Where it all began!
I’d love to take you on a journey so here we go!
Not much of it going on this last year is there, journeying?
Where would you like to go? Somewhere hot and sunny with a wide, sandy beach maybe? A cruise? Skiing?
I could do with a trip away somewhere.
Not sure where I’d choose to go to be honest, but a log fire and miles of rolling hills or lowering mountains is calling me.
All that fresh air is invigorating, motivating, amazing, whatever the weather.
I like sheep, a few grazing nearby would be nice too.
I love to watch sheep, they seem to think a lot but have a reputation of stupidity and following the crowd, but I think they just like to hide what they know… maybe.
A glass (bottle?) of Shiraz and some cosy slippers wouldn’t go amiss either, a pile of books and something cheesy to eat.
Best holiday ever. Tonfanau, Wales
Ah well, I think we’re going to be a bit disappointed, aren’t we?
So, a different sort of a journey then, sorry about that, I hope you’ll hang in there and read on though.
This journey will take you to back when BubbleStickCreative was first conceived and how it got its name.
It will give you an insight into me, what I do and what I have done and how I work (I think)!
I originally started out as a visual artist and a bit of a writer, poetry mainly, but to be strictly accurate, BubbleStick was the art bit and the writery/poety bit hadn’t amalgamated with it.
It was a bit like two Mes that hadn’t met yet but had an inkling that the other existed.
Both Mes have been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride more than a journey, to where we are now.
The tracks have wound their way through many and varied terrains, shaping how I look at and see life. All this twisting and turning, all the ups and downs at varying degrees of angle and elevation has given Us some rich mind food!
So BubbleStick started without a name, it started with an art commission.
My first paid freelance, art job, the first time I was going to be paid for my art rather than my art being part of what I was paid to do.
Hope that makes sense, it might when we get to the end of the journey, or at least it’ll be a little bit clearer!
This was my first utterly solo project, start to finish, it was up to me to deliver what my client asked for. The whole project from design to implementation was down to me!
I always relished and still do, working with what people want and with other people,the analysing of the audience, the clients needs, the impact of what I’m needed to do; sharing ideas and passing things back and forth like some demented game of squash, until we collapse in a heap with a plan that will work.
I love how ideas grow; they always do.
I love the acorn, oak tree analogy.
Or is it more like baking a cake with the ‘all in one’ recipe and no scales? Yes you’ll get a fantastic cake—but each one is different!
So, this particular acorn (or cake) was more of a shrivelled cactus in a barren desert valley needing to be turned into an awe-inspiring paradise.
It was, for me, a huge project and a huge opportunity.
The brief was…brief; the audience were children and it needed to reflect them and the project’s location.
Children, easy, said nobody ever who has or knows children!
I can always tell the ads, stories, movies etc that are aimed at children but created by people who don’t know children. They usually contain burps and farts.
I’ve worked with children for a good number of years and I have 3 grown children of my own and one thing is certain, burps and farts only fascinate a minority audience, and then only if the timing is just right, fact!
No burps or fart references after this and none in my project.
I know children have vivid imaginations, but their imaginations are as diverse as their personalities, their families and their cultures.
They have dreams and hopes and ambitions, for themselves, their families and friends, and the world they live in… so this brief was getting pretty wide open!
Knowing all this I began my plan, sketches and notes; this was going to be unique…
I’ll give you a vague description:
It was BIG and COLOURFUL!
I won’t go into too much detail because that isn’t the object of the exercise is it?
it’s more of a foundation, yes I’ll call it a foundation. It’s not going to tell you about my writing or editing or proofreading but it IS, sort of, the foundation of the joined-up me!
The journey begins (or the cactus begins to recover; remember the shrivelled cactus?) This was my interpretation of the earth, soil, the planet we are standing on.
I don’t like obvious messages, I like what I write or paint to sit in the mind, float around and mingle with everyday thoughts.
I wanted to take the children on a journey through what they already have experience of so they could understand the journey. But, I wanted to depict it in a way that would make them think.
I started with enormous crystals at the start of the corridor (no glitter included. Have you seen what glitter does when it gets into the environment? Horrifying!
https://www.blueoceansociety.org/blog/glitter-a-sparkling-nightmare-for-oceans/ https://environmentjournal.online/articles/glitter-is-harming-our-ecosystems-new-study/ ).
The corridor meanders on: the sky, clouds and the setting sun, shining down on a lush, green island. Around the corner, it melts into a moody, moonlit, night sky. On the opposite side, after the crystals, an impression of growing things, a tree, not any old tree as you’ve probably guessed!
A breeze is blowing the autumn leaves from the tree, around the corner the leaves are transformed into books drifting towards the library.
Nothing blatant or obvious, nothing too easy.
