Chirp!:

    Saturday, January 13, 2007

    Inside the Artist's Studio


    I love this pic.

    I took a series today from the deck, while he was seriously working, brow furrowed, in my greenhouse / shed / thing/ watchamacallit place.

    I'm still on a high from Muzbot comparing me favourably to his mum, who he credits with his future artist graphic designer endeavours.

    Considering I used to be a Graphic-Designer-Groupie ( ahem, I sold them le papier ) .. I am truly flattered.

    When I went to High School in my small country town, my fat lazy toad of a Careers Advisor told me that only "city kids" get to work in advertising/design as they work for free in the school holidays and then grab the real jobs before anybody else gets a look in.. perhaps I should think about becoming a mother/teacher/nurse instead ?

    ( nothing wrong with those careers - in fact, I get 'teacher' a LOT in those online 'what career suits you' type quizzes .. and think I would have actually enjoyed that particular route .... but I wanted to be a copywriter, and used to re-write current campaigns in my bedroom .. sad, I know ... ;)

    Anyway, maybe he was right.
    But I still resent his advice, for when I came to the city, I discovered it's not all about who-you-know, what-school-you-went-to, how-you-worked-for-free .. but then again, it certainly does help.

    Still...

    20 comments:

    meggie said...

    Some teachers have a lot to answer for!
    But some others,... their goodness, & positivity stays with you forever!

    Your son is very lucky to have you!

    Anonymous said...

    Was that careers advisor a traditional male? Mother/Teacher/Nurse are very traditional female roles. (I can say this because I am a teacher and a girl) Perhaps the careers advisor couldn't think beyond the sterotype. I hope that it didn't dash your dreams and leave you with a nagging regret. Did you find something fulfilling?

    LBA said...

    Tracey - yes.
    It was a small country town.

    Thinking above and beyond your 'rank' in life was discouraged. Best keep your ambitions to yourself...

    That said, I have no regrets :)

    Bec said...

    I had: "but if you do a degree no editor will ever employ you as a journalist, you have to get a cadetship".

    Which I did.

    And within three years it was impossible to enter the profession without a degree.

    I also had my aunty telling me I could never hope to do medicine because my (small country) high school didn't offer latin, unlike her kids' big expensive city schools.

    Her son ended up a junkie in Amsterdam. Guess he got closer to medicine than I did anyway!!

    Melody said...

    I too grew up in country Victoria and the Careers teacher there was a bit on the creepy side and ALWAYS smelt of ciggies. Very unapproachable too.

    I love the photo of your young mater too. He looks like he is concenrating very hard.

    nutmeg said...

    A oicture of concentration - lovely.

    I want one of those greenhouse/shed/whatchamacallit thingies too (said in a very self indulgent whiney voice!)

    I think our careers advisor must have moonlighted down your way. With the amount of time he disappeared from our school - he could have commuted I'm sure. But really, what was the use of a careers advisor anyway - yes, all the girls were going nowhere fast - apparently. Well, Bec and I got out of there without much help, that's for sure :-)

    Stomper Girl said...

    Careers counselling at our school was absolutely useless too. Can't remember anything they said to me. Kids these days dunno how lucky they are....

    Your boy is so lovely painting away there. I think we have the same easel, the Ikea one?

    velcro said...

    what a fabulous picture. I love the look of intense concentration!

    I don't think I even bothered seeing the career's counsellor at my school. He was more interested in getting kids into prestigious universities than actually sorting out what they wanted to do after they left.

    Damselfly said...

    Hmph. I suppose your career advisor's career advisor steered him to his path -- the wrong one!

    Nice pic of your boy! He seems to be growing fast!

    Anonymous said...

    Thanks for the junkmail link, looks like a goer - now just have to get my tech savvy cap on.

    And sorry, I was one of those people who was in the right place - right time, its who you know not what you know when it came to 'entering' the design world. If you could call it that. Talk about shattering the illusions....

    LBA said...

    Shannon - nah - that's ok ;)

    Once I became a 'supplier to the stars', I realised I preferred to be the groupie/edge-dweller anyhow. Fame by association, all that jazz.

    But if you listen to the small-town-dwellers .. well, lets just say, you'd never do anything or go anywhere...

    Blue Moon Girl said...

    I love that picture! He is too cute! And concentrating sooooo hard!

    As for your career advisor. Stupid person who didn't know what he was talking about!!

    Lynne@Oberon said...

    Oh God! I remember my careers advisor telling me I should go into the Navy and become a communications technician! Huh?!? I don't think I EVER considered joing the armed forces. Crazy idiots just shake an eight ball I think and declare a random job your ideal career.

    Fantastic photo :)

    Muzbot said...

    Funnily enough, I did get my start as a designer by doing design work for free. I was volunteer designer for a community youth organisation. My designs received a bit of attention and things took off from there.

    I'm sure you would have been a great teacher...

    Kiki said...

    Hey, hey...I was in the ad industry in my previous life. If you were in Qld you would have "called on me" as I was the Production Manager!!! Funny how you don't think about someone's profession when you're engulfed in thinking of them on a parent level. Do you miss it? I do sometimes but then I just love not having those deadlines. Now...it's just all about me (oh and them - the family of course!!).

    verniciousknids said...

    Our career advisor told us "most of you won't even get into uni so you should all lower your expectations". Our grade ended up having the highest number of students accepted in the first round of university offers in the history of our all girls school! Sweet, sweet revenge ;)

    Joke said...

    Wait.

    You guys had Career Counselors? All I had was a someone telling me to memorize the whole body of human knowledge in order to graduate, where what I did with my life would be my problem and not anyone else's.

    -J.

    Anonymous said...

    Love that picture too! Careers advisors are soo blinkered it is beyond belief.

    My float said...

    It absolutely does help to know people, but fortunately talent, skill and desire go a very long way in this country. I can't believe your stupid advisor.

    We had a part-time crappy advisor who'd clearly drawn the short straw because he was oh, so not happy about taking on that role. He was useless. He was worse than useless. I can't even remember having a conversation with him. And I took child care as my first work experience. What the...?

    You've inspired me to think of a new meme.

    Victoria said...

    At least we know our kids will have wider options and more encouragemnt, love that photo.

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