WHEN YOU WITNESS BULLYING AND NOTHING HAPPENS

BULLYING

I saw my son who is a talented artist in his own right being treated worse than a stray dog where he worked, and NO ONE did ANYTHING about it. One would have thought that bullying and harassment were a thing of the past, but I saw first-hand how it is alive and well. What makes it worse is that the legal system, his union rep and the company he worked for said there was nothing we could do about it… Needless to say, when he called me and told me what happened I told him to quit because the industry we work in is life and death every single day… We all know everything happens for a reason but be that as it may it is still a hard thing to swallow. I knew it was just one more sign to open the business we had been thinking about for quite a while. Art has always been a staple in our family line. I would say that it is something that we NEED to do vs just want to do. The creative urge and drive are always just below the surface. 

Art can be very therapeutic and pieces NEED to be created… You just have to be in tune with those voices in your head. Now there are times when I am stumped or have an idea for a direction and reach a wall. Those times it is just better to walk away and look at it from a different angle. That may mean physically JUST THAT… I’ll walk away to a different part of my studio or start to clean up for the day. I’ll glance over to the particular project where I am stumped and just that literal different angle will give me direction on how to move forward.

At the end of the day each of us have different ways to get past a creative block. The most important thing is to find out what works for you. It may mean leaving your shop for the day. It may mean going out and unplug by doing something you love to do. That may mean fishing, pool, hiking, spending time with family and friends, whatever works. As long as you give your creative mind a bit to re-set.

I had mentioned earlier those pieces NEED to be created… By that I mean in my own personal experience. There are times when it is almost deafening. I feel that I crack the door to see what is waiting and I see all the pieces in my mind rushing at the door to get out. It gets overwhelming. If I had a way to just “download” all of them into existence it would make room for more, but I’d have no room in my studio to work lol… We try to keep legal pads or some type of sketch paper around so ideas are at least quickly sketched out…