Savoring Time

(Illustration Friday Topic: Savour)

Seal here:

This week, Seal participated in Illustration Friday, a great online resource where artists can be inspired by weekly art challenges and build a creative community. The topic for this week was "Savour."

It really made me think about the idea of time: how to savour it. Time is used: to do what we enjoy doing (art), what we don't like doing but have to do (work/errands), resting (sleeping or taking breaks), or escaping (when you don't even remember what you did the last two hours, like video games, browsing the internet, or watching tv reruns - you can't even remember what you watched).

So how can we honor time? How can we savour it? How can we make use of it, whether we are creating, working, resting, or escaping, in the most effective manner? When I say "effective," I don't mean in a militant-rigid type of way, but that it's enjoyable, that you are present, and aware that you are DOING something. (Resting/breaking also count, they are also verbs, you are (do-ing) rest-ing/ sleep-ing.)

Time is flexible and pliable. Activities can either "take up a lot of time" or "we forget about time," something dreadful or dreamy feels "like forever" and other things go by in an instant ("where does the time go?" we ask ourselves).

In order to make use of our time, we need to take a look at the word: Savour.

Sa.vour. -
To appreciate fully; enjoy or relish
A distinctive quality or sensation
[to taste] (life)
The power to excite interest

Savour is a sexy word. How many of us appreciate our day and time fully? Actually smell and taste our morning coffee? Do you taste life? Are you excited? Engaged and interested in the work you are doing throughout your day? When we are creating, working, resting, or escaping, do you make the conscious decision: "this is how I will spend my next 15min, hour, half a day, a week on 'X'" ?

When we taste something and are aware of its specific distinctive qualities (a juicy, textured ripe orange), or when we are passionately interested in something, (painting the difference between the soft fur of a cat, the coldness of shiny metal, the exact curve and idiosyncratic expression of our lover's face), for that moment, we stop time. We are aware, present, enjoying, and savouring. We do not care what else is happening outside, we are engaged with life. Time is well spent.

How do you spend your time? Are you savouring it? Draw a circle. It is your pie/ pizza chart. You have 24 hours in a day: What percentage of your day is used for 1) things you like to do 2) things you don't like to do 3) resting 4) escaping? You can even draw a different chart with your own personal categories: I have one that divides: 1) Time spent on art 2) work 3) health 4) friends/ family 5) personal enrichment 6) break/ resting activities 7) entertainment. How much of your lifetime is spent on doing things you love?

Don't be alarmed if most of your pie slice consists of work or doing things for other people. (Most pie charts are unfortunately like this). The answer is to free up more time to do more of what you love. (hire an intern, a maid, a friend to do your busywork, say "no" to more workload, move into your career field, get paid to do what you love doing).

If you cannot free up more time, the trick is to savour the moment, even when you are working or doing something you don't necessarily want to do. In order to do this, you need to consciously make the decision to use that time in a specific way. "I am working from 9-4pm."

When you are conscious of the decision to use your time in a specific way, you give yourself the agency and awareness - you are choosing to do this. When it's time to work, you work. Don't daydream about your next vacation - you'll slow down the process. Get it over with and then when the time comes, you can fully enjoy your vacation. "I am resting for 30minutes before the next project." I am consciously fully resting for the entirety of 30 minutes, instead of juggling eating dinner while still working by the computer, I am enjoying and savoring my rest. You can work more efficiently after you have fully rested. Otherwise, your body will continue to run, but your mind and soul have already checked out- which is often why life feels like a blur.

When you name your time, you give yourself the permission to fully engage in that activity - you are savoring.

The last tip is you need to create personal goals in all aspects of your life.

"to contribute more at work meetings"
"enter more art competitions and craft shows"
"call friends more"
"surprise my partner, by taking out the trash first"
etc.

You can savour time, when you consciously engage to work for yourself, to mark changes in your personal growth, to choose to be present in life, no matter the activity or circumstances.

Tooting Your Horn x Chillin Productions!

There are so many factors that makes for a successful and renown artist: timing, subject matter, connections, art competitions, peers, subjective judgment, talent, and even luck. As artists we are quick to attribute our success to any of the factors accept ourselves. We are afraid to toot our own horn and take credit for all the hard work, time, energy and money we put into our work. We are afraid of being judged as "egotistical."

