I don’t write for children. I write, and someone says, “That’s for children.”
I Wish I Said It
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Tag Archives: Art
Photo Op
I Wish I’d Said It
My job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.
-anonymous
The Meaning of Success Is In The Squiggles
What Success Looks Like, After via, via, via, via ...Facebook 2011 by jparadisi
Recently one of my friends on Facebook posted a drawing about success. I took the liberty of drawing a copy of it. In art school, copying the drawing of another artist, particularly a dead one, is acceptable if you write “After and insert name of the artist whose work you copied following the title of the drawing. In nursing, copying a written policy of another institution or department by using it as a template is legitimized by the phrase, “Don’t reinvent the wheel.” My point, is this: I copied the above drawing from an unidentified artist on Facebook, because it illustrates the path of success. Maybe not the path of your success, but certainly mine, and that of many artists, writers, and nurses.
The definition of success has plagued creative and ambitious people since, well, the invention of the wheel. Is success defined by external validation from society in the form of wealth, fame, and Klout score? Or is it generated within the individual, an internal sense of satisfaction derived from knowing that what one contributes holds merit, whether society recognizes it or not? This brings to mind the contrast between the fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge, who’s myopic vision of success impoverished his soul, and the nonfictional, archetypical starving artist Vincent van Gogh, living in poverty for the sake of his art. Both had destructive relationships with success. A similar disparity exists in nursing, which demands intellect, critical thinking, and expensive educations as avenues of success, but offers limited career paths and varying financial incentives in return. Nevertheless, nursing’s contributions to society, and those of artists, are not diminished, though some find it difficult reconciling commercial success with creativity, or caregivers.
While writing posts for this blog, I ponder the meaning of success. Success as a blogger, writer and artist is often hidden in the squiggles, but it is not lost in them. The blog bears fruit. It has attracted opportunities for the sale of my stories and artwork. Moreover, within the squiggles I have discovered an Internet community of artist, writer, nurse companions, and like-minded readers through blogging. With such camaraderie, getting lost in the squiggles becomes a camping trip instead of The Exodus.
If you are a passionate blogger, artist, or nurse currently lost in the squiggles on the Road to Success, keep going. You are not alone.
Happy Anniversary David
photo: jparadisi 2011
Grow old with me, the best is yet to be.
Robert Browning
Artist Matt Lamb
Matt Lamb is an internationally recognized artist who uses his fame and resources promoting world peace. Umbrellas for Peace is one avenue of this global pursuit. I have not had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Lamb, but I have read his biography Matt Lamb: The Art of Success, by Richard Speer. Drawn to his story of finding his voice as an artist after a serious health crisis, and leaving a lucrative career, I found many of Mr. Lamb’s insights about life, death, and creativity resonated within me, a nurse, cancer survivor, and artist. I posted a comment on his blog, thanking him for sharing his story.
Last night, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Matt Lamb wrote a post about my work as an artist and a nurse. His respect for both professions is clear, and I am appreciative of his generosity and kind words. Be sure to check his art, his blog, and Like his Facebook page.
Scrubs Magazine Features JParadisi Paintings in Fall 2011 Issue
Three Vases, Two Dollies, and a Thong. oil/canvas by J Paradisi 2011
Scrubs Magazine published two series of paintings by moi in the Fall 2011issue. It is a rare opportunity for an artist to publish more than one or two images in a article, so to see the newest series, Vessels of Containment: Part I posted on the Scrubs Mag website is gratifying. I usually create paintings in a series; while each one stands alone, they were intended to be exhibited together. Vessels of Containment: Part I featuring Catalina Island Pottery (made on Catalina Island from 1927-1937) and vintage dolls, explores collecting as a means of holding.
Also unique about the Scrubs Magazine, is that the print version is entirely different from their website. Previously available only in uniform stores, now you can subscribe for monthly home delivery. Past issues have included articles by popular authors Theresa Brown, RN, Garrison Keillor, and in the Fall 2011 issue, Dana Jennings, journalist and cancer survivor who posts for the NY Times Well Blog. You’ll find a very nice article about me, which features five paintings from my series, From Cradle to Grave: The Color White on page 48.
