rawREN

So, I was painting Finding Nemo characters on the wall of the waiting room of my pediatrician's office and thinking... this is funny, how'd I end up here, doing this? All the time, all the years of hard work, and here I am... painting Disney/Pixar stuff on somebody else's wall. Dana took a picture and I uploaded it to my Facebook page and wrote "Yep, the degree I am working on is not an MFA... it's an MFN... a Master's of Finding Nemo degree!" And yet, even as I joked, I knew wouldn't trade anything of what I have. Here I am then, reminding myself that life is awesome... even when you're not doing exactly what you'd want to be doing... but, I AM DOING IT! Here is my lovely wife Dana, my awesome little man Kaden, and I am creating art... even if not my own characters at the moment, but it is still art. Time tells me that I am right WHEN I should be!

My kid sister and I recently had an interesting conversation which involved inspiration and the important point I left with was this ~> don't go looking to be inspired, BE INSPIRING!

Too many of us, myself included at times, are constantly scouring our friends, the internet, our world, etc, looking for something inspiring... we want to feel that invigoration, a new found motivation, the hope of a brighter day and tomorrow. I understand, most of us do, we really get it at a gutt level... but, is looking for inspiration the best way to find it?

Have you ever had a friend say "I'm bored," "this is boring," or mention that another person is "boring?" Well, what is boring? I am tempted to say "boring is as boring does!" If you are saying that, then YOU are probably allowing yourself to be bored (and boring)! Almost every moment of every day is filled with wonder and delight, you just have to open your eyes and your mind to it. Nothing is "boring," but we may just be. And, likewise, nothing is uninspiring, really... only we can be (but not really, really!!).

I am sure there is some kind of confucius saying, or taoist truism, which relates, but I do not know one, except to say... you are what you are, and you see what you see. What is, is. If you really want to be inspired, BE INSPIRED and INSPIRING! Is this making any sense yet?

William Glasser, in his book "Control Theory," made note of an extremely strong association between what we think and what we exhibit physically. This mind/body relationship is above and beyond a normal pavlovian response (classical conditioning) or placebo effect, but is a real and measurable physiological response to what we think and how. What you think becomes you. Glasser makes this critical suggestion, consider your emotions as verbs. You are not in love, or have love, but are "loving." You are actively choosing to love.

We are not depressed. We are actively choosing to depress... we are "depressing," in a sense (this is not to be confused with a physiological/chemical or clinical depression, that is real and much more serious). Well, there is no bored, just choosing to bore, or boring. And, perhaps you can see where I am going with this... we are not inspired, or uninspired, we are choosing to, or not to, inspire... we are inspiring.

It has been a long time since I woke in the morning with a BOUNCE in me, one that seemingly popped me out of bed, wanting to just DO SOMETHING wild, and crazy, and fun... and, inspiring. When I was in high school, during the winter season, I used to wake up on saturday mornings and could not wait to go skiing. I LOVED to ski. Well, I have not skied in years... although I still love it, but I cannot remember waking up feeling that energy and excitement since then. There have been moments, to be sure, but not something consistently motivating.

Well, I woke this morning and BOUNCED out of bed, excited for this term in school. When, oh WHEN, is the last time that happened, if ever? I feel inspired... no, let me rephrase and reframe that, I AM inspiring!!! =Þ

Realize it, choose it, be inspiring! Do it now, there is no other time better than now.

~REN

SCAD is an incredibly work oriented school, with the MFA program being that much more involved, and it moves quickly! If you want to get the most out of this place, which you should if you are even going to bother paying the tuition, you really do have to devote yourself to a full artistic immersion. Anything less would be a waste. This term had a slew of problems and challenges for me and my family... and at times I really thought I might not make it. But, with a lot of love and faith and hard work, *we* managed to get very good grades. Even now, I am shaking my head and thinking, I surely hope next term is not this tough... and yet, I know I actually do want it to be intense, to be ready for it, worthy of it, and make the most of every moment, making it matter! What else is there?

It is official, I am headed to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) to work on my Master's Degree in Fine Arts (MFA), specializing in Sequential Art (Graphic Novels, Comics, Storyboarding, etc). Since my last semester working on my BFA, a degree in painting and drawing, I have been wanting to go to SCAD.

At first, I did not even know what SCAD was, but when I told a classmate of mine, another artist here on dA, naruto-sexy-no-jutsu, what I wanted to do she replied "You're gonna go to SCAD!!" ...and, well, she was right! See my original journal post "SCAD is MAD!" here: rawren.deviantart.com/journal/…

Since that time, I have made several new acquaintances with SCAD grads (Quinn Johnson and Robert Atkins ~>RobertAtkins) and am even happier with my decision to apply myself towards gaining the opportunity to study at SCAD. Anyway, I am ubber-stoked and am truly grateful for all the wonderful things life has brought my way and I hope to be able to give as much, if not more, than what I have been given.

Finally HOME, yipeeeee! So, I have bounced around several countries over the past year and a half and have finally made it home this past month and just renewed my dA subscription. Time to start digging up the new (and still some old) art and posting it! Hope you have all been happy and well and, um, productive? Do say hello and hopefully I will get my current watch inbox up and going so I can follow what all y'all have been up to!!


Previous AFK note: "For those of you who do not know, I have been, and will be, away from my computer and the internet for a good deal of time. I will try to drop by and reply to any comments or questions left for me, but please be patient if it takes several weeks, or even months."