On the other extreme, we have artists who are quick to butt into every conversation and talk about what they did, and how great they are, and how much they contributed to the project. They ramble on and on about how awesome they are without ever stopping to take a breath or ask you your opinion and just start listing off names of other established artists who they know. Totally obnoxious and annoying.

However, there is a happy medium between being too timid and being an egotistical jerkwad. After all, in the art field, it often necessary to toot our own horn. But there is a difference between bragging (the good kind) and being an asshat. Because what we create is very personal and a reflection of what is in our imagination, we are often afraid to really talk about our own work as in essence we're talking about ourselves. However, we highly encourage you talking about your own work, but you can't get lost in your own ego.

That said, time for some cheerful bragging: So about 5-6 years ago, Monkey got invited out into the city with some friends who had heard about this event at some nightclub where there were hundreds of artists, fashion designers, with live painting and music. Although he's typically not the nightclub type of guy, because it was art, he was in. It was a huge venue with tons of awesome art, cool music, and it was a lot of fun! Even back then (this was waaay before art school, mind you), Monkey was inspired.

Fast forward a few years. Monkey hears about Chillin' Productions, and realizes that this is the VERY SAME event (well, different artists and such, but you get the idea) that he had been to so many years ago. He contacts the organizer, shows the Monkey + Seal portfolio, and although we can't make it into the next show due to a schedule conflict, we're in with the organizer, and about four months later, we're signed up for the Holiday Show!

So, after a few years of waiting, this Saturday, Monkey and Seal's art will be displayed at the Chillin’ Productions' annual Holiday show! Woot!

Over 200 Painters/Photographers
80 fashion Designers
Video Installations

Live Painting by:
Rachel Znerold
Jasper Thomas
Daryoush Bahar (www.Atussa.com)

Live Music and DJ.

When: Saturday, December 4, 2010
8:00pm-2:00am

Where: Mezzanine
444 Jessie Street, SF CA 94103
www.mezzaninesf.com
$10 at the door
Must be 21 + ID

For more details go to
www.chillinproductions.com
www.mezzaninesf.com

It should be a pretty awesome show, and we're definitely looking forward to checking out all the other awesome art and enjoying some drinks, good music, and good people. We hope to see you there!

A Change of Perspective

Hello everyone! We hope you all had a good holiday this past Thursday! Sorry for the lack of a post on Friday..we announced in on twitter, but we realized a bit late that not all our readers follow our blog... (doh!) Many apologies!

Anyhoo, while we get ready for a few different shows (we'll be hanging work and hanging out at Chillin' Production's upcoming holiday show on 12/4 at Mezzanine, vending at Big Umbrella Studio's newest show on the 9th, and we'll be at Bazaar Bizarre Holiday at Fort Mason on the 11th and 12th), here's a little something for when you feel like you're running a bit low on inspiration.

When you're running low on inspiration, a great way to get your creative juices flowing is to take something you've been currently working on and turn it on it's head. What we mean by that is taking something familiar (and that you might be getting bored with), and trying to retell it from a different point of view.

If you're telling a story about a man who sits on a chair, try retelling the story from the perspective of the chair! If you paint portraits of cats, try taking one of your favorite pieces and then paint what the cat in that portrait was looking at. If you write music, try playing a piece you've written backwards.

This technique works great as it's something utterly familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. You'll learn new things about the original piece you're basing your new creation upon, and you'll find yourself challenged by thinking in a way that you don't usually think. At the very least, you'll have something new that will challenge your conventions (which is usually just the thing to inspire you anew).

Changing up your perspective is a great tool to teach you new things about yourself, your subject, and the way that you look at things. It'll push and challenge your thinking and frame of reference, and it might even inspire a whole new body of work! Try it and let us know how it goes!

Giving Thanks

While we're not huge fans of the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner (Monkey's vegan and Seal's vegetarian), we do appreciate the holiday as a chance to reflect on all the things that we have to be thankful for.

