Podcast #6: Disappearing Acts and What I've Been Up To...

You can listen to the podcast HERE.

Podcast #6 - Disappearing acts and what I’ve been up to….

Are you ready for a reboot? et your best glass of iced tea, cheap wine, a cup of coffee, or just some water, and let’s hydrate, settle in, and welcome back to Southern Serial!  My name is Lana Pugh and you’re listening to episode 6 where I’ll tell you where the heck I’ve been and what I’ve been up to….

Goodness, gracious.  Like Lazarus arising from the tomb, I’m back!  I know yall thought I had abandoned this podcast but I haven’t!  Okay, maybe I did… just a bit… I’ll be honest 2019 was a dumpster fire…along with 2020 and 2021. I mean there was that whole Covid thing we had there for just a little bit, and if you’ve read my blog the last few years you also sorta know what’s been going on with me personally and professionally the last few years. But I’ll get into that later. And oh yeah for the new listeners, I have a blog at lanalpugh.com where I ramble on about art and life and southern history. But for several years I’ve let myself get sideways, get distracted, and be overwhelmed with the business of life. I enjoyed making the podcasts, but when the world went to hell in a handbasket something had to go by the wayside and it was this podcast. I got a new job in 2022 which has energized me and now that I sort of have my life a little better in order I want to try and resurrect this podcast from the dead. So let’s do a little catchup on what I’ve been up to and I’ll share my plans for the future when it comes to this podcast. 

All right yall, Let’s dust off these podcasting skills and get back into it. Like a lot of people I had high aspirations for my quarantine time, but honestly didn’t accomplish a whole lot artistically with the exception of just a few things. Going into 2020 I really wanted to get back into fine art as my actual real-life university degree is in Fine Art with an emphasis in photography. I was accepted into a few shows in 2019 and 2021 as well as being included in a couple of publications including the MockingHeart Review, an online arts and literature magazine and the Tishomingo Arts Council Magazine “View from Woodall” magazine. What I did do during quarantine was get back into drawing and journaling. Drawing became a needed escape from the stress of Covid and as I haven’t drawn much since college it was fun to stretch those muscles again . I feel like I’ve spent my entire life pursuing a creative processes in some way or another but carving out that time as an adult when you have so many responsibilities is incredibly hard. But daily practice was preached at us every day in art school. Writers should write and visual artists should do something every day that furthers their specific craft. Daily practice makes your art, your craft, a habit. I know a lot of people look at art and they say the dreaded, “Oh! You’re so creative!” But we all know what real creativity is, don't we? Creativity is when hard work and opportunity intersect. Many famous artists will tell you there’s no such thing as talent. Talent and creativity are just the result of a lot of training, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. Being creative just looks a whole lot like hard work. And no matter what a lot of people think, art is hard work. Hard but fun and fulfilling at the same time. 

One big thing I accomplished in 2021 was I finally published my second book, a collection of my photography thesis work from college.  I never was quite happy with the presentation of that show and have never really shown that work publicly after. It was satisfying to pull those images out of storage and get them in front of some eyes again. I’m quite happy with how it turned out to be honest with you. I absolutely wanted to give up at times because it took forever. I’m not very good at graphic design, and at times I wondered if it wasn’t just a completely worthless and self-indulgent project.  Maybe it was, but I’ve had so many good comments made about the images that I’m happy I did it. If you’re interested in taking a look at it you can search for Equus on blurb, and there’s a link on my website for the book as well. (Link HERE.)  

I think I’m also at that point with myself and my art that I do what I want, when I want. I also make my own rules and try not to worry so much about my formal art training and the do’s and don’ts of “real” art. You can’t see me but I’m doing air quotations for the “real art” part of that sentence but I am. I’m proud of my BFA from university and I learned a lot that has helped me over the years but I think in a way some of that education stunted me and my creativity. I’m a grown ass woman, yo. I’ll do what I want. Bottom line: I get to do what I want.  It’s my art.  I’m trying to learn to stop being my own worst critic and just create and share what happens. That is so scary to be honest, but art is meant to be shared. The other reason I want to be more confident in my work is for my daughter. 

