Day: October 5, 2016

I’m new to this grandfather business, still learning how to do it and get used to it, my daughter is good enough to send me occasional photos of my granddaughter Robin, and I like receiving them, I live far a way and have to work at the geographic and emotional challenges for me.

I don’t every show photos of my family or my dogs to others, except on the blog, people should have a choice about seeing them. I have even been sharing photos of Robin from time to time, and this surprises me.

I have always found it a bit annoying to have to look at scores of photographs of someone else’s baby, it’s about the same thing as being shown endless phone photos of somebody else’s cute dog, which happens to me all the time.

It’s not really the same if they are not yours, and I have never quite grasped what drives people to do that.

So I don’t have photos of Robin in my Iphone and I don’t show photos of her to other people.  I imagine that if I did,  they, like me, would nod and smile graciously, then mumble some platitude and then think, this is like those relatives who used to show endless slides to visitors of their family outing in the Grand Canyon.

I put one photo of Robin up to introduce her to people, and another when she first started to smile, those got my attention, they revealed perhaps a bit of spirit inside. That will be the fun part for me, watching Robin’s spirit emerge, bit by bit.

I was more than a little startled to see those photos were appreciated, and very much wanted. Every photo of Robin that I have posted has gotten hundreds, if not thousands of shares, and all kinds of sweet comments on Facebook. I am, as usual, out of sync with the world, many people do  like to see photos of other people’s babies, and many people have thanked me for showing them.

Is this a gene that is missing in me, this awwww-how-cute way of looking at babies and dogs, or is it a gene that is missing in me. Just you wait, people say, she will bowl you over. One friend posted a photo of her granddaughter with an explanation saying her daughter has put limits on how many photos she can share.

Narcissism is a personality trait, some say disorder, in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a need to be admired. There is sometimes that sometimes feels narcissistic to me about the need for others to admire my granddaughter or my dogs.

Why not just love her and look at the photos, what compels me at all to share them on my blog. My own answer is that I think love has something to do with it. When you love something, your soul fills to the brim, sometimes overflows, love brings a sense of joy, and joy is something we are compelled to share, it is exciting and brightens the world.

So much unwanted bad news is shared with people – sometimes way too much bad news – that is seems appropriate to share some good news, and Robin is good news to me.

When I fell in love with Maria, and saw that she loved me, I couldn’t want to tell everyone I knew, I was so happy about it, and felt so much joy. Such a feeling was too powerful to keep all to myself, I wanted to share my luck and happiness with others. I remember telling the cashier in a supermarket that I got the girl I loved, and she was happy for me. The didn’t seem to mind at all, I had the sense it brightened her drab day.

Still, it is something I want to keep in check, I want to think of narcissism and be aware of the true interests of others. I’m not putting photos of Robin in my Iphone to whip out at dinner parties, and since I rarely go to dinner parties, that won’t be much of a problem.

When I put up a photo of Robin I can’t pretend that I am doing this just for you, I am obviously doing it for me. And I am learning that many of you enjoy following this journey and seem to know better than I do how it will turn out.

I think it is a sign that my love for my granddaughter is stirring, those smiles do penetrate,  and I will continue to share this passage from time to time, and remember to put limits on how much of this I need to show to  other people.

It turns out that the camera loves Maria and Maria likes he camera. The girl who hated being photographed seems pretty skilled at talking about art. Yesterday, we launched our You Tube sales experiment and it was quite a success, well beyond our expectations.

Check out Jane McMillen’s creations, they can be purchased by e-mailing Maria at [email protected]. We are having lots of fun, and the Open House hasn’t even started yet. Come and see.

Every day, Maria and I explore ways to be creative, pay our bills, keep our lives. As Grandma Moses said, life is what you make of it.

As promised, this video shows some Maria’s art, she is quite busy promoting the work of everybody else, it occurred to me that we should focus for a bit on some of the things she is selling at our Open House, and will also offer for sale to people who cannot get to the Open House.

The vast bulk of our viewers and readers are scattered around the country, many have asked to see the art and also have a chance to buy it. If anyone is interested in the potholders or tote bags or yarn or wool, you can e-mail Maria and [email protected].

Our experiment with You Tube as an artistic sales channel is off to a great start, Maria sold a ton of stuff yesterday and the Open House is still two days away. This technology is liberating for artists who wish to do their work but struggle to reach their audience. I think we are breaking through.

The Open House will have a strong physical component, and also stretch beyond our boundaries, the Internet at its best.

Maria has sold every thing she’s made for more than a year (with the exception of her Electric Hair Goddess – more later). This is fun and creative. And we think, creative. I think Maria has been a pioneer in using new technology to sell her work. We are always exploring new and effective ways to keep our lives and sell our work.

I think these videos are a big step forward. Come and see.

This is the first in a series of videos today exploring our new and experiment You Tube sales initiative for Maria and the other artists in the Open House. We are making this work available to anyone who follows our work and reads our blogs, as has been requested for several years.

The first day was a resounding success, Maria sold all of the wool scarves, a  ton of pincushions, and Ed Gulley’s dog sculpture. This video shows Fate before she goes to the vet – you see the  remarkable stoicism of border collies – and Maria plays some tunes on Ed’s chimes.

Ed is a dairy farmer now blooming as a folk artist. All of his materials come off the farm and it’s equipment, the sculptures are the farm in many ways.

I am loving these videos, we’re into them.

Fate ran in the meadow yesterday, last night she started limping badly, and we think there may be something stuck in her paw. She’s going to the vet at 1 p.m. I’m putting up a video of her along with a series of videos exploring our sales experiment on You Tube in conjunction with our Open House.

We are onto something, Maria sold a ton of stuff yesterday through the You Tube videos. This is a new window of opportunity for us, and another reminder that creativity is important when it comes to being creative. The videos are already very popular. Putting up three in a row now.