I've had a very busy and stressful week, which included a car crash and doing a painting. Painting was actually some time out but I don't have an art studio, so paints everywhere in my bedroom become more stress, so they have to go away until I'm ready to do another painting.
In the middle of this, I was notified that I was awarded a Red Ribbon for my memoir, Bipolar Courage: Are You Sure You're Not Autistic?
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I am currently retreating into gentle music with headphones. To drown out environmental sounds which are causing me extra stress (especially sounds like other people's speaking voices).
Doctors called my heightened sensitivity to sound 'hyperacusis', which is experiencing discomfort and even pain with sounds that don't bother other people. This week has been rather stressful. I was in a car crash. I also completed a painting of a butterfly on a sunflower.
Good news. I have decided to go semi-professional and part-time, self-employed with my art. Art has been a passionate hobby for years and I want to take the next step offering original paintings and fine prints for sale. Aiming for quality, unique art at reasonable prices (no AI generated stuff). After doing some research, I will focus on a New Zealand market at this stage (to avoid shipping and taxation nightmares; and to have high assurance of quality). I have started a New Zealand-themed collection. A New Zealand website is coming soon. Art journeyAs I am prone to burnout, and I have disabilities which impact on my daily functioning, I will take my time, building up a collection of original artworks at my own pace. Also, to enjoy the process and not to compromise on quality.
In recent years, I focussed on process art, to help me to manage significant mental health struggles. I've had two solo art-as-therapy exhibitions and taken part in community exhibitions. I have no plans for further solo exhibitions at this stage (very stressful) but I may take part in group exhibitions in the future. I am currently researching website options, whether to stay with the website builder I've used for over a decade, or to switch. Unfortunately, most of the websites with e-commerce options are expensive. It will probably be less stressful for me to stay with a familiar website builder, even though it doesn't have lots of bells and whistles. I will be spending this month building a New Zealand-based website and hopefully have a few artworks up to start with soon. My test prints of Fantail Rose are on their way from a fine art printer (superior print quality to home printing), before I finalise what formats and sizes to offer. I can remember painting in kindergarten and visual arts has been my strength over other forms of art (including writing). I also enjoy photography, even though I don't have super-expensive equipment. I take my own reference pics to inspire my paintings. Now, I can take the photographs of my art. Also, to prepare them for print, with skills I gained when working as an assistant for photographers in the publishing industry years ago. I was invited last year by a local professional artist to take part in group exhibitions. That is less pressure than solo exhibitions as I could enter just a few pieces. I have to say it's a huge compliment to be invited by an established professional artist. I am also grateful to the local art community and an arts community grant to help make my 'ridiculous goal' of my first art exhibition possible (with prices by tender, as I was too scared people would just my art as 'not good enough'). The reason I had a second exhibition was to price my art publicly for the first time (visitors said I priced too low). I've sold some art, given some away, destroyed some. It's been part of the therapeutic process for me. I have had tuition in oil painting and acrylic painting. I am not keen on the fumes, mess and slow-drying that goes with oil painting, so I specialise in acrylics on canvas. In recent years, I have focused on writing books, inspired by my experiences. I have one more book left in me, I think, called Soar Purpose, which I think will take at least a few years to complete. I haven't given much attention to marketing my books, so they are buried under hundreds of thousands of other books. Thank you to a reader in Germany for recently buying both my books. My creative studio for my painting, writing and editing is my cramped bedroom. Currently, I am still in the 'hobby' category as far as taxation is concerned, although I want to start making a regular income towards self-employment. I have big dreams and last year, I trademarked Soar Purpose, which is my banner for my creative endeavours. I recently invested in a better quality camera, to take sharper images of my art, for fine art reproductions. Anyone who has seen my art 'in real life' has immediately remarked how much more vibrant they are compared to the images (that should change now I have a better camera for fine art reproductions). If you would like to be included on an email list to alert you