Things that are too easy are quickly forgotten, filed under ‘seen - move on’.
Believe me, after many years in the field of education and years before that in marketing, (or if you don’t want to believe me, think back to when you were at school or university, or learning some new computer system at work or some such thing) I know what I’m doing - I know what I’m talking about!
Do you remember anything that is just plonked in front of you? No, you remember what makes you have to think and work on something, be part of it, use your imagination.
Whether it’s you imagining yourself smoothing on the latest organic body butter or on that trekking adventure in the Scottish Highlands, you want something that captures you, not slaps you round the chops and makes you walk away!
OK, I can hear you asking
‘’but what about BubbleStick?’’
Be patient, I’m nearly there!
Dotted along this mega-mural of imaginings and discovery are BubbleStick’s impression of people:
humans; curious, playful, adventurous, daring, uninhibited with varied and vivid imaginations, dreams and aspirations. That’s all of us really isn’t it? Deep down at least.
Little stick characters, some drifting along the corridor on the breeze, suspended from a bubble.
The bubble thing was one of the first things I thought of; the seed for the story.
Bubbles, ever changing, each one individual, singular; taking on its own colours and direction like whisper-soft, transparent personalities and thoughts.
Can you see it coming now, BubbleStick?
Well, it took around 2 weeks to install this gargantuan splash, on top of that there was planning, measuring, design, selection of materials AND PREPARING THE WHOLE SURFACE FOR PAINT!
The whole thing was terrifying and exciting all at the same time.
Terrifying because there is always that fear that NOBODY is going to like what you’ve come up with, exciting because your brain is buzzing with seeing all the ideas from inside you being revealed for all to see. (that’s also terrifying!)
Terrifying because you know there is always someone who could have done it better, cheaper, faster, differently and you’re dreading someone actually saying it to you!
Good old imposter syndrome kicks in no matter how confident we are!
Everyone loved it, adults and children.
Nobody claimed they could have done it better or at all!
(not to my face or anyone else’s either as far as I know!)
I wouldn’t really have taken the project on if I thought I couldn’t do it better than anyone else. Who would?
Sometimes we have to just be bold, fight off the demon of self-doubt and just go for it.
Do what we know we can do.
So, I was a bit backward at this point.
The mural was complete, and it had had its opening ceremony, it got rave reviews, all verbal unfortunately so you’ll have to take my word for it.
‘Can you send us an invoice please?’
OOPS, I forgot I was a businesswoman!
I think I just expected someone to pop a cheque in my pigeon-hole or something like that.
No! I had to put a price on my head!
Terrifying!
How much am I worth?
I enjoyed it, so should I be cheap because I enjoy what I do???
It wasn’t hard work although I was entombed in that corridor during a heatwave, exhausted and just a bit sweaty at the end of the day.
I only worked for 2 weeks, the rest was all stuff in my head.
Do I charge for ‘thinking time’?
it’s just painting pictures, I’m not an artist I’m an educator so I can’t charge what a real artist would charge.
Hmmm, real artist,
looks up real artist,
no real answer.
I did a very silly thing. All you creatives out there will be shouting at me when I tell you.
I didn’t charge for thinking, I didn’t charge for creating, I didn’t charge for the individuality and uniqueness that I had put into the work.
I charged a minimal, bog-standard, manual labour rate for the hours I spent ‘on the job’.
I didn’t put a value on me and my creativity, my experience or training.
Just the thinking alone has worth, doesn’t it?
Of course it does!
After this I grew up.
Growing up or growing in general is something that happens to us all the time,
it’s not something that’s only owned by children,
we just give it different names when we think we have already grown up;
developing, maturing, learning, getting smart, wisening up… I could go on.
Whatever, I ‘did’ it.
Anyway, we’re finally reaching the end of the journey…
…I’d set my charges and created an invoice but, for an artist, I thought it looked really boring.
I wanted to look like a pro’ even if I couldn’t convince myself that I was!
I needed a name for my new business…
I think you’ve guessed by now anyway,
this was where
BubbleStickCreative
was born,
it was called BubbleStickArtwork back then.
My name had to reflect what I do and had done, it had to show something of Me.
I don’t think I went far wrong with my little stick bod and their bouncy bubble, do you?
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So the rest, the writing, has just evolved; training, research and loving what I do!
I still paint for pleasure and for me,
it’s my ‘down-time’—it keeps the creative juices flowing for writing.
For me, that’s an integral part of what I do and who I am!
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As I said earlier, we just keep growing.
By the way, as I alluded subtly to pricing earlier, you’ll want to know what I’ll cost you.
You’ll find some ‘about’ rates for us to work around on my contact page link (I’m really not expensive, honestly).
Take a look and get in touch, remember every contract is bespoke, I work with and for you to give you what you need.
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