It’s been quite a while since I last wrote a blog post that I was a bit worried that I might have forgotten how. For much too long I kept reminding myself that I needed to write something but couldn’t quite find the time. So today (October 10) is the day I’m finally going to sit my butt down and begin writing again. The world has gotten enough action out of me and can wait a spell until I get this task finished up and signed off. I’ve put it off long enough.
If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been I’m pleased to say that life is good and I’m still in good health, good spirits and in good standing with the world at large. That’s no small feat these days! Another major feat I managed to pull off was manhandling my work load as the last few months had gotten seriously out of hand and that’s where I am going to place much of the blame for my blogging negligence. I don’t cope well when I’m too busy. Early this year I had several book jobs tossed on me almost all at once. That’s a nice problem to have but each and every job wound up being more difficult and complicated than I first anticipated. The combined work wound up taking much longer than planned due to unforeseen complications and the quirks of the authors. The book work (much of it being favors for different writing groups I participate in and not paying work) dragged on all thru spring and for much of the summer while my other creative pursuits languished. Thank God that’s all done and everyone is happy and the books are in the process of getting published. I’ll let you know when they hit the shelves.
In addition to my art/illustration career I am also active (maybe too active) on Facebook where I spend the bulk of my Facebook life moderating a very large bonsai group called ‘Bonsai Beginners’. I’ve long been a bonsai lover and grower of tiny trees so it was only natural that I wound up in Bonsai Beginners even though I’m not exactly a beginner myself. But I can well remember the days when I was and I figured I’d schmooze with my fellow bonsai nuts and pass along tips and advice where I could. As I became better known I was eventually tapped to be the group’s moderator as the group was sorely lacking one. I have never been a moderator on Facebook before so I had no idea what I was getting into but it has been an enjoyable experience for the most part. I spend a good bit of my time answering questions, dispensing advice and maintaining some law and order in the group while keeping the spammers and troublemakers out. The group was more of a hassle and rambunctious in the earlier days but things have settled down to the point where it’s actually an enjoyable hangout now. The changes have been so noteworthy that I’m waiting to get a word of thanks from Mark Zuckerburg for doing my two bits keeping Facebook in good order but maybe it got lost in the mail or something.
As if that wasn’t enough I had been kicking around the idea of making my own Facebook bonsai group, one devoted to American natives since bonsai is so Japanese flavored. Bonsai is more popular than ever and there are more bonsai groups on Facebook than you can shake a stick at covering every bonsai niche imaginable…. but nothing devoted to growing and working with our native plant species. It’s something I have a great personal interest in as so many of my own trees are native species and I assumed I couldn’t be the only one with a hankering to grow them. After hemming and hawing for awhile I went ahead and created my Facebook group in mid-May and named it, appropriately enough, ‘American Native Bonsai’. I wasn’t sure if it would find any love with the Facebook crowd or not but things have gone surprisingly well for my fledgling group. American Native Bonsai has tallied over two thousand members just in the few months we’ve been in business and they keep coming with little to no prodding on my part.
Now that my work load has throttled back some I’ve got more time on my hands to think about my creative career. Chief on my mind is taking my art business and making it an actual business and a sustainable commercial enterprise. And the first order of business to making that happen is switching my website and blog over to www.bryanskinnell.org and making that my primary website. I’ve owned the domain for a long time mostly to ensure that no one else got it but I never quite knew what to do with it. As my art and my art business continues to evolve and develop I’ve got some ideas of what I want to do, what kind of art I want to make and how best to promote and sell it. You might have noticed that I’m publishing this blog under bryanskinnell.org now since my old blog and website on bryanskinnell.com has been deleted. Bryanskinnell.com will remain live but I will be using it for something else.
That was one long and rambling post which I’m really hoping didn’t put you to sleep. Rather than abuse you any further I’ll wrap it up with a painting I recently made just to prove that I’m still painting. The inspiration for this odd painting is a curious tale as it depicts one of those curious sights that I just so happened to have noticed recently that grabs one’s attention as if by divine appointment. It so happens that after finishing up a window cleaning job I did recently for a local greasy spoon, I was walking around the back of the restaurant on my way to my car where I caught a glimpse of green out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head I spotted this small creek rock that an anonymous artist had painted a bright alfalfa green and set on top of the air conditioning unit. It wasn’t very big. Maybe about the size of a bar of soap. It got me to wondering why someone would set a painted green rock back there when I noticed a message painted on the rock. In bright white letters the artist felt compelled to inscribe the words ‘There Is Healing’. Who painted this, and why, is anyone’s guess. I’m sure there’s a neat story behind this but I’ll never know. Thankfully I don’t need healing but this resonated with me all the same even if I couldn’t say exactly why. I suppose you can take from it what you will but so far as I’m concerned this random rock is a quaint reminder that there’s always hope and that’s something I can hang my hat on. The rock and overall composition were interesting enough to my eye that I went and took a picture of that rock and from that pic I went and made a painting of it resting right there on top of the air conditioning unit. So far as I know it’s still there.