My daughter has really dove headfirst into art and I love to see it.  I love encouraging her and buying her new art supplies to try and watching her explore what interests her and right now that is anime. She absolutely loves it and really makes some good work for being 11. I’ll try to include one of her drawings in the show notes. She also inspires me just to let loose and draw. She draws so much out of her own imagination which I have never been able to do and comes up with the best character designs inspired by her favorite animated shows and online games. It’s been fun drawing and painting with her and watching her growth as an artist. 

And the biggest thing I did while away from this platform was I quit my insurance sales job in May 2022.  I’ve worked for two different insurance companies over the last 14 years, 4 ½ years for one and 9 ½ years for the other. While it was a good experience for the most part and taught me so much about customer service, sales, business, relationship building, and networking it was time to move on. I was able to find a job that is all of 2 miles from my house which literally blows my mind. I’ve never lived close to anything!  I grew up on a farm 30 minutes from town and for the last 15 years have been spent making an hour and half round trip every day to drive to and from work. I was also stressed out all the time and had gotten to a place of complete mental burnt out. I was giving so much of myself at work every day there just wasn’t very much of me left at the end of the day for myself much less for anyone else. I am not a naturally outgoing person and am a true introvert down to my bones, so having to put on that outgoing, cheerful, and chatty persona just drains me more than any physical labor job ever could. And as a girl that has spent the better part of her life growing up working in the hayfield in Mississippi, riding horses year-round, building fences, working cattle, and just doing general farm chores I can assure you I have a pretty good understanding of physical labor. I finally told myself that I needed to start looking for something else. Life is too short to spend it stressed and tired 24/7. I was lucky enough that I was referred by two different people for my new job and even luckier that I was given the opportunity to interview and be hired. This is another office job, but it’s more of an accounting-type job and not so much customer service and sales. This change has allowed me more time with my family and more time for art, writing, sewing, podcasting, horses, etc, etc. and at the end of the day I just feel more like myself. 

I got off to a bang in 2023. I was accepted into the Greenville Arts Council 10th Annual Juried Biennial Invitational art show in April where I placed 3rd with a photograph titled “Forgotten Worship”. This was my very first juror’s award. I was also accepted into the 49th Annual Bi-State Art Competition and Exhibition with another photo titled, “Old Salem School”. And the last show I was accepted into was the 2023 Cotton District Arts Festival Juried Art Exhibition with a new piece titled, “Eight Years Later.” And Lastly I was awarded an Artist Mini Grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission. It’s been probably the most productive art year of my life in a long time. I’m tickled and so honored that my work is being so well received.

The other big project for 2023 that I finally started was a Youtube channel! It was something I had really wanted to do for a while and finally decided to take the plunge and just do it. You can find the link to my channel in the show notes.

So that’s pretty much it for now! I have another podcast script I found that I wrote in 2021 so that will be for next time, and I think my plan for right now is to produce a new podcast at least once a month if not twice a month. We’ll just have to see how things go. But for right now let’s just say a new podcast once a month. 

Thanks as always for listening!  I’ve had people ask me from time to time when I was going to do a new podcast but never could quite find or make the time and energy to record one. Also the app I use to record my podcasts went through a major upgrade and for the life of me I could NOT figure out how to make it work.  I finally just sat down and spent some time with it and finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Just when I think I’m technologically savvy I remember I’m really not! 

So happy 2024 listeners! Thank you for waiting so patiently for a comeback, and I can’t wait to share more stories with you in the future. 

If you’ve listened to me ramble this far and you’re still interested, you can find out more about me at my website lanalpugh.com where there will be a blog post with show notes about this episode as well as links to more of my writing, and, and social media accounts. As always if you’ve enjoyed the podcast would you mind leaving a review on iTunes or shoot me an email at lanapugh@gmail.com?  I would love to hear from you, so if you like what I’m doing drop your girl a line!

