Just a couple days ago I was speaking to a dear friend.
She's an Artist.
She has a beautiful warehouse studio that's to die for. Is always in some kind of this or that show. Has patrons up the kazoo and was telling me how she was just asked to participate in another exhibition. But not just any exhibition--she told me this was "big time"--that now, fiiiinallly she felt she had made it "big time".
I have to tell you, I was a little thrown back.
A tad surprised.
I thought she made it big time long time ago. For crying out loud--I've been dreaming of being a full time Artist it feels like all my life, and here--this has been a natural way of life for her ever since we met. And now...just now she's hit big time, with an exhibition that doesn't seem more prestigious or ground shaking then the last.
But this is her "big time".
And I had to wonder--what the heck is mine?
When will I know when I hit "big time"--and honestly do I want to?
I guess "big time" comes to me in increments. I have no aspirations to have a solo show at the Met....or to have my name in large letters across the cover of any magazine. If any of those blessings come my way, you bet I'll be grateful--but doubt I'll feel more "big time" then I do today.
"Big time" to me is the next idea I have--the next project I want to see take flight. "Big time" will be when 21 SECRETS launches on October 1st--"big time" will be when I speak at the Joyfully Jobless Jamboree on October 15 (hey...are you coming?!?! go HERE for more info)--"big time" will be when I finish building this body of paintings I'm working on--"big time" is when I will have my little stint in Italy--"big time" will be when Dirty Footprints Studio opens in Costa Rica.
Then....I'm sure, I'll have another list of "big times" to ramble on about!
So tell me please, what is your definition of "big time"?
12 comments:
connie i don't know anything about big time except wasn't it a silly song my peter gabriel who wanted to be your sledgehammer and he shocked the monkey.
Big time for me is just to be able to create full time and to make my living doing it...that's all big time is to me. That's all I want...to make my living doing what I love and enjoy. Isn't that big time enough? Well, it is for me. :-)
Peace & Love,
~Barb~
I agree with you, Connie- to me, "big time" will come in a series of things, not just one defining event. Because every success and every failure is a defining event to me, as an artist and as a person.
For now, my personal "big time" would be my dear hubby (who is very supportive of everything I do) falling in love with something I have made and insisting on finding the perfect spot for it in our home himself! lol
I have been sort of engaging with the idea of success and "BIG TIME" this week and I found this quote:
Success is liking yourself,
liking what you do,
and liking how you do it.
Maya Angelou
It's a work in progress. Public recognition of my art would be pretty big for me :)
Oh what a question! Big time. I'd like to say it's all internal and I'm already there because I appreciate what I have and blah blah ...but that isn't true. There is a carrot at the end of the stick, dangling out there, and it's labeled "BIG TIME".
I don't know when it will stop. "x" number of followers? A gallery exhibit of my work? My name in a magazine or on a t.v. show? It is an external validation of something that will always be yearning for deeper and greater and more connected inside.
My husband's from Nashville, which boasts its fair share of talented musicians across all genres. He introduced me to Jonell Mosser, a blues/rock singer whose voice puts Bonnie Raitt to shame (and I'm a Bonnie fan). She's been a backup vocalist for tons of big names (including B.B. King), steadily records CDs, and has a busy performing schedule -- but she's not A-list famous. She doesn't tour the club circuit all over the U.S., preferring to keep it close to home. This is her "big time," because it allows her to live a life outside the industry. She's my role model for the "big time."
My art medium is words, not pictures, but if I could get a steady magazine gig going I'd be a happy camper ... because I want a work/life balance. That would be my "big time."
Big Time will be for me if I can just succeed in completing an art journal :) I have "big time" dreams every day, house projects and plans, work projects that will help me better organize, etc, but their all doable, and they're all probably a little pedestrian maybe compared to jaunts in Italy or moving to Costa Rica (which sound DELIGHTFUL!!)-but I kinda like it that way. Big Time can happen anytime
Yep....for me it's always been about "serial projects" so BIG time is probably a collection of projects = fulfilled chickie!
Wow! What a great question. Big time. Getting published and seeing my novel on the shelves at bookstores! But then I think I also want to be working full time as a writer, artist, teacher and coach plus be published. I think that whole combination is my "big time." I think. :)
big time, years ago it would have been my own gallery show, the recognition. but now, i'd be happy just to sell enough to supplement my income so i could retire and do nothing but my art. maybe teach a class or two on occasion.
Such an interesting question Connie!
Two weeks ago I met a publisher at a convention, and it was already big time to me just to present an artbook project to her (photos + poems of mine). It would be nice to be published as a poet, but any time my heart is beating is big time !!!
Next week I'll sell some books for an science-fi association, though I'm not an author in it yet (I'll be in the next book). But to meet the public will be big. I enjoy
every little step :)
Great question, I'm really going to think about this one. I think it might be time to write a list of "big time" goals. Thanks for the inspiration.
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