On the other side of the deep intimacy of the creative process, one is hurled into the lights and camera lenses of marketing and sharing one's work. This is the hardest part of the process for many of us so-called "creative types". Marketing and selling a book is very different from selling fine art. For one thing, paintings hang on the wall and exhibit themselves while you are off doing other things. Books sit on shelves, pile onto tables, rest in hard to reach cyber pages. They are much harder to be seen.
In the case of self-published books, there are no marketing departments to do the "social work" of getting the book seen and heard and read. I've learned to be patient with myself in accomplishing all the required support a book needs. It's going to be a slow process. I wasn't a marketing major. I didn't grow up with a computer screen in front of me since I was five. Social media is not second nature to me, in fact, trying to be consistent in social media taught me that I am shy, and that I would rather do creative things than connecting things. Show offs are really great at social media, people who like to be seen, people who like to be looked at. Let's face it, some people will do anything to be looked at. I was taught that such a characteristic made a person vain, perverse, and maybe even vulgar. Be that as it may, the Kardashians have proved that vanity can be a money-maker. I don't fit into that social media climbing genus or specie. (If you are a reader of this blog you know I'm often too shy to write too often.)
I am, however, very sociable, and that is a great help when presenting to classes or bookstore audiences. The interactions have been heart warming.
I love hearing from people who are reading or have read Tango Lessons. (I don't get many notes from readers of Freeing the Creative Spirit anymore.) And this is the real kernel in this post, the difference between being a painter and being a writer in getting feedback. We may be different types of animals, but both writer and artist egos love to be fed.
At the moment I have 6 reviews in Amazon, all 5 stars. Well, let's face it, most of them are friends. But they count! And every now and then I get an email from a friend or family member to say they are having a great time reading Tango Lessons. It is a wonderful feeling. I want to know exactly where they are in the story and what reactions they have to certain characters, and where do they think the story is going. But I cannot ask, I just content myself with a kind of self-satisfied realization that tells me I have given the world something that didn't exist before.
In the ACCI Gallery interview I said that the moment I saw a projection of Monet's painting of Rouen Cathedral in the Mist, I suddenly understood that painting/Art was magic. The artist, the writer, is a conjurer. We create something out of nothing and then we give it to the world as a gift.That is our form of magic. I'm sure you have experienced some magical excitement in response to some work of art, or perhaps a work of animation or music. All our art forms are magical means of transporting us beyond the hard, cold, ungiving surfaces of life.
So I'd like to encourage you to feed the artists. If you see a piece of fine art that you admire but can't afford, leave a note for the artist with the gallery person. (Someone once left me a note tucked into the stretcher bars on the back of a painting! That was great!) Write a fan letter, or email. You have no idea how much it means. Our art has a life of its own. It meets people we never meet, so we love to know that someone out there cares about that work we do all alone while the rest of the world is playing golf, going to a street fair, taking a nap, playing basketball, listening to jazz or all the other great things people do who choose not to write.
I started to write this blog in order to pass along my new Amazon Author's Page. The page has a bio, some photos, a link back to this blog. I think one can email the author that way, too. It's all new to me. Here is the link: amazon.com/author/adrianaadiaz
Thanks for reading. Maybe I'll hear from you some time.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Monday, November 13, 2017
Yours Truly in the Spotlight for ACCI Gallery -November, 2017
A C C I Artist Spotlight
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 ADRIANA DIAZ
Adriana
Diaz is a true creatrix: a prolific mixed media painter, novelist,
creative life coach, dancer, and teacher. Her creative magic is in
bringing elements of the physical sensuous
world
into her paintings, to awaken viewers to the world around them,
expanding their presence and sense awareness of the physical world. With
this heightened sense of physical presence, Adriana believes we can
become more appreciative and literally in touch with the sensual and
spiritually alive nature of the inanimate world.
Adriana describes herself as a "crayons first" kid,
moving on to major in art, and ultimately becoming a creative life
coach, which she practices alongside her painting and writing. She
fondly recalls seeing the image of Monet's "Rouen Cathedral in the
Mist" at age 18 as the moment she realized that art could be magic.
Being of Spanish heritage, Adriana claims a kind of connection to the
Spanish painters: Velazquez, Goya, Picasso, and the Catalán artist Tāpies,
as their work combines the plastic and aesthetic elements of fine art
with their personal political presence, something she strives to achieve
in her own work.
Adriana finds a kinship between the process of painting and
the act of writing. "The physical act of writing often shows up in my
paintings as marks and 'found languages,' developed spontaneously
without forethought. This connects me to the cultural anthropological
phenomenon of languages held within the body of the earth. As if our
ancestors put them there for safekeeping, intending them to be
discovered by their children's children. The marking also connects me
to the scribe who in ancient times was the one who recorded or
transferred stories through pictures, then marks that became language."
Adriana
rejoined ACCI Gallery in 2015 after an extended hiatus, and has since
been an active member and volunteer on the Events committee. She
finds the dialog, sensibilities, and work of other artists to be
wonderful catalysts for her thinking and imaging. Making intellectual
and artistic activities available in the East Bay, meeting other
artists and being part of the joint creative presence at ACCI Gallery
are part of what keeps her creative spirit engaged.
Find both of Adriana's books on Amazon:
Freeing the Creative Spirit, Drawing on the Power of Art to Tap the Magic and Wisdom Within
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