Apples 2.0

The painting above is slightly improved; the apples no longer look insubstantial (or insufferable).  It’s shaping up as a nice project.  A pity that circumstances have changed.  How?  Why, I’m glad you asked.

In the post below this one, I mentioned that I was doing a lot more painting these days, and that a lot of that energy was due to joining an online community of fellow artists.  Being around creative people is always fun and usually inspiring, and this group was no exception.  But you’ll note the use of the past tense in that second phrase.

The “problem” with creative people is that they are, by nature, also very sensitive people.  Since they pick up on ideas and moods and the turn of the light, their sensory apparati can make unintended leaps.

And that, in a nutshell, is what happened here.  The original list owner decided to turn ownership over to someone else, who then turned it over to a third party.  Both the first two then left over some unspecified argument.  Naturally, there was some speculation as to the nature of the argument–people do that sort of thing all the time.  I stay out of such discussions because 1) they don’t really interest me, and 2) they’re none of my business.  But it all seemed harmless enough.

Then, it turned nasty.  One email accused the remaining members of leeching off the goodwill and creativity of the (now gone) founders; this found little favor with the group as you might imagine.  Things got more heated, though there was still ongoing, positive discussion about turning the group toward the future.  It seemed like a bad little ripple, but we were riding it out.

And then, a really unbelievable email appeared, making accusations of bad intent all around.  And the group was either destroyed and recreated, or a purge of “unwanteds” was put into effect; either way, I suddenly (through no choice of my own) found myself an ex-member.  

I’m not the most social person in the world.  I hate parties and never go to them unless circumstances demand it.  This makes on-line forums pretty ideal for me; I can participate or not, and not have to feel as if I’m duty-bound to acknowledge others or be acknowledged by them in turn.  Sure, there are lots of egos, and little cliques form here and there, and if you say anything that might be misinterpreted, you’d better toss the appropriate smiley in there.  But for someone like me, who’d rather just close both halves of my carapace and be all internal, such groups are great.

Which is a shame the one mentioned had to melt down; it was helping me to create new works.  Oh well.  I’ve since had invitations to join some splinter groups, which I take as very flattering, but I’m not coming out of my burrow any time soon.  Are you crazy?  There’s bears out there!

Thanks for coming by, as always.  Later this week, you’ll see the new, improved apples.