Listening to my Gut

OK I'll stop whining about the ear infection now. I'm much much better today, and boy, do I like drugs! LOL Still, I'm absolutely amazed how good the drugs work. I spent 3 days in agony! Go to the doctor again and got steroids, antibiotics, and pain killers and I am so much better 36 hours later... I can't hardly believe it.. but I'm very happy it's so. I'm also glad I trusted my gut.. I knew Friday night I was worse than I was Thurs.. so I went to the doctor again just as soon as I could on Sat. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you gut says go to the doctor, even if you were just there, do it!

It's good advise in general.

Sitting here typing this more or less pain free ( but not able to drive heavy machinery, seems a fair exchange!) I just realized it's really good advise for the Artist. And something I forget from time to time, especially when I'm in the last 3rd of show season and I'm just trying to hold my head above inventory levels! My gut talks to me about my art all the time, but I get sooooo busy I don't always hear it against the backdrop of day to day life.

Below is a recent example of me listening to my gut though! This fused glass cab is sort of a happy accident. I was going for one look, and ended up with this tacked fused cab in 3 levels. I really liked how it looked, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to wrap it up like. So I set it aside for a month or so, and finally my gut said border wrap! Border wraps take longer, and they suck down tons of wire, which means I have to charge more for the piece. And the fact that I can make 2 or 3 "simple" wrapped pendants in the time it takes me to border wrap, logic dictates that when I have limited time and inventory holes, I need to either do it simple, or set it aside for when I have more time.

But I listened and found a compromise that I could live with. I took it along with me to a couple/3 of lesser traffic shows, and worked on it then. That way I didn't feel so "guilty" I wasn't using my time more effectively, but I wasn't saying no to my artistic heart. It took longer to get done that way, especially since I had to "start" and "stop" so often, but I so pleased with the results! The wrap was especially challenging because the shape is odd and has fairly "sharp" corners in it, which are tougher to do a border wrap in. My next show is Downtown Farmer's Market this Saturday, but this bad boy is going to The Art Store gallery sometime this week! ( I was going to deliever it last week, but well, let's go over the whole racked with pain thing again!)
Speaking of Cabs, I have just today started listing my glass cabs for sale to fellow artists/hobbyists today on my Etsy Site! I've been wanting to sell them but I wanted to get a good selection in hand before I offered them to the general public.

wow, chatty Cathy tonight, aren't I ? I'll end on this note, a favorite quote of mine:

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

- Mark Twain

OK so it's nothing about following your instincts, but it's true!