Conversation continues, plus dark beauties

Two things:
#1- I got longer and more in-depth comments on that last post than eva b4. Imna just quote interesting bits and my reactions throughout this post. And
B) DARK BACKGROUND PHOTOS!!!!!!!! Why didn't anyone tell me they're magical? And super forgiving? I'm angry at all of you for conspiring together to keep this information from me. Even when you were repeatedly telling me to try them, yes.

 They're bright somehow even with much less light and no whitebalance meddling! I'm freaking out.

 Also here's a couple simpler smaller babies. But anyway, back to the topic at hand.

vulticulus wrote, "For me, what defines me as an artist is my passion. My art consumes my waking moments but it does not define my life. My passion is the very thing that gives me the drive to: work a full time job as a writer, study two nights a week for a post graduate degree, spend hours online sourcing ingredients to use in my creations, maintain four shops on Etsy and continue to stock them, write a blog, walk my dog every day, go running most nights and do a few craft markets in person each month."

OK, this made me want to cry with exhaustion then cry with jealousy because I have so little energy and can't do a fraction of the stuff others do. I know you're going to say, "But its hard and I have to force myself" etc, but I couldn't force myself to do all that even if you gave me tons of speed and a million dollars as incentive. So all I got from that is jealousy. But besides that, you're using 'passion' where I used 'obsession' and there's a parallel there.

But also you know, I did fancifuldevices for like 3-4 years before leaving my day job. So why did I forget to mention how many artists maintain via dayjobs? What's my point? idk but dude you have four etsy shops?  

 Sparrow said,"You forgot to mention I likened you to Beyonce!" Yeah, she said I had an entourage like she does. As in, the fact that I have supportive parents and husband is somehow like her crew of stylists and producers. And she wasn't joking. I mean, I know I look like Beyonce ...

 Emmanuelle Roué quoted David Ackert. "Artists are some of the most driven, courageous people on the face of the earth. They deal with more day-to-day rejection in one year than most people do in a lifetime… .(...)Why? Because artists are beings who have tasted life’s nectar in that crystal moment when they poured out their creative spirit and touched another’s heart. In that instant, they were as close to magic, God, and perfection as anyone could ever be. And in their own hearts, they know that to dedicate oneself to that moment is worth a thousand lifetimes."

All I know is it's not courage. Unless it's personally scary for you because of your particular situation.  I mean, I think it takes more courage to, like, go outside if you have facial deformity or something. Doesn't everyone face rejection?

I think Ackert was talking about actors? My actress friend laughs about how people alway say "You're so brave!" when she has a very emotional scene in a play. She's like, "I'm always 5 minutes away from a meltdown in daily life anyways, but if I lost it in reality, people would not approve. Do it on stage and suddenly you're fearless!" Also about that drinking from the nectar of life stuff-. I think anyone who loves what they do experiences that; like when surfers describe catching a perfect wave or when anyone accomplishes a substantial achievement using all their skills and talent. Sharon Driscoll wrote, "when you are an artist you seem to see the world from that perspective. You can't go outside and see the dog poop, or a broken tail light in the street you pick up, or a sunset - just anything and not end up interpreting it in an artistic way. Albeit a comment in a blog, an addition to an art piece, or a color Segway. What you "take in" comes out." Yup.Gardanne wrote, "A few years ago I was discussing with my daughters math tutor what makes a person "good" at math. He said when he looks at a tree he sees numbers, like how many branches on each branch how many points on each leaf, etc. When I look at a tree I see colors, shapes, positive space negative space, and basically the beauty of it all." This is interesting to me because a math genius can be just as zoned out in his/her magical universe of numerical interconnectedness as any artist in her/his magical world of aesthetics.I also find a lot of similarity in the way athletes or any artisans speak of being 'in the zone.' For some reason I truly connected with a description I heard of video gamers when they get stuck in a game and can't tear themselves free. Video games- like the world-building or quest kind- are able to trap our attention by providing a constant stream of little tasks and rewards. That's how you end up with, "I'll just do this one more little thin-" and BAM five hours have passed. That's exactly how I feel about jewelry making. Except that I'm horrible at all games and after you put all that effort in you don't get jack, whereas I have end up with some awesome little thing that makes me yell, "Look what I made everybody!"Peggy Gato wrote, "What an interesting minimalistic but rather limiting notion on what an artist is." OK Miss grumpy. But yeah, I'm trying to define it narrowly and un-romantically. "But then it is an age old idea, I suffer for my art, therefore I am an artist." I don't suffer for my art, I get tons of joy from it. I suffer from my crappy low energy, no-discipline-having personality. So I'm not sure what you're saying but it sounds really grumpy dude.I welcome further grumpy comments below.So after this conversation, I've decided that it's much more productive to talk about degrees of artisticness and not about artist vs. non-artist. How much art do you have in you and what can you do with/about it? If you have none you'll end up some kind of IRS bureaucrat (maybe?). Too much and you're a schizophrenic drooling into your applesauce. That's it! That's my conclusion. [Betsi  asked off topic, "You made those iridescent utee bead theengs? I thought I remembered those being a gift from some one." Those are different. See, she (Claudia) got the idea from some I made ages ago, then she sent me some she made. Then I elaborated them. Then we chatted a while on how to perfect them. Then I made the ones I showed in the last post, finishing them with some super tough epoxy that she searched for on line specifically because it doesn't dissolve utee. It's a fast drying resin that I also used in the earrings above to encase the little opal cabs:

 After I made the beads I remembered why I don't make beads- they're a pain in the ass. And utee seems deceptively simple but can quickly drive you crazy. Plus the longer you heat it the darker it gets so my first few were just brown ugly poop.]

Finally I have another question for you all now about practical matters. Do any of you have a pencil soldering torch like so:

When I try to use mine flames shoot out of it like thus, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with that.

P.S. Go to Sparrow's blog now to read a super useful helpful post about photographing your shit for etsy.