Incidentally, photo credit for all the images, both online and print, belongs to David E. Forinash, my husband.
Don’t Change the Way You Look, Change the Way You See
Vegetable Still Life with View of Yaquina Bay photo: David E. Forinash 2011
Getting cancelled for part of a scheduled shift at work is often a problem during a recession, but on Friday I volunteered to go home at noon when our patient census was low. David and I planned to leave early Saturday morning for the Oregon Coast, but since he had Friday off, I packed quickly and we left that afternoon instead. Getting cancelled for half a shift felt like a gift instead of a loss in this circumstance, and my coworkers who wanted the hours were happy. The way it looks depends on your point of view.
I am in Newport, Oregon looking at a 180 degree view of the Pacific Ocean, with a blue heron nesting in a nearby fir tree. Last night I thought I heard a small dog barking, but it was the heron. What surprisingly harsh squawks from such an elegant bird! I see the heron in a new way.
Saturday morning at Newport’s Farmers’ Market we bought heirloom tomatoes, slender eggplants, a radicchio with red leaves edged in light green, and purple, yellow, and red peppers. Although we are traveling, I couldn’t resist the beauty of the vegetables, and when we paid for them even the farmer commented on the remarkable colors. Although he’d set up the booth himself that morning, he saw them from a fresh perspective while weighing them on the scale.
At the locally owned JC Market (which has a surprisingly good wine selection) I bought a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir and a Pinot Gris. As I carried the brown paper bag through the parking lot, I saw Don’t change the way you look, change the way you see, written on a sticker pasted to the bumper of a parked car.
It makes perfect sense.
I knew a pilot who said when he entered any public venue such as a movie theatre, the first thing he did was locate all the exits in case of fire. It makes sense that a pilot would see a theatre that way. After all, how to exit the plane in an emergency is the first thing taught to commercial jet passengers.
For a long time, I viewed many opportunities through the lens of their worst possible outcomes. I believe I learned this behavior as a nurse, seeing the traumatic outcomes of choices written on the bodies of patients in the ICU. Jobs requiring an exceptional sense of responsibility for the safety of others, such as piloting a jetliner, or nursing, affect our view of life, creating habits within our personalities, which I believe are unique from most of our society. It took me awhile to realize nursing influenced my enjoyment of life, and not always in a positive way.
For instance, I used to make choices based on their potential for risk or emotional pain. “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst,” was my viewpoint. Now I look at choices for their fun value too, not only potential peril. Otherwise, I may miss seeing the movie by worrying that the theatre might catch on fire.
Don’t change the way you look, change the way you see.
Polymaths, Multitasking, and Renaissance Men (and Women)
On weekends, the clinic where I work closes when all of our patients are discharged. Sometimes we work a full eight-hour shift, but today, it means that we closed shop around lunchtime. This gift of a weekend afternoon causes mild distress, however, because I have to decide whether to spend it plinking out a new post for this blog, or playing hooky. Getting home without window shopping, and staying home instead of going for a run along the river doesn’t solve the problem. Once home, I avoid picking up one of the three books I’m reading, or the magazine articles next to my favorite chair, or the knitting project and completing “just a few rows”, until suddenly all the free time has evaporated.
Sergei. jparadisi
Today, I am writing about polymaths, multitasking, and Renaissance men (and women).
My daughter gave me the book A Left-Handed History of the World, by Ed Wright, because I am left-handed. It contains chapter-length biographies of left-handed people who shaped world history. It was published in 2007, so President Barack Obama isn’t included, but I’d look for him in future editions. Interestingly, of the twenty-nine biographies, only four are of women: Joan of Arc, Queen Victoria, Marie Curie, and Martina Navratilova, who shares her chapter with John McEnroe. Hmmmmmm. I’ll save that thought for another post.
