studio artful tourist 2009

Norma Anne is the humble princess of her own domain. Many thanks to all who help and apologies for my mistakes. All artwork and articles copyright Norma Anne Chattin 2000-present. Please do not reproduce with permission. Contact Norma Anne at NAChattin@NAChattin.com

From the depths of my unquiet mind and the yearnings of my creative spirit I have created a Flight Plan for 2009. I have tittled my jouney Destination Heartfelt Art and I have couragously posted a video showing the chaos that is now my studio.

There has always been awe in my heart for those who really post raw entries on blogs, publish journals, and create incredibly personal art. I never thought I could do that, but for me, this is a step in that direction. So far, I feel free, like I've already released part of my burden.

This is how it happens-----------------

I almost started a new blog this week. These ideas kept going through my head about art, crafting, and scrapbooking. Information overload, product influence, artist dates, mail art, insider art and outsider art, onward ad nauseam.

I’ve been doing a bunch of online research for my articles on digital scrapping and just to jump start my own work. I keep changing my mind about wanting to submit for publication and join design teams or just continue working on my own path. I’ve been frustrated by seeing a lot of the same things over and over and by the product driven nature of the paper crafting industry.

During this process, I read several posts on Scrap Smack blog http://scrapsmack.blogspot.com/ about some of these same topics. The author manages a message board too and she doesn’t mince words when it comes to her opinions. I respect anyone who feels strongly about a topic whether or not I agree with them.

The posts on her blog brought me to question the current trends in paper crafting. I also started going back to how I became so passionate about all this.

Crossroads--------------------

This week I feel like I’m at a crossroads. I am weary and travel worn from visiting too many destinations and not staying long enough at any of them.

My goal is to get back to doing things in a way that makes me happy. I will continue on this colorful, creative journey that has led me to so many wonderful people and places, yet I will also get back to doing it without as much influence from the retailers or the artists who are acclaimed as trend setters by corporate owned magazines and web sites.

Let me guess, many of you think I’ve always been a bit quirky anyway, and you’re right. However, in my own mind, I had become too critical and too quick to compare myself to others.

The Flight Plan------------

This revelation has just formed in my unquiet mind and I’m sure I will think of more additions to this new flight plan, however, here are my ideas so far:

>I will create with two priorities in mind—my loved ones and my own artistic journey.

>By June 09 I will inventory and arrange my studio for optimum creative operations.

>Effective immediately, I am hereby gleefully putting myself on a $15.00 per month “austerity plan” for supplies and tools. That should be enough for adhesives, cutting blades, and those fun little deals that are too good to pass up.

>By June ’09 I will cheerfully reduce my inventory by either usage or gift to 50% of its current size. It makes no difference whether I could “do something” with it at ‘some point” or not…I just don’t want the clutter anymore.

>I will rejoice in the art as well as nurturing the community of cherished art friends that have enhanced my world as a result of this continuing journey.

Instead of creating a new blog, I will add additional posts to my current blog labeled destination heartfelt art to share my revelations, roadblocks, and projects.