Yesterday was my birthday, and I must say it was actually one of the best I`ve had in quite sometime. I had a true day for myself and actually came across what could be a very exciting business opprotunity in the process. I believe that is called syncronisity, being at the right place at the right time.
Anyhow, I am not a huge fan of showy `look what I got for my birthday`posts, as I find them to be rather.....materialistic. So I won`t list all the gifts I got, but I will mention 2 things that I treated myself to. Below behold what I hope is the begining of my renewed interest in drawing!
For those who are not familair with Andrew Loomis, he was a highly celebrated illustrator whose main period of work ws from the 1940s. He has been something of a drawing legend based on his very well acclaimed series of instruction books that until recently were out of print. Thanks to Titan books they are now available in all their glory, and I`ve started my collection with the one above; which the UPS man kindly dropped off this morning!
I`m an art school graduate, and have always been creative in many meduims but drawing used to be one of my favorite past times. Over the years of progressing into so called adulthood I`ve found myself drawing less and less, and that`s just not acceptable any longer! One thing that makes me very sad is when I meet someone who has let go of all of their passions, in the pursuit of socalled success or just in the daily grind that can be everyday life. In my opinion success is having a rich life full of all the little things that make the world such an interesting place.....and I don`t count prime time television or boardroom meetings as particularly interesting.
I hope to show case some of my work on this blog as I progress through the series. in the meantime I highly suggest that anyone even remotely interested in drawing to check out these books! Even if you don`t end up become a master illustrator, they would make very nice coffee table additions.
My second birthday gift to me is a DVD I have been humming and hawing about since I heard of its release, and finally made my mind up about once I watched a review by Lisafreedmontstreet on Youtube.
And just my luck that a local boutique, The Foxy Shoppe, happened to have some in stock! Yay to not paying shipping charges. I`ve only watched a few minutes of this 3 dvd set so far, as I only bought it yesterday afternoon, but I have heard great things and am looking forward to hopefully devouring the whole thing this Sunday afteroon. I`ve heard some great review, and although this is by no means a `purists`dream, Micheline Pitt is an amazing makeup and hair artist. I really look forward to learning some new tricks, especially mastering the poodle hair do which for some reason I can never get to look just so.
And that my friends, is that. I hope to write a post sometime this weekend about my latest tailoring project and possibly my gardening endeavours if I don`t get rained inside. Tonight I will kick off the long weekend with a wrestling themed burlesque show, and the debut of my newest creation, a cherry bloosom and humming bird printed wrap pencil skirt that I feel has a `tiki` groove about it.
Oh! And one more note, which is actually an experience I would like to share in the hopes that it may help someone else who has possibly faced something similar.
Winnipeg is not really known for its booming garment industry, although we are lucky enough to have some amazing fabric & notion stores, we are no New York or Los Angeles; with their bustling garment industries and all. You can imagine my utter shock and excitment when I learned that a Italian born & trained Master tailor has been operating his own shop on one of our most prominnt boutique streets for years. How had this gone unnoticed by my ever exploring mind!? Well first thing Tuesday morning I marched down to his shop, in one of my best constructed outfits, with a garment bag full of creations in hand; with the intention of asking this man if he could share some of his knowledge with yours truly. Of course I did not expect this knowledge for free, I would have been more than willing to work cash, clean, do a couple days a week grunt work in exchange for lessons. In a recent local news channel interview I had seen this man mentioning that not many people are interested in learning this art, and he is afraid that this is a dying trade. "Fret not!" I thought, "I will absorb your knowledge like a sponge!". Alas my enthusiasm was not met with the positve response I had so hoped for. Instead I was laughed at and bluntly told that "Women cannot be tailors, they cannot make mens suits". My response was simply to give a chuckle and respectfully comment that "You are dearly mistaken sir", before walking out the door with my head held high (albeit my pride slightly bruised).
While I would hope this man would have givin a second thought to his abrupt response later that day, mulling over in his mind that perhaps traditions can on some occasions be broken in order to keep an art alive, I highly doubt that he will infact ever see the error of his ways. But the point of me telling this story is that just because this rather pompous fool tells me that I cannot do something, will not stop me from achieving it. I will continue to make suits for both men and women, and continue to get better over time. While my skills may progress at a slightly slower pace, teaching myself from my many books instead of with face to face instruction, I will not let this persons closed mind stop me from achieving my goals.
And neither should you! Doors closing in your face should only make you work harder and reach higher! Trust me, you can achieve any dream you set out for yourself, just as long as you have the right attitude along the way. Don't let others reactions affect your goals, as those reactions are most often a reflection of how they feel about themselves and not you.
*A
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