Where do you get your ideas?

Back when I thought I was going to write the Great American Novel, I went to a lot of writers’ conferences where the number one question from aspiring writers was “Where do you get your ideas?” Generally the Famous Writer Presenters had been asked that question so much that they had a raft of stock answers—“From the Sears and Roebuck Idea Catalog” or “From the Idea Fairy”. Some of them would even go on to try to answer the question seriously, but I really got the sense that it was one of those questions that, if you had to ask it, you probably were in the wrong line of work. I always felt a little cheated and a lot uncreative.

Then, when I was teaching in Pasadena a couple of weeks ago, my student Patty Dean Wolford, who is looking to move into teaching, asked me, “How do you come up with ideas for projects to teach?” I found myself flummoxed at first and tempted to give her the Sears catalog line.

Patty Dean is a talented and precise artist who will one day be a fabulous teacher, so I thought she deserved a careful answer. I walked her through the way I had come up with the Silver Linings silver and resin cloud I’ll be teaching at Bead Fest Santa Fe. (https://thriva.activenetwork.com/Reg4/(S(1edq41yg3qje25j535qdy4mv))/Form.aspx?regkey=RpYOYPxE37%2beky8ByS4XhQ%3d%3d  ) Together we came up with the title for her first class. But her question has stayed with me for the past weeks since I got home from Pasadena. And when something stays with you like that, I figure it means you need to work it through.

The thing is, an idea doesn’t always spring, fully formed, from your soul to the finished piece. So when you’re looking for an idea, you can take a number of routes to get the ideas flowing. The Silver Linings piece came from several seeds. I wanted to experiment with UV resin, so that meant the piece was going to have color. I’m a metal clay artist, and I wanted to try syringe as a frame for resin, so that meant I could have thin lines and flowing curves. As an artist, I’m drawn to images that speak to the places I’ve lived in, from the dogwoods of my North Carolina childhood to the incredible variety of nature in my adopted home in the Bay Area of California. It was cold and grey and I’d been down in the dumps, so the cheerful flowers and sunshine motifs didn’t appeal. I started sketching outline shapes and the one that seemed both doable and fitting to my mood was a cloudbank with raindrops dangling from the bottom.

My skill set includes traditional wire work and beading techniques, so making my own connectors was as easy as having to use purchased findings, and lots faster than having to order some. And I always have a big stash of jewelry materials, so finding the right piece of fine chain to dangle the raindrops from was a matter of digging through one of my bins.

What I’ve learned from deconstructing this project is that an idea can start from a number of impetuses and then is developed by more influences. So if you’re looking for an idea, here are some places to start. Pick one, then mix and match to develop your idea into a project you want to make.

• Is there a new product I want to experiment with? What are its properties? A year ago I didn’t know much about resin, so I signed up to give a presentation to my guild to give myself a deadline to learn about it. Then I tried to include it in lots of my work over the past year.

• Is there a new technique I want to try? What shapes or inclusions or tools, etc. can I make with that technique? When I wanted to learn to make metal clay hollow cones, I started with cones for necklace ends. The problem is that I don’t make a lot of necklaces that use cone ends. Then I realized that the cone shape was perfect for the center of a daffodil, which happens to be one of my favorite flowers, and I made one of my all-time favorite pieces.

• What do I love? What do I dislike? Maybe you think hearts and flowers are overdone, or maybe (like me) you think they are iconic. Are you drawn to cities or mountains, or (again like me) it is a matter of mood. I’m a cat person, so I’m not likely to make dog jewelry. Except if it is for my walking buddy, the stately standard poodle Regis, who really isn’t a dog at all. He’s people.

• What am I good at? What do I want to get better at? Making my own findings is easy for me, so I can incorporate them in a piece without worrying about it. A lot of my pieces were pretty two-dimensional, so I deliberately set out to create some designs that were multi-part and/or dimensional.

• Who is my target audience? I’m interested in teaching my projects, so they have to be accessible to a group of beginners, and they can’t require esoteric materials or tools. On the other hand, I want to sell to upscale galleries and sophisticated women buyers, so I’ve pretty much given up on man-made CZ’s for my pieces that are intended for sale rather than teaching. Instead, I’ve started using natural precious and semiprecious gems and stones. I am inclined towards making classic pieces that are a staple of a woman’s jewelry wardrobe, rather than the trendy pieces that are good for a season or two. That choice informs the materials I use and the designs I create.

Maybe you haven’t done enough making to know the answers to what attracts you in your own work. If that’s the case, open your jewelry box and analyze the pieces you wear all the time and those that always get passed over. Are you drawn to line and form? Geometric or organic? Do you love color or tend to stick with metals? Do you like antique designs or modern? Then go to your sketchbook and work for an hour or two, putting together the pieces you like, rearranging them and adding to them, until you come up with something that says “you.”