Whether it's a nice and cozy (although sometimes cluttered) Monkey + Seal cave to live/paint in, or the fact that we get paid to be creative, Monkey + Seal both have a lot to be thankful for. We're definitely thankful that we have the privilege of being able to keep up this blog, and that we have a super group of readers out there who support us. Thus, as a little thank you, we're going to offer 20% off everything in our Etsy store from today (Wednesday, 12am PST) to Friday the 26th, 11:59 PST. When you check out, use the coupon code: "tofurkey" to get your discount!

While Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on all the things in life that we generally take for granted, we believe that there should be more Thanksgivings - maybe one every month! We find it's always a good idea to reflect once and a while to put things in perspective, especially when things are looking tough. Sure, we might not have that "perfect" art job, or we might be having a creative block where weren't not even making art, but at least we have a roof over our heads, food in our tummies, and the privilege of being able to connect to others via the internet.

So take the time to give thanks for all the awesomeness in your life, and we'd like to thank you, our readers, our customers, and our friends and family for supporting our creative endeavors and helping us thrive!

Let loose

Sometimes you just need to go ahead and draw whatever comes to mind. In our case, we decided to do some collaborative drawings one night and this came out. We were both drawing on the same sheet of bristol at the same time, and somehow this managed to come out. Monkey then digitally colored it, and here you go.

More importantly, we often hold these rigid rules in our head that dictate how/what/when we should draw, or paint, or do anything. Sometimes you need to just throw it all to the wind and let something weird come out.

If anything, you can tell that we had a lot of fun doing this piece, and we hope to do many more like this. We're not going to worry how the art comes out - as long as we're creating and having fun doing it, that's what it's all about. Keep loose and who knows, something awesome could come out!

Follow Your Instincts

In today's crazy over-exposed media-saturated world, we generally have so many competing voices in our head, it's a bit difficult to follow your own natural instincts. However, listening to your essential self and figuring out what you really want or need to do is key in developing your artistic voice.

While at times we might force ourselves to paint or draw because we think that we need to constantly paint or draw in order to advance our craft, or because you have an illustration due, or a gallery show coming up, but if at all possible, you should try to create when you want.

Monkey deals with this often, as he constantly waits until the last minute to suddenly have a burst of creative energy (usually out of desperation) that will burn him out. He will put the business aspect of making art first, and then two nights before he has to hang he'll be up both nights painting non-stop. Monkey definitely wants to get over this, so he can be more sustainable and not have these do-or-die situations (that generally aren't that fatal in the first place).

Sometimes it'll be late at night, and you'll really want to paint. Follow your instinct! Get up and paint even if it's late at night, or you're tired, or whatever whatever. Alternatively, if you think you really should be painting, but you don't really feel creative, or you just aren't in the mood, don't! Take a break! You don't want your art to be that dreaded, boring, painful thing that you HAVE to do. Ideally, if you set up a regular routine and create on a schedule, eventually you'll have enough time where you can take breaks even if you have deadlines.

All in all, make sure you do what you have to do to get your work done, but make sure that you're in touch with your inner self and follow your instincts!

Are You a First Generation Artist?

Are you a first-generation artist? What I mean is: have you had parents, grandparents, or a close relative who passed on to you the secrets to being a successful artist? If you were lucky, I hope you were able to answer “yes” to the above question. But for most of us, the truth is, we’re probably the first artists in our family/ community. That, in itself makes it difficult to pursue art. If “life was a race,” not only were you way behind the starting line, you also had a ball-and-chain on your leg.

When I told my high school counselor that I wanted to be an art director, she nearly laughed and said, “Well, we don’t really have a program for that kind of thing. . . Have you thought of a more sustainable occupation, like being a nurse? Or a mechanic? There are always jobs in that field.”

I grew up in small working town. My high school had electives for trade jobs, such as trainings for nurses and mechanics. The school offered one art class in 8^th grade, where you can learn how to doodle your name in bubble letters and cut out images from old National Geographic magazines for collages. However, if I wanted a profession in government, law, or science, they had special AP/ Honors courses and teachers were quick to point you in the direction of known schools for such endeavors: Berkeley, Yale, Columbia, etc. They might even offer to transfer you to a more aspiring prep school. But if I asked them, “How do I become an artist?” “What kind of training should I get” “Where should I go” they didn’t know what to tell me. It is difficult, even now, to find our tribe as artists. To find an environment in which you belong that fosters your success as an artist.

