Splatters of Clay

A while ago a friend told me, “I think you have important things to say.” Since then, these words haunt my thoughts. They just won’t go away. Victory fighting them back comes mostly from my mid-life crisis, working on a PhD. That’s right, while other men buy a sports car or motorcycle to prove they are not yet dead, I went back to school. The motorcycle would have cost a lot less and been a lot more fun, though it probably would have resulted in some horrible road rash. I have been working towards my doctorate since fall of 2014. In that time I often used my PhD to avoid doing all kinds of interesting things. I still worked full time, spent time with family, and volunteered at my church, but I procrastinated a lot of project ideas. One was blogging again (Its only been about 10 years). The procrastination ends now. In December, my dissertation chair informed me that my academic writing basically sucks.  I could still do the PhD, but it would a lot more really hard work, y...

Let's face it we live in a world of fear and chaos and this often leads to despair and/or lethargy. I often feel overwhelmed by sadness and the inability to act. Especially when it comes to creating art. Just look at how long it has been since I posted on this blog. A friend recently reached out to me through e-mail. They found me through my artwork posted on ETSY . That simple e-mail sparked life in me. It roused a need to act, to cast off despair and laziness. I made a decision. I am not in the art business. Quite frankly I am not good at art as a business. I am still an artist and I will still create art, but there is so much more I want to do and be that just can not be defined by the creation of art alone. So I am expanding my efforts a bit.  I am going into the business of Inspiration. Where there is darkness, I want to bring light. Where there is despair, I want to bring hope. I will use whatever creativity and ability comes my way to accomplish this. What is more, it is a c...

Time. Every day my head fills with so many ideas, there just is not enough time. So I practice purposeful, planned procrastination. I use a tickler file to put off doing things that really are not that important to get done. If you ever want to free your brain and /or planner of all those unfinished to do items, check out Getting Things Done by David Allen . It has transformed my life. I actually get more done by put things off. If it does not make sense to you, check out the book.