Opening to the Sky – Studying Light and Shadow

Opening to the Sky

Opening to the Sky © 2011 Bo Mackison

I love Arizona.

I can almost always count on blue skies and sunshine. I just did some research and discovered that Tucson has 350 days of sunshine per year. In comparison, Madison, Wisconsin has 89 really sunny days and 96 partly sunny days (approximately half the sky or less is cloudy) for a total of 185 sunny days.  I knew there was a difference, just didn’t know there was THAT much difference.

With this in mind–all these sunny day opportunities–I have been doing a lot of light/shadow studies with my camera. Lots of exploration, comparing light sources at different times of the day. I’m having more fun than anything, not really keeping too many of the photographs. And it provides a great reason to be outside in the sun instead of working inside.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is living in Tucson for two months – exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo”. Oh, she is also having lots of fun in the sun.

Sticking Points – Facing Challenges in the Face of Fear

Sticking Points

Sticking Points © 2011 Bo Mackison

There are sticking points in life. Places where you can’t see the beauty of the cactus plant because you are focused on the thorny spines. Places where it becomes hard to focus on the whole because there is a part that is strange and unknown. I am at a sticking point.

I achieved a huge goal in my “art show plan” this past week. And, as is sometimes true in life, achieving a big goal added new challenges to my life. It also brought the gremlins out in full force. The gremlins are showing up as fear. FEAR — in giant, capital letters.

Last year–my first year doing an entire year of art fairs–I did smaller shows, regional shows. When it came time to send in the applications last autumn, I made the decision to apply to big shows, to the nationally ranked shows that drew artists from all over the country. Five months ago, it seemed like a great idea.

When the notifications began showing up in my email box, there were quite a few rejections. There were some wonderful acceptances, too, for really good shows in the Midwest. I was thrilled. There were also several shows where I was wait-listed – my art was good enough to meet the show’s requirements, but there was not space available. Yet.

Last week I got a phone call from the Tempe Festival of the Arts, one of my wait listed shows. There was a space available. Did I want it? Yes, of course I wanted it. I made some arrangements for an assistant, and I accepted the space at Tempe. And all was good for a few days. And then…the inner critic started blathering.

Yep. The inner critic focused on FEAR.

One of the biggest life challenges I am working to overcome is my fear of the unknown. It is one of the reasons I came to Tucson. I had visited Tucson several times and I was deeply attracted to the region, but I had no connections. When I made the choice to live in Tucson for a couple of months — alone — I knew I would be living in a place whose daily special was a serving of the unknown. I also knew that I would have to come up with the resources to deal with all the fears that ride piggy-back on those unknowns.

When I agreed to do the show in Tempe, I achieved one of my art goals – doing a nationally ranked show. Coupled with that acceptance was  taking on one of my huge fears — doing a show in a city that I had never visited before, and well outside my comfort zone. I also chose to  face my fears, meet them head on, continue to move forward.

Then suddenly, I saw only the thorns in the cactus, not the whole plant. I let fear speak. And I began to listen.

Global Pattern

Global Pattern © 2011 Bo Mackison

It took me a few days to realize that if I listened to my fears, it would interfere with a big life goal – showing up as the artist I want to be. I gradually realized that it was okay to have fears, but that I did not want to allow fear to govern my decisions and my life.

I really am pleased to be in the Tempe show, and I am stepping up to the challenge. I am choosing to be the artist I want to be.  I am choosing to be a person who does not let fear get in the way of her dreams.

Living in the desert offers many life lessons. I choose to see the cactus, aware of its thorns, but focused on the beauty of it as a whole. That cactus has a lot of similarities to living a full, meaningful life.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is living in Tucson for two months – exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo”.  She will be exhibiting her photography at the Tempe Festival of the Arts in Tempe, Arizona, March 25-27, 2011.

Making of an (Art Show) Artist: Part V – In Summary

Tumacacori Door and Bench

Choices: Take a Seat or Explore through the Door © 2011 Bo Mackison

Although this photograph of the outdoor portico at Tumacacori National Historic Park appears to not have much to do with a post about being an art show artist, it actually has everything to do with it.