Anyway, I read the chapters about the lefties Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo, because I wanted to understand the differences between a polymath, multitasking, and a Renaissance man (woman). Leonardo, according to Wright, was a polymath (a person of wide ranging knowledge and learning), but not very good at multitasking. According to Ed Wright, “His (DaVinci’s) low completion rate demonstrates the risks of divergent thinking. It’s unlikely that he completed more than 20 paintings in a 46-year career-in a way he had too much genius for one person to be able to effectively manage.” Maybe, but those 20 paintings are masterpieces Ed. And don’t forget about the wooden parachute that works, and the helicopter.
Michelangelo was more disciplined, able to multitask (simultaneous execution of more than one program or task by a single computer processor) and complete the work to which he commissioned himself. However, his drive and perfectionism came with a price. Wright says,
“Whereas Leonardo was known as a genial man, prone to procrastination and getting sidetracked, Michelangelo soon developed a reputation for a terrifying, obsessive perfectionism…The Florentines referred to his terribilitas, meaning ‘fearsome willpower’.”
I’m not well educated enough to claim to be a polymath. While I can multitask, I am happy to report that I am a nurse, and not a computer processor, which is a machine. The definition of Renaissance man is “a person with many talents or interests, esp. in the humanities,” and that is a description I will own.
I don’t believe in a balanced life. A well-lived life is a dynamic organism, constantly changing. I live life as if it’s a juggling act, and as I’ve said before, the trick is knowing which balls in the air make you happy, and which ones make you frantic.
So, today I’m going to write for an hour or so. Then I’m going to read that article on feminism I’ve meant to get at all week. Afterward, I’ll pour something cold to drink and sit on the deck for what’s left of this beautiful afternoon, waiting for David to get home from work. Poor guy, he had to work his entire shift today.
Nurse Entrepreneur Sells Hand Painted Clogs
Kira painting clogs in The Swanx booth at Sock Summit. photo: jparadisi 2011
Craft is remembering that art is seen, felt and heard as well as understood, knowing that not all ideas start with words, thinking with hands as well as head.
Mark Jones, Director, Victoria and Albert Museum
Yesterday, I went to Sock Summit, billing itself as “…the greatest (and only) sock knitting show on earth.” Sock Summit is a conference for knitters held annually in Portland, Oregon since 2009. Their tag line is “Taking sock knitting almost too far!”
I wasn’t there to shop for yarn or knitting projects though. I was there to meet Kira Chelemedos, an artist who hand paints clogs for The Swanx, a Washington business owned by a nurse, Shawna Johnson, and her husband Curtis. Kira begins with a pair of leather clogs, and custom paints virtually any design a buyer wants, including portraits of pets, children, or grandchildren. The paint is sealed onto the leather, and waterproof. The Swanx website features many original designs by artists if you aren’t interested in designing your own.
Tiny beaded Victorian purse necklaces knitted by my Mom. photo: jparadisi 2011
I tried on a pair of open back clogs and was surprised to find non-slick inner soles. I have narrow feet with high arches; when I wear open back clogs my feet slip out backwards and I hit my instep on the back of the shoe, which hurts like hell. The non-slick inner soles of these clogs prevent that from happening. The pair I wanted was already sold in my size, so Kira and I discussed the idea of sending her a jpeg of one of my paintings for her to copy onto a pair of open backed clogs. It costs a little more for a custom design, but how cool will it be to wear my painting on a pair of shoes?
Afterwards, I toured the other vendors’ booths. I can knit. I have made several sweaters, (which I actually wear), scarves, and felted handbags. I’ve also knitted wire bowls, which I’ve exhibited in a gallery, and sold from my studio. I do not consider myself a knitter, however. My mother is a knitter, and by that I mean she can make anything from a long, continuous strand of yarn: tiny, beaded Victorian purses to hold an amulet and wear around your neck, scarves that look like lace, prize-winning christening gowns for babies, and well, socks. It’s rare to see my Mother sitting without knitting needles clicking between her fingers. As soon as I entered the conference room full of vendors selling hand spun and dyed yarns, and knitting paraphernalia, I wished my mother and I lived in the same city so we could have shared the experience.
Note: I did not receive payment or reimbursement, either financial or in product from Sock Summit or The Swanx for this post . The information above is my opinion.
