When is a Piece of Work Finished?

by Hank

When I had my studio in Manhattan, I specialized in still life (if it didn’t talk back, I photographed it).  I worked with large format cameras (4x5 and 8x10) so the subject stayed in front of my camera after an exposure, unless I was photographing food.  I would add highlights, open shadows, and adjust the exposure one sheet of film at a time until I was satisfied with the picture.

A photograph was finished when I could do no better.

Today, I still keep those standards except that I view the changes on the back of the camera and then on my computer screen instead of a light box.

Whether it’s a photograph or a wooden vase, it seems like there is always one more thing to do to make it finished.  Prints have to be signed, matted, framed, and finally a hanging device added.  My wooden vases need at least three coats of polyurethane, with sanding between coats to remove the excess, then making the signature permanent, and finally a coat of paste wax.

A piece is finished when I say it is.

Compassion

by Nada Clyne

Downloading images of art I've produced over the past seven years onto my new computer, I came across one of my favorites, called Compassion.  It is part of a series on the virtues I created by photographing flowers under water, then writing contemplations on the quality.  Here are the words:

Notice

Those around you

Their happiness

Their suffering

If you can help

Do so

Compassion

The flowing lush softness of the colors remind me of that essential human virtue.  I've found that feeding myself beautiful sights -  both from nature and on the walls of our home - keeps my mind nourished and happy.  Over the years I've also discovered that when I'm happy within myself, then I have the capacity to help others :-)

There is a big difference between commiserating and compassion.  When I commiserate, identifying with another person's hard times, there is a downward spiral of energy.  When I'm able to give love and support from a state of happiness, not echoing another's hard times with my own, then I'm not depleted.   The other person receives that state as well, and sometimes it helps!

Time

by Buff

I often find myself saying "I don't have time to do that," or making myself crazy because there is "just not enough time in the day."  Of course, I have the same amount of time as everyone else -- 24 hours a day -- but I'm always trying to squeeze at least 36 hours into the 24.  What a drag it is to have to work at a day job in order to eat 3 square meals a day!  It would be wonderful to be independently wealthy and just create art all day.  If only I could win the lottery . . . of course, I don't buy lottery tickets, so that's not going to be happening any time soon.

Beyond working, there are those pesky chores and errands -- shopping for groceries, doing laundry, vacuuming up dog hair.  Wouldn't it be great to have a personal assistant?  (Perhaps a robot would be less intrusive than a person.)  Just think about it -- an entity who would find your misplaced keys, cook nutritious meals, weed the garden.  Dream on . . .

Oh, my, look at the time!  Gotta go. . . .

Ridgewood Street Fair

Our booth at the Ridgewood, NJ Street Fair

by Tom
We had a perfect spring day for the Ridgewood Street Fair.  There was a large crowd and a nice variety of vendors.  Our display looked great and we made some nice sales.  Sales make me very happy.  Of course they are a source of profit, which sustains us financially and allows us to continue to create.  Sales are also the culmination of the creative process.  They symbolizes acceptance.  Your endeavors are appreciated to the degree that people want to possess your work or present it to others as a gift.  There’s no higher compliment.

You missed the show?  Too bad!!  It was a most enjoyable day.  But it was just the beginning of the season, and you’ll have many more opportunities to see our work.