Once the decision has been made to do art fairs and festivals, there is no time for sitting and hoping that it will happen. You have to show up for your artist job, and you have to be willing to explore many options and alternatives by being open and willing to walk through the door of unknowns.  Or to say it in plain words, you can’t send in applications to a few prime shows and watch your summer schedule fill up. The application process requires lots of effort, lots of time, lots of work. Until I developed a routine, I found it the most difficult part of being an art show artist.

The first year I did the art fair circuit full time, I concentrated on local and area shows. I looked for small, locally run juried shows within a three hour drive of my home. These shows are the perfect training grounds. I could not have applied to the larger, nationally recognized shows this year if I had not had a year of experience under the 10′ x 10′ canopy. That may not be true for everyone, but I needed a year of rehearsal before I felt ready to tackle the big guys.

Even then, once I did start applying to the large shows, I kept in mind the one phrase my mentor repeatedly told me. “Doing art shows is a crap shoot.” You can do everything right, and still rack up a considerable number of rejections. But amongst the many rejection notices are the sweet acceptances, the “see you in June” notices. So far this year I have amassed 9 acceptances from quality shows, 10 rejections, and 5 spaces on waiting lists. The wait list notice puts you in a state of limbo –  do you accept your second choice show for that wait-listed weekend and decline to be on the wait list or do you wait it out? Each wait list notifications requires a juggling act of yeses, noes, and maybes. I chose to stay on 3 of the wait lists, and was upgraded to acceptance in one of the shows. With the other two, I’m still waiting.

The best I can tell you? Do your homework and learn about each show you want to apply to. How much will your actual costs be, including driving, hotels, eating out? How well does your art fit in with the art typically shown? Check last year’s website for a show. Often there is a list of participants and you can check their art on the internet most of the time.

And don’t count on making a big profit at the beginning. It takes time for you to become established, yes, established, on the art show circuit. First you will celebrate that you made enough money to cover your booth fees. Then you celebrate that you covered your fees and expenses, too. And then you celebrate that you are realizing a profit.

And all along, you celebrate that you are an artist, showing your work, meeting the public and other artists, and selling your work to clients who fall in love with your art. Those are the best benefits of all.

Here are the links to the first four parts of the series: Part I — initial questioning , Part II –  starting up,  Part III — doing the first few art fairs, and Part IV — more “on the job” training.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is living in Tucson for two months – exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo” while filling each day with learning–about the Sonoran desert, about creating art, and about living a meaningful life.

Knowing One Saguaro

Saguaro Spines

Saguaro Spines © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Tucson area has had very little rain this winter. Add a freezing spell colder than average, and the result is little to nothing blooming in the desert I’ve been hiking. Rather than come home empty-handed with no photographs of flowering cacti, I have been concentrating on patterns and colors in tiny landscapes in the desert. This is a macro-photograph of the spines on a saguaro.

I’ve also been reading A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert by the staff of Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and edited by Steven J. Phillips and Patricia Wentworth Comus (a fascinatingly informative book). So I was beginning to feel like I had been well introduced to the mighty saguaro.

Patience in the Desert

Patience in the Desert © 2011 Bo Mackison

Then I hiked in a desert garden filled with rocks inscribed with quotes about the desert.

And I realized that my gathering of information about the saguaro has been only that — an introduction.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.” She spends a little time each day exploring the desert. There is so much to see, so much to learn–about the Sonoran desert, about creating art, and about living a full life.

Solitude – Open Spaces in the Arizona Grasslands

Solitude

Solitude © 2011 Bo Mackison

East of the Santa Rita Mountain Range is the town of Sonoita.  It is a region of ranches and horses and wide open spaces.

Arizona Vineyards

Arizona Vineyards © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Sonoita-Elgin area also has nearly a dozen small wineries and the beginnings of vineyards, the grape vines arranged neatly in the red soil. Evidently the soil is similar to that of Napa Valley near San Francisco and the renowned wine country of France.

Ride 'em, Cowboys

Ride ’em, Cowboys ©2011 Bo Mackison

Rusted metal art installations are popular. I saw dancing girls, a solitary cowboy watching over cattle, and these five “ride ’em cowboys”.  The roads I traveled ranged from two lane paved roads to packed gravel roads, and finally red dirt roads. No problem with traveling on a warm, dry day, but one wouldn’t get far in a monsoon rain or a dust storm.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”  Still practicing the skills needed to adapt to life’s ups and downs.