Last night Butterfly wrote a very thoughtful response to my post. I read it before going to bed and have thought and thought about what she wrote since then … I have been responding a whole lot in my head. I so much appreciate her caring and thinking .. and also I appreciate Grace’s thoughts on herself also. I want to share some of these thoughts out loud – so to speak – in an unorganized way! <grin>

Part of what Butterfly wrote is “It seems to me that you spend a tremendous amount of time organizing your own and other people’s work that only indirectly have to do with the actual art of creation.  It seems that you hardly ever have time to sit down for hours on end to craft your art, or am I getting completely the wrong impression now?”

Pressure, Digital © Diane Clancy

I definitely want to get more unbroken creative time with traditional materials – I think that would feed my soul greatly. Butterfly has spoken to me in a kind way that helps me rethink some priorities for sure.  Clearly, my In Box for email is out of control.  I know I am not alone.  There are many opportunities of artists wanting to exchange links and requests to network with artists on other sites. At least I mainly skim and file all the great info that I get each day. (Some I skim, some read, most of the info I just file … for that needed day in the future.) But I also have some sense of what things are about and often remember to go find someone useful if I need it.

But I have almost 200 emails I haven’t knocked off. I can’t seem to get down to the bottom with lots of old ones that I need to make decisions about.  … Lisa Call is an incredible contemporary textile artist!  Her blog often makes me think. One of the things she said struck me really hard.  People are always asking her how she gets so much done, she said (paraphrased probably) “I make decisions – I don’t waste a lot of time spinning my wheels about decisions.”  I have kept this in my mind since then. I am working to get better at this with my email – for just one place.  As I am doing my graphic design work, I also keep this in the front of my attention. So I know I need improvement.

But some of my other thoughts to Butterfly (and you too, because you are part of this conversation also) focus on what life is like for the modern artist. It is expected today that at least 50% of an artist’s time goes to marketing her work. That is a lot of time! I do spend a lot of time marketing, a lot!  I have been rethinking this at the back of my mind – as I know many other artists are also. Online marketing is great – and it is also endless … I need to prioritize there also. And I have been spending less time marketing online and my sales have gone down.  Obviously, I am still tweaking that. I have been looking at that and I know many other artists are struggling with this too … I am not alone!

I think I will wait until tomorrow to say several more things that I want to share with you, A biggie is an insight about how I am presenting myself. Other parts have to do with the reality of my life. I am very eager to share them with you … but will wait til the ‘morrow -I sure hope you will come back to read the conclusion – or is it going to be the middle of the story?

I have been thinking and thinking about these issues anyway, but thank you, Butterfly -  for your comments have propelled me into high gear in processing and thinking, (I know – doing too, but I need thoughtful action, not just action). Thank you for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy