Introduction– Big Hat No Cattle, the Blog – How an Artist digs in her heels and paints her dreams.
Or how an Artist digs deep into her soul to unfold a less common, quiet, peaceful life.
The purpose of this blog is to prove to myself that I can build something from nothing. It’s a gift to be able to create something from scratch. The gift comes from doing, making, exploring, and walking away from eyerolling people and family members who do not support you.
You might be asking, “So how is this going to work?”
You should know I’m an apprentice who gambles on ideas. I will share with you my naturally curious nature and how it has led me into a binding contract with inspiration and hats. I will show you how my friends inspire me in different ways and how I call on them to help nudge me in the right directions.
A few months ago, I sat quietly thinking about some of the dead great artists. I examined their work and what defined their style. My marketing team has been all over me to nail down a niche. It’s time for me to get off the fence and get serious.
I thought about the train wreck Jackson Pollock. Is it just me or was he an incredibly angry person? His paintings give me the impression that his mind was trapped in prison. It’s art and open for interpretation. I’d love to know your thoughts.
I thought about Pablo Picasso and his dog Lump, who really wasn’t his dog, but he chose to live with Picasso, and I chuckled because I once had a cat who chose to live with me.
I lost myself in the brush strokes of Oscar-Claude Moet, Mary Cassatt, and my personal favorite Marc Chagall. I love the dreaminess of Chagall.
And then I thought about my painting mentor Betty Franks. Betty is fabulous and her work is quite literally like her fingerprint. You could walk into a gallery filled with various pieces of vibrant abstract art and you would be able to spot hers immediately. Her style can’t be copied because it’s in her D.N.A. I kept asking myself, “What’s in my D.N.A.?”
A few days passed and I found myself looking through the pantry and there it was…a can of Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup. I thought out loud, “Chicken, yuck! It tastes like chalk.”
Then I thought about Andy Warhol and his Campbell’s Soup paintings and how he must have found himself while slurping can after can of that salt laden soup, while staring at his mother’s Brillo Boxes.
The world still debates whether it’s art. Of course it’s art, he painted it! The point is people are still talking about it decades later. People love to debate how he made them and how he replicated them into 32 varieties…of soup art….
Again, I found myself asking, “What’s in my D.N.A.?” I thought about my childhood. I grew up surrounded by beef, boots and hats! When you get off the fence and decide to be an artist you come face to face with the bull…one with horns. (We’ll cover more on this later, not to worry, I get up again and again and again.)
That afternoon I was listening to Dave Ramsey, (like I do every day at 3 PM) and he mentioned the Texas idiom, “All Hat, No Cattle.” I found myself chuckling out loud as I often do while listening to the Ramsey show. If you have never heard of the Ramsy show, you can find it LIVE on YouTube Monday-Friday. Dave is hilarious and heartfelt and most of all helpful.
Ya see, Dave Ramsey is a self-proclaimed Redneck and I’m just a country girl at heart. He explained the “all hat, no cattle” idiom to the city folk and naturally I chuckled a little louder.
Back in the day, in Texas, a BIG cowboy hat was a status symbol, it meant prosperity…Psst, it still does. Then along came the little doggies, aka posers…the Lone Wolves and the Mavericks, all wantabees…with no cattle and no land to put under them. Like a beginning Artist, they had nil, but they were onto something and now…so am I.
To be continued…
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Until next time, remember, your job is to create and release. 😊
Much love,
Tamara
