What Can You And I Do? SHOW UP!

“What can I do? SHOW UP!” 

A year and a half ago, I found myself at an art fair and discussing my frustrations with getting the kind of traction I wanted as a creative. My art friend/mentor decided to give me a few of her motivational works. Apparently, I had motivated her in some way, so it was a fair exchange. While she does really nice artwork, she likes to bang out these quickie sayings for fun. I didn’t particularly want them (I thought they were a bit cheesy for my walls), but I graciously accepted them.

A little later, I pick one up from my desk and put it up on the wall because it was taking up space on my desk and needed to be moved out of the way. The “Show Up” painting stayed there for months. 

Then comes the day Art in Bixby Park. I REALLY didn’t feel like going, even though I had already applied and set aside the day. I got out of bed to pick up for my phone from the dresser. I was going to text the coordinators and let them know I was bailing. That’s when I looked at my sign: “SHOW UP”. Shit. I sat in bed for a bit pondering our discussion and reluctantly packed up my things and made my way to Art in Bixby Park. 

It ended up being a lackluster day for a while, but then I turned the vibe around and started talking to people and getting excited about being out there. Because what else was I going to do? Sit around being lame? At some point, someone stopped by and left a card with me. It was fantasy and young adult author, Holly Stacey. 

I ended up following up with her and that led to me making several breakthroughs for Transcendent Press and meeting a completely unique set of people in the writing world. It’s currently the reason why I have been making the next set of short stories.

So yeah. SHOW UP. The whole attraction thing might just kick in, and whole thing might end up being well worth your while.

New Website Is Live. Now I Need An "Under Construction" Gif

Alright. I have been avoiding this for a long time, but I said that in 2019 I was going to be making some changes, so a new website is in the works. I am a firm believer that websites are still relevant. People used to say they didn't need a website because they had "A Facebook". Now it's "An Instagram" or "A Twitter".

Fact is, those outlets are just outlets for those corporations.

I'm going with the white-walled look like this some of those art galleries use. I think this should work out just fine. More as it develops. I'll be dumping all sorts of good shit there.

www.mrbenja.com/site

The Paint Trips Podcast Appearance

So I made an appearance on a podcast on an art podcast. I t came about because I was at an art  party talking shit about my own audio recording history when I run into a guy named Nigma 32 that has been running an art podcast and wanted to talk to a cool ass artist. I was ready.

Now usually, I get bored talking to people for that long, so I figured I’d be out of there in 30 minutes, but I ended up staying and recording for a good three hours talking all types of good shit. You know why? Because talking good shit runs in my veins. I already knew how to back up what I say, so listen in and catch some good gems.

Bonus points for anyone that knows where the colors I selected for my episode come from.

I'll get the time codes later so you can jump to a certain section.



- Benja -

Productivity Tips: Notebook

Ever find yourself not knowing what to create, design, write, eat, type, say, draw, choose, etc?

Here’s a productivity tip for you. Document your ideas and thoughts, including the ones that might not apply. Here’s what will happen: you will naturally go about your days, weeks, and months and you will build up an arsenal of weapons for getting over mental slumps.

I use mini-notebooks (pictured), full-size notebooks, digital notebooks, calendars, and index cards. They all come in handy for different reasons.

Heck, you might even have your plan already mapped out completely, but as you go, you’ll find that you need another viewpoint angle to sharpen, refresh, or contrast.

So the next time you hit a slump, you can look back at the ideas and get a jolt of inspiration from your best proponent: YOU!

Do you have any special processes that you use to get you through any slumps in your creative work? Let me know. We can compare notes.