Our society already has its ideas about what it means to be an artist: Goals are measured by numbers and statistics. Academic intelligence is favored instead of creative ingenuity. Also, we have very conflicting views about what it means to be a successful artist. It is often labeled synonymously with “mainstream sellouts.” It’s no wonder, that we find it very hard to even begin pursuing art.

Let me describe to you the necessary components that make for a successful person. The following list below is paraphrased from author and motivational speaker, Barbara Sher, who has compiled a thorough list). It is important to uncover our early associations with art and success. Do any of the following apply to you?

1) Since birth, were you always treated as if you had creative ingenuity, a special and unique creative contribution?

2) Were you told you could be anything? (If you told them you wanted to be a janitor cleaning underneath the sewers of New York or become a burlesque Las Vegas dancer, were you encouraged? Supported? Helped? Did you get the message “you can be anything” directly or indirectly?

3) Were you encouraged to explore all aspects of your dreams? ALL of them. And if your dreams changed were you still supported without caution, or dissuasion? (This also applies along gender roles: if you were a “girl” and wanted to do contact “extreme” sports/construction work/president of the United States were you encouraged? Or if you were a “boy” and wanted to be a dancer/baker/fashion designer were you encouraged?)

4) Did you receive help? If they did not know how to help you, did they “look it up” or offered to find your other means of resources? (“let’s go to the library” “I know a friend who’s an artist, let me introduce you” etc.)

5) If you failed, how did they respond? Were you helped without reproach? Were you allowed to complain? Listened to without judgment? (Many women are often offered “help” with a condescending “don’t you worry you’re pretty little head” “you can just quit and come home, darling.” Or “there’s always marriage . . .” as if these were good helpful alternatives to your dreams.) (And many men are encouraged to bulldoze their way to success without complaints “pick yourself by your bootstraps, lads!” “don’t be a sissy and get out there!”)

6) When you were successful, were you celebrated? Congratulated? Were you surrounded by other successful winners who were pleased with you? Or were you met with jealously and or guilt?

7) Are your dreams in line with or different than what you feel is expected of you? Do you feel that you have met your family/ cultural/ national expectations?

8) Finally, are you the first generation of artists in your immediate family? If you have an “artistic problem to solve,” do you have someone you can come to unreserved?

Having truthfully answer all the questions above will give you a better insight as to the road that was paved for you since early childhood and explain why it may be difficult now as an adult to follow the path of an artist. I certainly hope that you are able to say yes to all of the above. But if you didn’t, it doesn’t make you less of an artist. It is very sad and unfair to not have received early encouragements to be an artist. No one told you or guided you on “how to get there.” Even if they wanted to help you, they didn’t know how. You probably lacked the resources, generational experience, and support. (If you had family members who were an alumni of UC Berkeley, you were probably, though not always, equipped with the knowledge of how to fill out the application, the expectations of the admissions jury, and were constantly reminded of the potential that it’s VERY possible for you. Which is why it is hard to be a successful artist. You are the first of your generation; you are the first to try something new. It’s not impossible; you just don’t have the right map. Forgive yourself.

It simply means, we need to find the right resources and recover your artist now! In order to unlock the ball and chain and send you running down the hill, you’ll need a big push. x Remember, the environment components that make up successful winners are also full of winners. We need to get you everything on that list NOW! Friends, family, mentors who are genuinely supportive of you, can help you find the resources you need, and help to buffer the generation gap of being the first artist in the family. If you don’t have physical people to help you, Seal has also taken on artist heroes, literary heroes . . . when she is creating, Miyazaki, Van Gogh, and James Dean are cheering her on. When she experiences failure, they comfort her and remind her that the path of an artist is a difficult one, but very worthwhile. If not heroes, she finds a community of artists by joining animation forums, sketch clubs, a gathering of her tribe who believe in her competence and creative endeavors.

If you haven’t had the support to become the artist you are meant to be, it is all the more reason to pursue it NOW. You are creative and what you create has meaning.