Getting by with a little help from my friends…

The past few weeks have been difficult (the working title for this blog entry was 'Being an artist can really fucking suck.')  Though there are enough jobs to keep myself busy with - the pay scale on the majority of them is in the basement end of three figures and has often required any semblance of dignity be stowed. I’ve been making jokes (mostly to keep from crying) about how I’ve gone from painting guitars for CMT to painting pick guards for some dude from Pleasantview (he's a great guy - but just saying...). Then that begins a cycle of feeling like an ungrateful prick who should just be happy people are willing to pay me to paint at all.

I still realize that when I decided that my life would be dedicated to being a ‘creative’ (or as recently referred to by a friend: “All artsy and shit.”) even early on I knew it was not going to be an easy, or stable, road. I saw that fortune was rare and fame could often depend as much upon which way the wind was blowing as often as it did upon actual talent. You could pour all of your time, heart and talent into a project only to have it passed over for the latest ‘Hello Kitty-esque’ gimic or ‘not-so-creatively borrowed rendition’… Again and again. And again.

In the past, Cherie has always swept in and comforted (or kicked my ass in gear) when I’ve been floundering inside my head. But her career has taken off over the past few years and she has really become a force to be reckoned within her field. She is finally surrounded by people who recognized and foster her amazing potential - and it has allowed her to soar. So, after she has put in a long day of decision making and high budget coordination, it seems incredibly petty for me to approach her complaining about how people aren’t buying my paintings of dead things…

So this week, it was quite nice that a few timely conversations with friends have served to fill that role of getting my head back in the game. I’m not claiming any significant divine intervention and neither friend blew much of measurable quantity of sunshine up my ass - but rather just served to reset my mindset back into a productive and/or ambitious direction. And I feel incredibly fortunate to have people genuinely care and enjoy my company enough to help me knock the funk back a little and let some good vibes in. Now it didn’t hurt at all that one of these friends bought a painting… But even that gesture was as much a way of saying “What you do has value. I appreciate and want to support that. ” as it was a help to boost the ego (and wallet) a little.

So with that in mind, I say: “Cheers” to those who helped me out in my recent time of mental bambi-on-ice-edness… As well as an ongoing ‘Thank you’ to those who have supported me in the past.

I gotta go paint some dead stuff now on a pick guard now… and will be doing it with a smile.

Thanks for reading. Sincerely,

Rod