One Door Closes Another One Opens

One Door Closes Another One Opens Hello everyone this is my first blog on blogger.com I'm not exactly a tech oriented person so this is something totally new to me. As the title may suggest I am beginning a new life in a lot of respects. After twenty-one years of operation I am in the process of shutting down my Studio frame shop which for the very short time being is located at 11A Baldwin Street in downtown Toronto. It doesn't matter any more to me why I was taken down this new road in my life I am choosing to look at it as a fresh start.Art has been my life for more than thirty-eight years and it will continue to play a major role. I have a website http://www.artistalanrutherford.com/ which hasn't been updated for a while due to the fact that my webmaster went back to school a wise decision on his part. The studio will be open until March 31st. 2009 at which time I will be seeking employment preferably in my field but whatever it takes to make a living I'm willing to do. I have a family that has been on this journey with me and I haven't povided as much financial input as I feel I should have as far as I'm concerned I have some catching up to do in that area. My Wife and family have always been there for me and I will be forever grateful to them all. So where do I go from here? Perhaps there are some fellow artists out there who would like to share their stories with me I would love to hear from you. Now that I no longer have a bricks and mortar venue the only place you will be able to view my work for the next little while will be on my website which I previously mentioned. One of the ways I fugured on letting people know about what I was up to was by occasionally putting some pictures of my work up on my blog. I just have to fugure out how to do that.



They say that when you lose your job or business it's like a death and yes at first that's what it felt like. After a few weeks to let all the changes begin to sink in the situation doesn't seem quite so scarry anymore one of the tricks I've learned so far that I find most valuable is just to keep your mind engaged in something and focus on only that task. It's especially helpful if that action is a move in a forward direction instead of looking back at the place where you were that in reality no longer exists. Familiar places are oh so comfortable in your mind simply because there are no unknowns it's the fear of the unknown that stops so many people from reaching their full potential.



Now I am hoping to be an example to other individuals of what can be acheived when you no longer let your fears imprison you, creative freedom is borne on wings not weights. Creativity can be expressed in all avenues of your life and that includes how you present yourself as an individual, in a personal as well as business sense. I've never been a good business man and that ironically may be because I have not been creative in my ways of marketing my work. People these days turn for the most part to the electronic media to find or at least get an idea of the finer things in life. An old teacher of mine once told me "When it comes to creativity there is no right or wrong way of doing anything" these words have always inspired me in my work now they will inspire my very life.



I want to learn more about this amazing new electronic media and would be really interested to hear what my fellow "old school" artists are making of it all. I'm sure we all have a lot to learn and always will, that's what they call life. So please come back and join me with your own stories of forward steps and stumbles and after a little staggering we'll all find that healthy balance that we are all looking for in life.



Till next time

Alan