"When I stop being able to get out of bed, I know I'm depressed again."

This. What's been going on, with a few variations in the details. After all, this is her story... If I get brave enough, I'll tell my version.

Reason, Season, or Lifetime

Found this and wanted to share it.
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Reason, Season, or Lifetime
(~Author unknown)

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty; to provide you with guidance and support; to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Artists to Watch: Tracy Nakayama

Above: "Farm," by Tracy Nakayama

Figurative art holds a special place for me, and figurative art of beautiful women doing beautiful things is beautiful above all others. If God created anything more beautiful... but that's another conversation.

Titian said, "It is not bright colors but good drawing that makes figures beautiful," and Tracy Nakayama brings that point home with her carefully painted figures. They allow the viewer a voyeur's window into a world of  casual eroticism often enjoyed only by those blessed with sex-positive lifestyles. Ms. Nakayama's attention to detail creates enough realism to allow the viewer to truly savor the scene, while the loose brushwork allows a dreamy, relaxed casualness that allows natural figures to look natural, but withholds judgement.

If erotic art, or nude figurative art, is of interest to you, I would recommend taking the time to look through Tracy Nakayama's pieces. This brings you to the Google Search page.

"I'm not great at everything... but that's OK. Nobody is."

Over on G+, Tara Swiger wrote a "rant" that had absolutely nothing to do with me, but that I needed to read. According to her, it was "brought to you by a once-fabulous tiny business's recent demise, one I admired from afar."  Trying to market myself is often a confusing, bizarre process, where it feels like we have to wear a lot of hats. It simply can not be done without friends... good friends. I read this and thought, "Thank you for saying it."

I'm not great at everything... but that's OK. Nobody is.Focus on what you're great at. 

Don't fail because you're not great at everything. 
Get help.
Hire someone.
Change your business, mode of delivery, or focus. 

Just because other crafty people make their thing and ship it, doesn't mean you have to, to do what you love. 
If you're great at design: DESIGN. Find a production partner and focus on designing. 
If you're great at one-of-a-kind: Make it. Have someone else ship it. 
If you're great at talking + connecting: TALK AND CONNECT. Find a way to be useful and get paid (or find a way to let that benefit whatever your business model is). Teach classes, lead workshops, speak at conferences.

If you're not great at shipping (I'm not), stop shipping. 
Go wholesale-only (fewer shipments). 
Get a shop manager. 
Hire a college kid to ship. 
Or change your business entirely so you don't let your customers down with late (or nonexistent orders). 

Whatever you do, don't fail because you suck at something. 
Find a way around. 
If you're not sure what the way around IS, just ask. 


Above:  "End of Shift," by Portia St. Luke.  Sketch in black wax on paper.

"May your coming year be filled with magic & dreams & good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art (or write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can). And somewhere in the next year, I hope you surprise yourself." -Neil Gaiman

“I'm a painter, Jim, not a writer!”

I wonder if mid-winter depression is a blessing wrapped in a curse... a shaman's journey, if the seeker allows it. Walk through Chapel Perilous, and there's wisdom to be learned. I have to wonder if that's where I am right now. Then again, I may just be a self-deluded twat. It's hard to tell.

I haven't been updating my blog (http://portiastlukeillustrations.blogspot.com/ ) for some time. To be frank, I wonder how the artists who are also prolific writers manage to create their (often amazing) art and write at the same time.

I sealed myself off from the world. I set my instant messaging to invisible. The people who need me can leave a message... I'm never really that far from the screen anyway. You know the computer's in the studio. I'll see it eventually. I'm probably at the art desk 6 feet away with my nose too close to the paper, inking something.

Enough other folks have told me that having a Blog is important that I really can't ignore them anymore. However, writing about the art itself feels a little too much like “Art Therapy.” “What was I thinking? How was I feeling about this piece?” Do I write from “inside the looking glass,” or as the outside observer? How much information is too much information, anyway? I've been told that having a Blog is important for an artist, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to communicate about that work, or that process... or how.

Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet

"Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet," 

by Portia St Luke, 

Pen and Ink on tinted paper highlighted with white, 

December, 2011.

These figures are inspired by the traditional Yuletide figures of Holland, Sinterklaas, or "Saint Klaus," and Zwarte Piet, or "Black Pete," the chimney sweep that has become a cherished part of the holidays in Holland. Many progressive Americans have inferred the legend of Zwarte Piet has racist overtones. When asked, however, the majority of Dutch people seemed to find this notion absurd. By the same logic, would the American Santa with his elves be "sizeist"? Stop complaining, children. The Austrian version of the Christmas Saint doesn't arrive with a cherished icon nearly as friendly. If you're too naughty, maybe next year I'll draw the Krampus...