OTROS
PDP1414CT24
It takes plenty of coffee for an old guy like me to sit down in the morning and write something of value. Click the button below to…
OK, where was I? I am trying out the buymeacoffee.com platform. Buy me a coffee and try it out. This seems like a pretty good service for creatives to pull in some pocket change for all of the content we provide to each other online and a nice way to show a little support. It is kind of like buying a cheap ticket to something. Most of us are compelled to do what we do, to express ourselves, to make stuff, to share. But in a material world we all have to support our ourselves as well.
I first saw one of these buy me a coffee buttons on Erik Rittenberry’s page Poetic Outlaws, which I really enjoy. I’m a paid subscriber so I didn’t buy a coffee but I liked the idea of it. So when somebody buys me a coffee, I am going to buy him one and I guess the service gets a few coffee beans too.
This is always the problem for artists. The problem of supporting ourselves. It must be a really bad problem for most poets! My wife Rosalia doesn’t like it when I say; ‘Most artists would be living on the street if we didn’t need a place to keep all our art stuff.’ But in a way it is true because artists just mostly want to make art and not bother with the rest of it. We live in our own little worlds not typically motivated by all of the commercially driven messages and social ques telling us what we should want like brand new cars, fancy clothes, the latest gadgets and to have our neighbors looking with presumed envy at our supposedly amazing lives on Instagram selfies.
I am guessing most artists are perfectly happy living a quiet, unassuming and private life in their studios and enjoying time with their friends and family. If we can figure out how to make enough of a living to work in our studio, keep the bills paid and care for our loved ones, that’s a pretty good and fulfilling life.
Life in our complex contemporary world can be pretty brutal and it takes a lot to keep up with everything. We all seem to be overwhelmingly busy and massively distracted all of the time for some reason. Maybe cell phones are the problem. When I look around everyone seems to always have their heads buried in their cell phones. Maybe we need to spend more time just sitting or walking and paying attention to our surroundings and the people around us for a change. I don’t know. I am just rambling here trying to justify why I am putting a buy me a coffee button on this and future posts now and then.
As a gallery artist I am never at the scene of the crime when sales are made and money is trading hands at the gallery. I just see the remains when it shows up in my bank account. Luckily it is enough of a flow to keep the ball rolling the last number of years. I am grateful for that. But when I am in the studio I am just making stuff and when people say they need something I take care of it. Otherwise I sit around writing stuff for the Touchonian because I want to write more than I used to. I have been working on making it part of my daily routine for the last year and a half. I am feeling like it is pretty locked in at this point. In fact, I have an pretty good article scheduled for next Wednesday on the subject: ‘Develop a Routine’ that I think you will like.
Well, OK, I’ll leave it there. Happy Fourth of July (if you are in the states).
Messages and mail to come...