Monique Sevenans
Art In Progress
Addiction
Well, I’m through two days of my social media fast. It seems a bit odd but certainly doable.
Pretty crazy the way addiction sets in, always as a means of escape that temporarily numbs the occupant from the unbearable-ness of emotion.
Keep it stifled away too long and what do you get? dis-ease
Considering my myriad of addictions, how much emotion is there? I don’t know but I’m going to find out, one way or another.
This is the last night I spend in my little house. I’ve grown somewhat attached to it and have therefore stagnated, but perhaps there is silver lining within.. some say nothing changes, all remains the same.. all is illusion if you know how to play the game.
ha ha
30-day Social Media Fast
In the midst of change, I’ve decided to try a social media fast. For the next 30 days, I’ve removed my Facebook and Twitter accounts and completely deleted the Google+. A bit risky, perhaps, as these are my main means of getting the word out, but then again when/if my main concern is the work opposed to selling which requires getting the word out, it won’t really matter if anyone knows.. although, of course, it is nice.
I guess in this respect you could say if selling art was icing on a cake, I’m putting it back on top of the cake.. although, of course, it helps to have baked a solid cake in the first place.
(sorry for strange-ness.. lacking sleep and overly stressed. )
There will, however, be many more updates to this blog…
Dismantled
Very interesting thing I notice about this life is that whenever I stagnate and seem unable to progress, life steps in and progresses me. Very considerate, I suppose.. although it never seems that way at the time.
So, I’m moving.
The space smaller and more convenient.. more practical I suspect and less in cost. As I began to prepare for the move today, which begins tomorrow, I feel sharps waves of emotion come on and quietly pass. Truth is, I’ve loved this place. I’ve loved the front yard and the freedom I’ve felt sitting outside observing the changing seasons.
It has truly inspired me to art again. Considering that I hadn’t done much to speak of for nearly a decade, the little creative spurts I’ve experienced (though I have been rather hard on myself per previous posts) are pretty damn great.
This past year has been slightly magical actually.
Going forward to the new place, I’ve decided to work smaller. This afternoon I dismantled all the larger works. They served their purpose for the time as excellent catalysts of change and transformation.. I’ve also decided that working large is a privilege similar to pet ownership.
I have a lot (50+ drawings) of new work in progress that I’ve not been documenting, though once settled a bit, I intend to present them on this blog and in the gallery. They are a continuation of the Abstraction series employing both painting and drawing.
I optimistically believe this change brings me closer to a life of experience, purpose, enlightenment and love.
dig it
a sort of Wake-Up Call
Reviewing the stats from the past two days after a fairly successful marketing campaign with the ‘pay what you can afford’. Successful in the sense that the site or rather the work that is there received approx. 300 views. Which is a lot.. I am so grateful for my online artist friends who helped get the word out. You are truly valuable. Thank you so much! wow.
On the other hand these stats speak volumes regarding how unsuccessful the work is because 1 out of 300 was moved enough by one of the drawings to make an offer.
These results are so incredibly bad that I laugh at my own absurdity. Perhaps I should be crying in a beer, but at the moment I’m completely tapped out.
For the longest time I’ve carried a certain confidence about my work.. that I know what I’m doing and that it is good. I’ve scoffed at work that I felt was lesser.. but now? Fuck me.
I thought as long as I make the work for myself, I can’t go wrong. Well, I guess there’s self indulgence and there’s blind self indulgence, where I fall into the latter category.
Part of me feels at a loss, though the other part is fucking pissed as hell.. I’ve squandered so much time and energy on fruitless pursuits and I only hold myself accountable.
I believe what ever I do with my work, it must provide value to others. How much value, however, can only be determined by the viewer…
You, the viewer has spoken and I apologize. I also thank you for sending me this message. The work that I’ve done over this past year does not move you to speak of like nor dislike. No reaction has always to me been the worst reaction. Coincidentally those who do not speak, do not purchase either.. I am very daft to request your patronage.
So it’s back to the drawing board. I’m stuck in this limbo with a barely a pot to piss in.. to sink, to swim or to just get out of the kitchen?
Thanks for giving me a good kick in the ass.. what comes next is a mystery.
ART SALE – Any affordable price. No offer refused.
Without getting into sorted details, I find myself in an unpleasant situation that requires funding. Life and karma have interesting ways of teaching us lessons. Some are easy and some more challenging. This time in my life is one of the more challenging, thus the lesson all the more important, I suspect.
I have yet to successfully figure this out, yet I believe what ever I do with my work, it must provide value to others. How much value, however, can only be determined by you, the viewer… thus, it is what I propose beginning with the Abstraction series of drawings..
