might constantly give it away with excuses like "I ran out of paint," "my boss won't let me," "the bus was late," we need to take responsibility for our shortcomings so we can overcome them. Buy more paint, or borrow some, or ask for some on Craigslist. Quit your job, tell your boss off, call in sick. Get a cab, steal a bike (please don't), start running.

The scary truth is that we are often at fault. While we don't condone victim blaming here at Monkey + Seal (ie survivors of domestic violence, women being harassed for wearing short skirts, people who are mugged in areas of a city with a higher crime rate), we do think that for a lot of our life if we want to grow and shine and realize our true potential, we have to accept responsibility and move beyond our limitations. The difference between victim blaming and owning up to your life is that if you are a victim, you have had your agency taken away, and if you are a frustrated artist who wants to take your game to the next level, you're giving your agency away.

So, while being a robot is probably a lot easier (they also have laser beam eyes, which is useful for just about everything), you're not a robot. You're not even an automaton. You're a human being with the power and responsibility to shape your own life. Realize that you're stronger/wiser/craftier/talented/amazing than you think, and choose to do something that is a step towards realizing your dream today.

A Blueprint for Quitting Your Day Job

So Seth Godin and the team of awesome-makers over at the Domino Project came up with something called Trust30, a daily writing challenge that would take place over 30 days that will focus you onto doing something that we tend to forget about - trusting ourselves.

Monkey decided to take this challenge and has been posting over at his own blog Politics:Art:Culture on a daily basis. We thought that one post in particular, titled "A Blueprint for Quitting My Day Job" was especially relevant to all the artists out there following our blog. The topic was being bold - participants were asked what one thing that they have been afraid of pursuing would they pursue, what obstacles were in their way, and how were they going to overcome it.

While I can say that I'm pretty lucky in terms of owning some businesses, getting to paint, etc. etc., the one thing I've always been afraid to pursue is doing art full time. I've had numerous business ideas and different product lines and whatnot, but I've yet to really formulate a strong business plan and formulate a plan for a wholesale line or work.

Having a fall-back job that comes really, really easy (see last post), in a way has almost become a crutch. It's not the worst job ever, and it doesn't really challenge me most of the time, and I get to talk about (not actually do, a lot of the time) art with people. I do get to teach, which is cool, but basically, I'm pretty comfortable.

So why don't I just quit? Well, the surface reason is that I have huge student loan bills, rent, etc. to pay every month, and if I were to completely set out myself, I would not have any of that safety net to cover myself. Additionally, I would need to get some capital for marketing, photography, raw materials, etc. Since my monthly bills are so high, I can't afford to save. Lame.

Additionally, part of it is basic fear. Fear of failure. While the idea of failing isn't such a huge deal, I think that a failed business venture early on when I quit my dayjobs marked with the high price of failure (not being able to pay rent, getting me and Eve evicted) is frightening.

So how to go about defeating all these obstacles and doing it up right? The plan is to a)reduce risk, b)create capital, and c)make it happen.

First, reducing risk. First off, to defeat the fear of failure, I have to make it so that if I fail, nothing too bad will happen. I won't have to live on the streets, etc. etc.

In order to reduce risk, I need to basically do B, which is to create some capital. I can do this by working to create multiple alternative streams of income. This will be done via $20 illustrations, craft fairs, and getting a handcrafted license to sell on the streets of san francisco. Saving and eating out less will also help. Additionally, making a kickstarter video can also be awesome.

So I guess the last part is just doing it all. While this is an overly simplified plan of action, I already have the entrepreneurial know-how to make most of these things happen, so why not start today on my day off? Oh wait, I guess I will.

So that's Monkey's plan. What have you been afraid to achieve? How are you going to do it? What are you waiting for?

PS - Monkey is starting to do 5x7" paintings on watercolor paper for $20. He'll paint anything for you, but it will most definitely end up involving a monster in some way, shape, or form, but that's probably why you'd be buying an original painting from him anyway.

