JJ Worden

Mixed Media Artist

Do you believe in serendipity?

A Bed You'll Dream About All Day

Do you believe in serendipity? I do.

ser·en·dip·i·ty
/ˌserənˈdipədē/
noun
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
"a fortunate stroke of serendipity"
Similar: fortuitousness . providence . coincidence . chance . happy chance . accident . fluke

Every time I finish a deadline or series I feel a little out of sorts (just ask Tom!), a little lost, unmoored. So I tidy the studio, clean up the detritus of packaging and business cards, tape and bubble wrap.

Yesterday I was reshelving my Art Inventory binder (REALLY need to get that sorted out!) and underneath, I found a stack of gel prints I'd stashed there for future consideration. I even had post-its tacked to sectioned off prints saying: "drawing ink on top", "tissue paper transfers" and "almost done" etc.

Welllll... I might disagree (now) on the 'almost done' ones, but what struck me is, THIS is what I need to do next. Figure out how to make these prints from — last Spring, a year ago, two?? — reflect who I am now.

Because in an equally odd and serendipitous find, I stumbled across a journal of notes (and doodles and diet stuff and ideas for future projects) to discover these words:

Content Crime
  1. Inconsistent [not commited]
  2. not enough about Art
  3. ignoring mailing list [#1 Asset]

And underneath THAT, I'd noted "build trust" and in big letters, FOCUS ON THE ART.

And it's exactly what I needed to read/hear.

In this bash up to the most buyingest time of the year, I forget (every. frickin'. year.) that MY job isn't to try and sell you stuff. MY job is to make art. If they — YOU — want it? Great! If not, well, keep making art anyway.

Focus on the art. Indeed!