And lastly, I took a production note from my nubby and have tried to let more of my accent shine through with this episode because as he informed me I had used my “public speaking voice” in the past and I didn't sound like myself. Well, dear, I hope you’re happy now. Does anyone else out there have different voices for different situations? Just me, okay then. LOL!

Thanks again for listening! 

Fall Flow

Balloon Vine seed pod November 2023

Fall is my favorite time of year. It’s the reward for surviving a Mississippi summer. The respite from humidity and sweaty nights and the reward for lasting another season. Fall brings with it the thankfulness of making it through another year no matter if it was good or bad, successful or failure, feast or famine. It’s a time to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and start planning for the year to come.

The photo above is from a balloon vine. I’ve shared some pictures of this plant before HERE. You can buy seeds for this vine and it’s a fast growing hearty little plant but it also just grows wild here on the fencelines in Mississippi. When you shake the seedpods you can hear the small black seeds rattling around the dry brittle husk of the lantern shaped seed head. I know a lot of people would have passed by a brown vine lying on the ground by a fence but sometimes you have to be willing to see potential in the details. Be willing to look past typical beauty and see beauty in the atypical. Be willing to see potential where others might not. Light, texture, and color can be found anywhere if you just look hard enough. Potential can be found anywhere if you’re willing to look around for it, just a bit.

I struggle to balance my art practice with my office job and my “Momma job” constantly. Art isn’t something that you just do as a hobby, it can be, but for many of us, we know it’s just a part of life, a part of who we are. We’re happiest when we get to do something creative. It fulfills that part of ourselves that wants to create, to bring something we see in our mind to life that no one has ever seen or thought of before. Making art a lot of the time is as involuntary as breathing. When I can see a little beauty in something as mundane as a dried, dead vine on a fence row that makes me happy. The image above was taken with my phone. A quick snap as the sun went down and yet the light and the composition make me pleased.  Could I have gotten my big hulking Nikon out of the bag in my car? Sure. Did I really need to for an Instagram post? Maybe, maybe not. It’s just the fact that I got to take a neat picture and share it that made me happy, and at its core that’s all an artist wants to do. We want to make something with all the enthusiasm of a child finishing a finger painting jumping up and down and asking excitedly, "Can we put it on the fridge!?!” We want to share something that elicits a reaction.

As we go into the weekend I hope you find something that makes you happy, do something that makes you proud of yourself, and find someone to share that feeling with as well.

Happy weekend my lovelies.

October...The One That Slipped Away....

The end of September went out with one more art show in Starkville at the Cotton District Arts Festival. Honored and happy as always to be juried into a show, especially one that is so local to me. The show ran from September 18 through October 20, 2023, at the MSU Visual Arts Center and you can see the work HERE. And to be honest, after hustling to get pieces ready for two shows in a month I decided to sort of take it easy for October. Should I have been working and creating more? Sure, but Allie had her first homecoming dance (my momma heart just can’t take how cute she and her best friend were) and then Halloween and a harvest carnival at Chuch. So sometimes you gotta just roll with life. That’s how it is. 

Photography gets harder in the afternoons when it gets dark so quickly after work.

So now October has slipped through my fingers, my birthday has come and gone on the 5th (hello 42), and to add insult to injury the clocks changed the 5th as well.  Happy freaking birthday to me, just what I wanted a big dose of darkness at 4:45 in the afternoon. *pout* 

Trying to play with light and angles.

But I do have to say that fall in Mississippi while normally fleeting has been absolutely beautiful this year. The rain finally came yesterday gentle but soaking and it was just what we all needed. November in general is one of my favorite months and not because it’s my birthday month but because normally it signals a cool down from summer temps, fall colors, and that beautiful buttery golden light that you only get in the fall here.  The sunsets are absolutely spectacular and sitting outside is finally a pleasure once again. Hot coffee in the mornings and open doors in the afternoon. I just wish the light lasted a little longer, but such is life. Happy Friday friends.