Big Changes are so Bittersweet!

We always remember the Good Times!

I can remember being so sad when I left teaching High School, even though I was burnt out, and really for my own health sake, had to go. Then there was the move from LaGrange, Il., to the gorgeous woods of Ct. to relocate for my husband’s job. We turned down the offer the first time, but as time went on, the work environment was drastically shifting in the Chicago workplace, and we knew we had to make the change. Then the decision to stop doing Art Shows that really, truly weren’t paying for themselves any longer, was huge! I had the perfect, beautiful display. I had invested time & energy into this phase of my life. But as booth fees increased to over $900 a show, and I considered my room and board each day, the cost of gas to get there and back, the entry fees, costs of getting pro photos taken, not to mention my time and energy, I was actually not making a living here. My Doctor and Chiropractor celebrated the most with that decision, along with my lower back!

I kept holding onto the good memories in spite of facts in front of me in each case. I love the students at the various schools, but as they graduated, so did I. The ‘system’ had changed from exploring art and it’s history to one of passing standardized tests. Leaving my lifetime home of Chicago, for the east coast hills, gave me motion sickness for the first year! Some internal attitude balancing was needed. And leaving the identity of being an art ‘showing/selling’ major player in the Arts Community, plus all the friends I had made, as well as connections to people who really loved my work, was really disheartening. But in each case, I kept going for what made me happy each day. These excellent experiences have changed ME. I’m a different person than I was even last year. Time to approach Life and Art in a different “I don’t know where this is headed” phase.

These days the shift is to an entirely new approach to teaching art online by developing Wabi-Sabi Art Classes. Over the last 2 yrs, I was presenting classes in my home using Art to Live a Creative Life. They worked. People came and liked them. Shifts were made. But all that didn’t work as well online. Wabi-Sabi is much more streamlined. Each project is based on Wabi-Sabi principles and fit into our lifestyles today. Each is personalized with ways to adapt the cool techniques to your own personal expression of life at this time. It’s all good and I’ve discovered a new passion and excitement about this direction.

So I as I shift to using bronze in my jewelry, and painting in a much freer/looser way, I’m experimenting and developing new Wabi-Sabi classes that are fun, fast, and personal! A new project or insight will be given each day for 4 wks as we discover Wabi-Sabi and ourselves in our art. Good times are coming! Embrace the change, go for the happiness, shift anxiety to excitement, since you never know what wonders await you tomorrow!