Russian Onions

So what are most famous Russian shapes, as shapes - architectual, conceptual, practical and not? Of course - ONIONS! The onion-shaped domes were definitely made famous in Russia....and post-revolution onion solder's hats - commemorating the patriotism and reviving the shape used much earlier in history.....so does this remind you of anything (hint hint)?....

so confused so confused - phony and a pro

For those of you slighty familiar with my biography - I walked "out of music" about 10 years ago, after 20+ years spent IN it - professionally, from age earlier than age of my son right now.....and occasionally - a lot of time - it hunts me, this professional conditioning so deep I think it is now in my bones.

So I taught a little bunch of toddlers today. Taught them solfege....just the very very beginnings - what are notes, what are keys, where do notes live and how are keys organized....and for the first time in SUCH a long time I felt comfortable, comfortable not because of my exceptional "talent" of a teacher (I think I actually have very little of that alltogether) but rather because this felt good, it felt as I was practicing something in which I am a pro, a real expert, something so deeply "in" that it just feels competely natural, even when the expessive media is new and foreign - like teaching toddlers...

I can't feel anything like that doing anything else. I am a good - even great - professional, and I can probably do anything I set my mind upon. But whatever I do - no matter how successfully - I can't stop feeling like a phony. Because it is not something THAT deeply engrained and it is not something - ever - to which I have had so much exposure that it fused to my bones and skin....thus no matter what I do it is never as "pro" as anything related to piano or music...sad and scary.

Now....I am curious to find out how people do things they learn so "late" in life like professions decided upon in college....if nothing is "fused" deeply in childhood - does it make it easier for one to become proficient in something or do people just never really question how "them" is what they do?

P.S. The picture of course is from my dear dear friend and great inspiration....Vita Usova.

Selling passions

....or making money out of something one likes to do - equates to hard balancing. Once upon the time my husband decided to try to persuade me to make something out of my nack for finding amazing fashion bargains....and effectively killed my love for shopping for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time, since once I tried making money out of my "hobby" - even though it actually paid, and paid amazingly - I lost interest in it!

I wonder if it is an unfortunate quality of character of mine....or something more common. Or maybe it has to do with doing something one TRULY likes - and thus enjoying it - or doing something very CLOSE or RELATED to what one likes...but not exactly what one likes.

complicated matter...maybe THAT has to do with my inability to copy designs completely from one piece to another and total excitement while tackling something new or inventing something new.....

here are two newest inventions....now the challenge is - can I repeat either one?......

on what is art and who is an artist?....

or rather what is the difference between art, craft, artist, craftsman and just somebody having a hobby.....

I meet (and read) many people proudly saying "I create my art", or "I am an artist"....maybe the word artist has different connotation in English, however, saying that has to fill pretty large shoes by proclaiming such associations...what is art? is art - just state of one's mind...thus art exists "in the eye of the beholder"?...or is art - state of mind properly captured - and thus it needs a proper audience to speak to?....does art need to SPEAK, or does it need to SING?....if art is only what needs an audience, a state of mind clearly seen and communicated to other - how is profanity not artful?...it speaks, it clearly shows the emotion; it even APPEALS to many!

Take new Met's production of Salome....and Karita Matilla's naked stint in the Dance of Seven Veils....for almost a century this opera did away with just a description, musical - and wordful - of the Dance - the infamous dance....and then Met decided on the production with GRAPHICAL depiction of the same scene...and it was wildly successfull! But is is not insulting to the opera hall itself to have strip tease as part of its production - production of a classical opera? Or is this widening the borders and erasing them - in this new century - just like Aida-The Musical, just like Magic Flute in English, just like Marriage of Figaro in Armani costumes?....Is this Salome what was envisioned? Or is it just my old-fashioness, closed-mindedness, when it comes to that I was taught to revere....

So back to crafts. I am most definitely an enthusiast - I realize that I am only an enthusiast...and I do not talk about knitting as of "making art".....and that's a statement. I am proud of finished pieces, VERY proud of them. I am also very proud of some things that just come out unexpectidely, on a spurt of the moment....but I am still stubbornly calling it a hobby. While I call playing Shubert Sonata making art.....

P.S. But I do like this picture, lol. Of the finished product of my HOBBY....against one of only absolute art form - flowers.....

On appearances, photos, sells and stales

And so this is my premier post.....

and my first question....on marketing and marketing techniques. on truth in advertisement and our perception through what we want to see, through the mood of advertisement but not through the mood of a particular object....

this was my first sale on etsy. I honestly did not expect it.....I JUST posted the item and I honestly thought to myself that this picture really nailed my morning mood - I looked out on the terrace and saw the reds and golds just "sparkling"....

if somebody could just tell me why, but WHY this scarf?.....then I would just feel...even better than now!