Regaining control...

How do we stay informed about current art news without going under? 

We want to stay tuned to what's happening in our areas of interest, although how to filter what's coming in is becoming a challenge for all of us, especially when we'd rather spend our time in creative endeavors. In this era of information inundation news feeds are great. I use the free app Feedly although there are others to choose from. Download the app of your choice to your digital device. Follow the instructions to connect with websites and blogs you want to follow. You'll receive a daily or weekly compilation of the blogs and news you enjoy. You can read what you choose when you are ready to kick back and catch up. 

Is it only me or is Facebook getting crazy?

We want the potential Facebook offers for our business yet we don't want an incursion of information we're not aligned with. We have a desire to stay connected with family and old friends even though they may have differing views on issues important to us. For starters, keep your personal Facebook page and your business Facebook page separate. 

To reduce the tension associated with some FB posts we can create lists to edit out information we don't want to see regularly. Then we decide when it's convenient to update with people we care about or pages we follow. 

How?

On your Facebook timeline page, choose "Friends." The list of friends shows with a box to the right. Click on the friends box. When you agree to friend someone, the pulldown gives you the option to assign the person to a list, for example, "close friends” or "acquaintances" and offers you the opportunity to create your own category. You also have the choice to opt out of their "notifications." 

These categories show up on the left sidebar of your FB homepage when you open your news feed. Under EXPLORE click "Friend Lists." Your categories will pop up in a list format and you see only posts associated with the list you've chosen. I have a "family" list for the times I want to connect with people I love yet don't want to wade through the newsfeed to catch up. There is a list for art friends and a list for business acquaintances. Yes, we can always go to their timelines to see what’s up, however, that feels more than a bit intrusive to me. 

Taking charge of Facebook allows us to keep the relationships we've valued over time and yet distance ourselves from posts disrupting to our peace. 

If you want to take your exploration a step further, on a scale of 1-10, ten being worst ever, note the level of disruption to your sense of truth and personal agitation after you make a run through Facebook. Take the challenge. Unplug for a week. Focus the time instead on hearing your own soul, trusting your heart. What is the right next step for you? At the end of the week, note from 1- 10 how you feel. Is there a difference? May be a clue to limit personal Facebook contact to close family and trusted friends, set a goal to post business info once a week ~ or unplug all together. 

We don't have to be helpless victims of social assault to stay connected to people we love and grow our business. If we take a few minutes to restore our boundaries on the web, we'll have more creative energy and more time to make art, write that novel, or build the boat we’ve dreamed of. 

Bliss...

Portland Art Museum, Rodin. 

Your Art Business License

Do you know the information you file with the Secretary of the State of Oregon Business License Registration is public? How many of you know an artist or other entrepreneur who has a box at the mail center down the street?  We do this thinking it will protect our privacy as much as possible in this era of open information. The common misconception is this serves as the business address to satisfy the State of Oregon licensing, however, the State considers any kind of post office box illegal even though there is a street address attached to the mail center. Hiring an Agent Representative only forwards legal notices and doesn't fulfill the physical location requirement on the state license application or renewal. You can list the place where your tax records are stored as the legal address for your business ~ if your CPA is willing to forward the junk mail resulting from sales sharks who surf the licenses. Bottom line? If you do business in the State of Oregon, take the time to inform yourself and choose options to avoid fines or worse. The people on the other end of the phone at the office of the Secretary of State are knowledgeable and polite so it's easy to call and have your individual questions answered if the web page doesn't cover your concerns. sos.oregon.gov You can also check with the local Small Business Association or SCORE for information and assistance.

Working the River, Chewelah

This painting began as a life-size portrait I was trying to make work on a canvas that was not proportioned correctly. It needed to be skinnier. 

Never one to be deterred, I kept trying to force the painting. The positive side is the first layer of paint was on the canvas.

Sometimes, the better part of valor and painting is to give in to the way things are not working and do something different. I turned the canvas upside down and went with a manufacturing plant at Chewelah, Washington. Acrylic. 6'x4'

The Long Haul...

Observing social media and news feeds, two obstacles loom ~ fatigue and division. 

Fatigue.  It’s a rush to ride the collective adrenaline and outrage of the moment. With recovery from any deep grief, we eventually return to a familiar rhythm and routine. Life interrupts our best intentions and has to be attended to while rhetoric fades to background noise. 

The isolationist US drug her feet entering WWII and the young men and women who signed up blithely announced they were going to end the war in a couple of months. Long bloody years later, if they were lucky and blessed, they came home to become our parents and grand-parents. Of course, women have never been in charge of a war before and civil disobedience is a powerful armament for change. 

The first strategy of a facist regime is to weary people already overloaded with daily concerns by monotonous bombast. (Same with narcissists.) Witness the non-response verbal vomit of the confirmation hearings. Living among compassionate and thoughtful people doesn’t prepare us for the exhaustion of lack of authenticity and entitled insanity. 

For a long haul we must examine our physical and emotional stamina. Recognize how and where our talents will make our best contribution and how we can allocate our energy in a difficult engagement over time.  

Division. Division over the nuances of commitment to what is ethical in the world and what organization will best promote the beliefs we share is a death knell to forward progress. From diet programs to tires, people fight for the right to be right. We can’t afford anything but mutual respect and support even if another’s way is not our approach. 

We need to keep the focus on human rights, women’s rights, civil rights then plan to endure and make a difference. 

Think smart. Breathe. What’s the right next step?