• CLASSES 2021
  • Patreon Art Club on line
  • Ancestor Revival
  • Paintings
  • Testimonials
  • Oakland Blog
  • The Art and Science of Watercolor
  • About
  • Testimonials
  • Botanical Painting
  • Paint supply list
  • John Singer Sargent: Copies for sale
  • faq
  • Watercolor Mini Lessons
  • FAQ
  • Should I take a class?
  • Portraits

Speaking well of the dead

11/27/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
.People, old and young, have said to me over the years: what was the name of that artist that cut off his ear? They are then treated to my lecture about how poor old Van Gough would probably not want to be remembered over time for this particular depressed act, but rather for a life time of hard work developing a new way to paint. This is part of my never ending effort to change popular perception of what being an artist, an what art, is all about. One person at a time, and hopefully at key teachable moments like when they ask questions.
This led me also to think about how I would like to be remembered when I finally give up the ghost a couple of decades or so hence, I think I want someone to say something like this at my funeral.
"She had a good start in life, then hit a lot of adverse circumstances in adult life. It took her a while but she finally began to learn from her challenges and gradually become an introspective person that learned humility from rejection, courage from setbacks, and patience with fate. She never gave up trying to convert people to her vision of how art figured into human experience, with some success."
Some people will label me an artist, a creative person or an effective teacher. But I just hope I will end up looking back on my life and thinking: I sometimes turned lemons into lemonade and occasionally spun gold from straw. Paintings and also life events.


0 Comments

Scary things

11/26/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Once someone told me to do something that scares me, every day. To help one overcome fears and grow. I can do it, but it takes concentration and planning. I must break down the steps, prepare for each one, then pause between steps for more courage. My twenty year old TV died and there was no helpful young man nearby to advise me. So I researched new TVs by myself, figured out what a Smart TV is (might free me from my cable bill) and selected one with good reviews. I drove to the Best Buy, handed the geeky young man the paper with the information, and he got me all set up with the right cable even though I did not quite understand his vocabulary. I had taken pictures of the back of my cable box and he showed me where to plug things in. I was prepared to stop at any moment and give up the entire pursuit, but somehow I was able to even carry the tv to my car myself and up three flights: the new tvs are one tenth the weight of my old giant box.
I took a break to gather my courage to set it up, knowing it would take patience. The set up manual has such small print, and extra information I do not want like "do not let children climb on TV". And the labels on the back of the TV are extremely hard to read. Eventually I figured out how to screw the top to the bottom: with impossible tiny screws meant to go down a long tube where I could not hold on to them. Delighting in my progress I almost didn't want to turn it on after I plugging things in. But low and behold the thing worked! I will wait until later to figure out how to make it go on wifi,
It changed me to go through this process without panicking or calling my brother or son. I can go into the future with confidence that I may be able to solve problems on my own. But also, I am willing to fail without feeling bad about myself. I feel this is an important skill for aging. Knowing limitations but having courage to try things that seem daunting. They say old age is not for sissies, and I don't intend to be one. I am a better artist too because of it. Just like taking risks in painting gives me courage in my every day affairs, having courage in every day life opens me to try new painting challenges.
0 Comments

License to Age

11/3/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture


I saw the teenagers standing in line by the high school, taking turns doing their drivers’ licence test. They looked scared and a little bit excited.
Some people are so afraid of aging they don’t want to talk about it. They want to close their eyes and cover their ears and say “la la la” so as to keep out any information about the inevitable truth. I think it is because they do not have a licence to age yet. And that is because we don't have it yet. But we should.
No one should be able to move forward until they study up and pass the aging test. Then they will be safe in society to age. The study manual would contain exact information on the realities of aging, so they can contain their fears appropriately. For example, people are afraid of rotting away in a substandard nursing home. But fewer than ten percent of the population does this, and even then, not for long. The manual will contain the many things one can do to mitigate the aging process, and even if they still do not exercise or stop smoking, at least they are doing it knowing the consequences, and in that have a measure of control over the seemingly uncontrollable future. The in class part of the study will have videos interviews of actual thriving elderly people, and why they are still viable and happy.
Then the big “road” test. Aging candidates for licences to age will have to perform. After passing a quiz on the latest studies on combating Alzheimer's, financial forecasts for Social Security and Medicare benefits, and what to wear to the Apple bar for Genius appointments to solve tech problems, they will also have to drive a little too, so they can keep their drivers licences too.
Information and courage are the goal. After all, aging is like driving in Boston: you are taking your life in your hands every time you go out.

0 Comments

Technology and Aging

11/2/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture


I am proud that I solved two perplexing tech problems yesterday that had been bothering me for a while. Some people over sixty either give up on technology and refuse to do more than email  -  if that. I understand. Tech problems are mind boggling since our brains were not raised during the computer generation. We have to translate everything into what we do understand, and even then, we are never quite fluent in computerese.
Yet technology has great potential for the elderly in keeping their brains active and preventing isolation. In the next twenty years or so, technology will also overcome some of the handicaps of the elderly such as the wonderful new app on iphones that enhances hearing aids.
I willingly devote hours a week to getting better at tech. I learn new tools such as googling my questions and getting lots of nerd websites that will happily assist me in such issues as “how to I get my songs from my computer to my phone?” Whenever I am around a young person I ask them to teach me ONE, only one, new trick about how to use my phone. Setting alarms and reminders is great for keeping me from missing important appointments and meeting deadlines.
As a creative tool, I cannot do without computers. With two websites and other internet personas I control what comes up on a google search of my name, to help my professional side. I use graphic tools all the time to help my painting process, such as reframing and adjusting the color of photos I took to prepare them for painting.
What I have learned is that you need great patience and creative thinking to solve those baffling tech questions. Yesterday I finally found the audiobooks I had downloaded in a file, not named audiobooks, by experimenting and poking around on the app. I also successfully transferred a book from the library to my ipad for an airplane ride by finally realizing I needed to upgrade my software. I am losing my fear of technology a bit at a time. Humility and perseverance as well and thoughtful reflection on creative approaches to a problem help. So does having kids that will answer questions if all else fails. Although I am trying not to be that stereotype old parent whose digital clocks are always flashing 12:00, or sending hilarious auto-corrected  texts

1 Comment

REBRAND yourself

11/1/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
At dinner the other night my friend Martha said she wanted to Rebrand herself, and word used in popular culture these days. With further discussion, I found we were on the same page in figuring out what we had to offer the world in later life, and how to market it in a way that we could be occupied and financially sustained for a good long time.
This breaks me out of thinking I would just continue doing what I do now, only fewer hours and with less energy. It keeps me from thinking I will have to be a greeter at Wal-Mart or flip burgers like I did at age 18 to pay for my Depends and Oradent. We were admitting to ourselves and each other that there is something valuable we have to offer the world, but that the world needs to be convinced of it. Putting a spin on our experience and expertise that looks to the world like the answer to a problem is what we mean by Rebrand.
Do we have to hire a media consultant, an agent, and a marketer to do this since we are not experts in any of those fields? Or, might our very experience of winning many battles, solving many problems, and overcoming many losses in our lives be enough to trigger a process that, yes, might need some help from others, but with us at the control board?
A combination of humility about learning new things without shame that we don't already know everything, with flexibility and no fear of failure could be the answer. Are we not by this age good at learning quickly from our mistakes?
A bunch of re words come to mind: Rethink. Reframe. Reassess, and then, Rebrand. Being in a community of others trying to do the same thing might make it all fun and adventuresome.

0 Comments

    Wendy Soneson

    Creative late life planning: using art and creativity to live joyfully.

    Archives

    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.