And that’s my next-to-last tip. At the 2009 Metal Clay World Conference, I took a class from Alan Revere on design. It made me understand the power of keeping a sketchbook and making variations on a theme until I reach one that calls out to be produced. I’d never been a fan of sketchbooks before. In fact, I was of the “can’t draw a straight line with a ruler” school of self-deprecation. But since I’ve been keeping a sketchbook and putting down ideas as they occur, or sketching thoughts that spring from something I’ve seen as I see it, I feel that my work has reached a higher level and my ideas come more easily. I even took an online drawing class from my local community college to feel more comfortable with sketching.

The last piece is to get out there and make something, anything. There are studies that show that with 10,000 hours of practice, you can become an expert in anything. Do you want to be an expert at reading blogs or at making jewelry?

Yippee Skippee!

This catalogue for Bead Fest Santa Fe just came in the mail, bundled with my copy of Lapidary Journal Jewelery Artist. And that's my silver and resin cloud on the cover!  Those little letters underneath say "Pat Evans" for all the world--or all the subscribers, anyway--to see. I'd been feeling a little down because I haven't heard from Bead and Button, which at this point means that I didn't get in. Getting this positioning on the cover for Bead Fest makes me feel a whole lot better.

The show is in March...I'm really looking forward to the trip. My cousin and I are going to drive there and sightsee all along the way. Anyone else up for a cool jewelry vacation to escape the dregs of winter? Santa Fe is going to be a great show, and I'd love to see my friends there. (And there are lots of cool classes besides mine.)

Feeling like a beginner....

I started taking some online art classes through my local community college. Although I think of myself as a jewelry artist, I don't think of myself as an "artist" artist. Being in a beginning digital art class with people who can paint rings around me is a humbling experience. (We won't even discuss Beginning Drawing.) However well I end up doing in these classes, I've already learned one big lesson--I'm remembering how it feels to not know how to do something, how frustrating it is when the teacher seems to assume I already know some vital step, how different my final product is from the image in my mind, how much better everyone else's work seems than mine, and how afraid I am that I'll never be as good as the other kids. I may not ever be able to sketch like Degas, but I hope I'll at least keep all these emotions in mind the next time I teach.

Summer work

It must be summer

when starfish hijack my art

and waves call my name

The Power of Lists

Even though September always feels like the "real" new year to me, thanks to many years of school, kids in school, and teaching, I like the fresh start of January, too. I love making lists, having the dream of achieving everything on them, and checking off accomplishments (which usually lasts a few days, at least.) The good news is that even though the lists go by the wayside sooner or later, the intentions in them live on. I recently found a list of goals from a couple of years ago, and I had actually achieved most of them, even thought the list was long forgotten.

So it is that even though I know myself well enough to know that I won't keep up with the check-offs for long, I am busily making lists of goals in various areas of my life--Health, Home, Art and Business. I'm breaking them down into smaller steps, and trying to do a little in each area every day. It's day 2 and I've already slipped up on some things (no walking yesterday, sigh). But that's OK. The intention is there, and I've learned not to let one slip-up stop all progress. So off I went to walk this morning.

It helped that I had an appointment to walk with a friend. I used to keep my goals closely held, so that if I goofed, no one would know. I've learned that sharing the goals with a few close friends, and working with them to attain them, helps to keep me accountable. So I'm adding another goal to the list--find like-minded people to work with in supporting ourselves in that perpetual search for growth. May you find many supporters on your path, too--and let me know if you need me to be on your team. I'll certainly be contacting some of you.

Building an Infrastructure

I've been following the amazing bridge repair feat of a lifetime that is happening this weekend on the San Francisco Bay Bridge (www.baybridgeinfo.org). The planning, practice and expertise that have gone into the undertaking are simply amazing. Go watch a video or two, and pay special attention to the faces of the people involved. They seem bemused and proud at the same time, and they fairly vibrate with excitement.

That's what I want to feel about my work every time I sit down to create. And the lessons these bridge builders have to share are lessons for makers of all sorts. Prepare every way you can--practice, have even more materials than you think you'll need, rehearse, know all the tricks of the trade--and then dive in. Tell the world that your work is important enough to inconvenience people for a few days and shut the damn bridge down. Accept the risk of complete collapse and go ahead anyway. It will never happen unless you pull out the tools and start. And then, keep going, because finishing matters. Unexpected problems along the way are no excuse. They found a crack in the old span of the bridge today that would have forced a closure of the bridge whenever it had showed up. But because they had all the pieces in place, the extra materials, the people, the expertise, they're just adding that repair to the weekend's work, and last I heard they still expect to reopen the bridge on time.

In my own search to become more professional in my work habits, I've made a lot of progress, but I have a long way yet to go. I think I'm going to put a picture of the Bay Bridge up in my studio as a reminder. I've got the practice, the materials and the knowledge. Now I just need to block out the time, shut down outside traffic, and do it.

Just a little test post...

to see if I can make this import to FB thing work. Maybe I'll stick a picture in, too, just to see if that shows up. I'll try to find one I didn't post yesterday. For the rest of you who are as clueless as I am, Sherry Cordova pointed me to this link for importing blogs: http://www.facebook.com/editnotes.php?import. I knew there had to be a way; I just hadn't noodled around enough to find it. Today I'm grateful for friends who lead the way!