when I have a new artwork available, let me know via my contact form. (Reminder: at this stage, I will be focusing on New Zealand only for my visual art, mainly because of the practicalities). Update: I've felt both excited and quite anxious deciding to make a go of this. Anxious because of the fear of failure and also I don't like the business side of things. I've had a few small businesses in the past, and they did pretty well part-time until I burnt out each time. So I know I have the skills and knowledge. I am also a bit anxious that I might kill another one of my passions, attempting to turn it into a business. The previous small home businesses were based on teaching music then caring for pets. I have grown a lot since then, with more self-awareness, so I'm hoping this time will be different. One thing I have learned, is to stay the hell away from commenting on anything political when running a business. Now, I need to try figure out how to build another website from scratch (it's always like starting over, even though I've built half a dozen websites before). Making some enquiries with a tax agent, I'm pretty sure my government now considers me to be in business, even though I've made a loss with my startup costs (this can be claimed as expenses and get a tax refund from my other income). My test fine art prints arrived and I'm very pleased with them. Now I have another website to build. Further Update: And we are launched. New Zealand-based website to buy fine art prints of Xanthe's art is now live: www.soarpurpose.nz Xanthe Wyse I finished painting Fantail Rose today, an original painting of a fantail with a rose, in memory of my Dad. I didn't set up a camera to film, as I now have a very cramped workspace. I took some progress pics with my phone, so I have put some of them in this blog post.
The room I am painting in is dark but I was able to have reasonable lighting with two lamps. The pics in this blog post were taken with a Canon EOS R100 with a RF-S 18-45mm kit lens. One of the lowest cost cameras using new mirrorless technology. Ideal for beginner and hobby photographers.
This was on my first day of using it, without working out all the settings yet. I have left the pics uncropped, so you can see how much the subject fills the frame. I've tweaked the images slightly with Photoshop Elements. I have reduced the file size for the internet. One of my hobbies is photography. Very much at the budget end of the spectrum. I bought a Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80, a supersoom bridge camera some years ago, which is very well priced (hundreds of dollars, not thousands) for being very versatile. Recently, I bought a second-hand Canon 1500D DSLR, which is considered entry-level. I also bought two lenses with it. For the combined price of a new Lumix (prices have come down with people switching to mirrorless).
In this blog post, I am going to compare some of the photos from each camera and also how I found them. I have cropped some of the photos slightly for a more pleasing composition, plus reduced the file sizes for internet. These pics are all taken handheld (no tripod or monopod). This blog post also is a review of the Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80 bridge camera, which I have used for the past five years. Aimed at hobby photographers who want to enjoy bird photography but don't wish to have a large outlay to get started.
I checked my records and I purchased this camera and accessories (including camera bag, memory card) new for NZ $653 (around US $408). It was on sale plus I asked the salesperson if he would add anything to my purchase. I saved approx $200 of the retail price of the combined items. All the photos here, I took with this camera. I've cropped some and done subtle adjustments for a more pleasing composition. Subtle, as I prefer a more natural look with photos. I've also reduced the file sizes significantly for uploading to a website. The original file sizes can be printed clearly at at least 8x10 inches (approx 23.3 x 25.4cm). It's 1AM on 1 January 2024 in New Zealand. I should get some sleep so will try keep this short.
I now live in town, so walked down to see the fireworks display in my town. We'd had heavy rain and it finally stopped. My shoes were drenched from walking through wet grass. My first pics for the year were fireworks. It's after 11pm on 25 December 2023 as I write this blog post. Christmas is full of expectations and triggers. I spent Christmas on my own but not completely alone. I didn't meet up with family.
The family in the household I am now flatting with are new to living in New Zealand and don't celebrate Christmas. They were surprised I didn't go to church. I am not religious, after being raised Christian. I won't go into all the reasons here why Christmas can be so triggering but one reason is grief. |
Xanthe Wyse('Zan-thee Wise'). Disclaimer: the author of this blog is not an expert by profession and her opinions should not be taken as expert advice.
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