If you'd like to commission one of these little paintings, you can buy one (or more!) right here:

$20 Custom 5x7" Painting

Ex: If you told me to paint your lawn, it would probably end up like this:

Wonderland SF 1 Year Anniversary / The Undiscovered: New World/The Secret of Deadbrook

HEEEEYY YOOOUUU GUYYYYSSSSSS!

Sorry, got a sleep-deprived Goonies flashback for a sec.  Anyway, we've got two shows for your viewing pleasure coming up this Friday June 3rd!  Two shows, one night, a crapload of paintings.

First off, from 6-10pm, we were invited by the ever-awesome Irene Hernandez-Feiks to be two of the 60 featured artists in her gallery/boutique's 1 year Anniversary!  Woot!  Wonderland SF is located at 2929 24th Street (btwn Florida and Alabama) and from the list of artists, it's going to be super awesome!

Then, bus, drive, walk, bike, or jog the 10 blocks over to Oz Gallery at 3224 1/2 22nd Street for The Undiscovered: New World/The Secret of Deadbrook for our feature show!  We're both really excited about this show and we've not slept very much making sure it's an awesome experience for you.  This show will go from 8-11pm.

Monkey is personally going to be at the Wonderland show probably around 6:30, then will be headed over to Oz Gallery for the rest of the evening where he'll meet up with Seal.

Thank you so much for the support and we can't wait to see you at the show(s)!!!

Celebrate All Success!!

Monkey here once again.

Here at Monkey + Seal, we often talk about chasing your dreams and setting goals - lots of long-term type stuff. But more often or not, the reason why lots of people give up on their dreams and settle for something less is not about the long-term motivation - everyone wants to follow their dreams. However, the biggest barrier is the short term blocks, and today, I want to talk about not rewarding yourself enough.

Once we're up and running and chasing after that dream, then what? Yes, we know it's a long and tough road, but are we just supposed to suffer through this long (sometimes even a lifetime) journey? If your goal is to become a famous painter (you should probably be more specific, but continuing on..) there's a lot that's going to happen on your way there.

You're going to finish paintings, put on gallery shows, submit to curators, sell pieces, have friends show up at your events, maybe you'll do some teaching, get a residency someplace - my point is that there are a lot of little (and big) things that will continue to occur until you're famous enough that museums are asking for solo shows and paying you hundreds of thousands of dollars for your art.

Often times, dream-chasers can be so focused on the goal that you're missing the bigger picture: you have to enjoy the ride.

Seriously. Like we've said before, if your goal is to be famous, it's easy. Go assassinate someone famous, blow up a city, give into the casting couch, run on television and shoot yourself in the face or something (please don't). if you want to be famous for doing something you love, that's the hard part, but it's also the enjoyable part as well. The big difference that when you say you want to be famous, you want to be famous by doing something you love and doing it well.

When you're doing something you love, it should be fun. Yes, it can be tiring or difficult at times (especially when you're shaking and trying to hang paintings because you're running on 2 hours of sleep), but at the end of the day, you're painting or dancing or singing or acting or writing or doing whatever it is that you love to do. It's awesome - so acknowledge that and be happy!

I personally often put down my own accomplishments because it's not received with some gigantic fanfare and the like, or it's not up to my 130% uber-expectations. However, if you don't celebrate these little achievements, what's the point? Every time you finish a painting, you should think "wow, I created something," not "ugg, this turned out shitty." It's probably not nearly as bad as you think, and if you hate it so much, then it's probably not finished and you need to do more work.

Celebrate everything, even your failures, and you'll find that the ride is becoming much more enjoyable and you'll be a lot happier. Complaining is fine, and acknowledging your weaknesses and flaws is fine, but just don't let them overshadow all that is going right with your life. Didn't sell any paintings at your recent show? That sucks, but YOU JUST HAD A SHOW! Lots of artists don't get shows. Finished a really great painting but didn't get into a show you submitted to? That sucks, but YOU JUST FINISHED A GREAT PAINTING! Lots of people couldn't paint to save their lives!

Everyone has good and bad days, successes and failures. Whether or not you're happy is all about your mindset. Enjoy the journey and the little success, and you'll find that you'll be a lot happier and the road to your goals will be much smoother.