All works are available (unless otherwise noted) for sale at any affordable price. No offer refused.
Please see..
Abstractions Series 1 (2009-11)
and
Abstractions Series 2 (Sept – Oct 2011)
When any of this art touches you in some way and you feel strongly that you want to own it, please make an offer to monique@sevenans.com. S/H $10-20 (depending on size) within the US.
It is my intention to make these works available in this way from hereon.
sleep deprivation
Been going through an interesting time lately since my main source of income has hit a big snag. Feeling pretty sorry for myself, not to mention very stressed. Scrambling around for a j-o-b like crazy..
Been watching various Gordon Ramsey shows via the Netflix. I love the way he tells people what’s what.. very directly. Interesting thing I picked up today was the recurring issue about how cooks fall out of love with food and that their passion needs to be re lit or re started.
I think that is what I may have run into.. or keep running into. At the risk of offending those who are, I’ve only been a ‘hobby artist’ this past year and that’s not enough to make a fucking living. Very far from it in fact.
I have no discipline when it comes to much of anything.
So this morning around 5-6 before I finally fell asleep for a few hours, I had these ideas about cutting up all the big pieces . Leaving them at the original size of 24″x18″.. cause the truth is that they are pretty shoddy quality to ask someone else to make a financial investment. As the original size, it can at least be framed and of some value.
I thought about rearranging the whole place so that art takes up enough space to work on only those sized drawing/paintings.. and after I cut everything up, I’d rework whatever is there.. Get some color on it. Sort of in the vein of the Series 2 Abstractions.
The other radical thoughts I had were about cutting all the men out of my life since I invest far too much of my energy into worrying about them.. never been lucky in love or finance.
Yes, I did say I was feeling sorry for myself, right?
So if I get some sleep, I may or may not commence to the destruction of Series 3 & 4. Smaller is always easier to manage when considering practicality. I’m sure marketing the work locally would also help.. providing I get myself out of the house once and awhile.
ain’t life grand
defeat
I don’t know what I was thinking.
I’m sorry I even…
How can anyone else value that which I create?
malaise
marking the onset of a disease … vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.
Um, yes.
I’ve been contemplating the finer aspects of pain in this new work with out any tangible connections, other than just thinking that the end product seems to look painful to me and a few others paying attention.
I started the last two the other night and and I’ve just sorta been staring at them today.
My focus yesterday was on transportation. Back in October an early winter storm caused somewhat of a natural disaster. In that process it took out my vehicle. Totaled it. I’ve been fairly optimistic about the situation, thinking it could be a blessing in disguise since there was so much wrong with the old car like windows that did not roll down, for instance… though it did get me from here to there.
A few months later, still with no vehicle as the insurance company did not pay out enough for me to replace it, I have decided it was not a blessing in disguise.
So a dealer brought a vehicle for me to look at yesterday and I assume something within that entire experience carried a bug, because today I feel it… malaise. blah
bitch and moan and whine
You’d think one who is accustomed to feeling pain wouldn’t mind this so much, however, ‘normal’ sickness doesn’t factor into that in which I’m familiar.
I could go on singing these blues and I was thinking about trying to tie in a somewhat optimistic ‘moral’ to this story.. just can’t do it today. The only sentiment that comes to mind is ‘fuck all’.
pain progressions ctd.
I was in Denver and there was snow. I was driving on the slick roads. Swerving and turning. Then in the art store where I came upon a very large canvas. It was big and blank and white. Big enough to get lost. I longed. I wanted it. I didn’t find what I wanted. I left the store and I wept. I recalled the canvas and I realized how much I’d lost that year. Little bo peep and long, lost sheep…
12.18.2011
Work Expansion
12.16.2011
Most of this week I’ve been contemplating this idea about how it’s possible to get too comfortable in a situation to the point where it becomes uncomfortable. Therefore, perhaps more desirable to struggle and be continually challenged.
In the interest of going with the flow and no matter what the weather, it is my intention to remain open in any given situation.. open to all possibilities, whatever they may be.
As shown above, I expanded my work space today. I can work on more than one piece at a time.. And actually, I have another wall I could clear in this room if need be.. even though there is a thermostat smack dab in the middle of it. ??
I’m also into this blogging habit as a means of creating accountability for myself. It isn’t always easy for me to do when I feel that I have nothing to offer, but creating that discourse and pressure, the stress to do it, is the plan.
inBetween
Here I Am. Where Were You?
As a transient conduit of unconscious knowledge I seek to develop my creative genius and follow my path as an artist. The work I create documents various processes, studies and explorations of possibilities in which I’m most mystified ... When the work triggers a response or a reaction in you then I have done my job. MSevenans Art Prints
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