Agony, Ecstasy and the AGM

Already the nights are drawing in- in fact they're doing more drawing than I am at the moment. I haven't been firing at portrait class the past two sessions, perhaps because I am tired or grumpy (probably both). I have been busy making pressed flower cards as part of my order from Country Collectables and was able to deliver the bulk of this to the shop on Tuesday. Anyone traveling through Waipukurau should stop by and have a look at the great items sold there, all beautifully displayed and colour co-ordinated. I wish I could find an outlet for my pendants now but think I may have to extend my subject matter beyond animal portraits.

Monday the 1st was the AGM for the Otane Arts and Crafts Corner Inc. I was voted in as leader of the art group with Glenys swapping back to deputy. When the general business section came the President asked me to talk about the website I might design for the club. I had taken along the laptop with a couple of screen shots of my websites but people were more interested in discussing how the website would be financed and updated. Many members weren't computer savvy, in particular there was some confusion as one lady was adamant that Google provided free web hosting but it turned out she was talking about belonging to a Yahoo group which wouldn't really advertise what our organisation does or increase our membership in the same way as a website. It is now up to the executive to approve my fee (have no idea what to ask) and an honorarium for running the site.

Been doing a few different things this week including calligraphy with pen and ink for the first time in many years. Making a book featuring one of my poems. Also have some clay sculpture to do as part of my course. Not one of my strengths I will readily admit. And I finally finished "The Agony and the Ecstasy" by Irving Stone. All 781 pages of it. I always thought it was just about Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel and his struggle with Pope Julius but the book actually covered his life from age 14 through to his death at 86. His agony was common to any artist- having to please buyers, sometimes undertaking commissions you don't really want to do. His ecstasy those magic moments when the work grows of its own volition, when the artist's vision takes material form and something special results. Hopefully you don't have to be a genius to feel the ecstasy.