I just finished reading Crush it, now it’s time to cash it on your passion from Gary Vaynerchuk and it kept me up at night. So many ideas, so many conflicts were going through my head… I just could not sleep.

I am a long time fan of Gary Vee and I enjoy his straightforward way to speak his mind. Basically, his new book is about living your passion to the max and eventually making a living out of it. The book is loaded with great insight, great advices, great tips. However, while I was up at night thinking about how I can apply all of this to little old me (he, I want to crush it too!!!), my main road block was to identify my passion. Not that I have none. On the contrary, I have too many…

I think the world is divided roughly into 3 groups:

1- Those who have passion for nothing. They are living an ordinary life and are happy with it. They grow up, go to school, get married, get a job, buy a house in the suburbs, raise their offsprings, watch TV and then die content with their life.

2- Those who have one passion. They discovered it early on and never looked elsewhere. They live and breathe that calling. This is pretty much simple to manage. Anything they do, read, talk about is related to their passion. They are known as the wine guy, the queen of clean or the adventure girl. Those are the crush it people.

3- And then, they are those who have multiple passions. This one is more complicated.
I did some research to try to understand the phenomena. As I place myself in this category, I wanted to know if something’s wrong with me. Maybe I have ADD or something?
A while back, I was already wondering if my blog had ADD and here I go again with the same old questions. Ummm… strange coincidence… so, I really had go to deeper into the subject.

I found out that these people are voracious learners. They are able to converse knowledgeably about several topics. But they are also constantly living in the guilt that there is never enough time to truly accomplish or master their passions.

Someone told me that whatever I focus on expands. Yes, but I am not able to focus only on one things. Am I going to be able to expand several things? Arrghh!!!! Going deeper into my research, I found out that it’s a known phenomena (ouff! I am as normal as I can be!). There is no need to feel guilty about neglecting one of your passions because if you are commited to it, it’s not going anywhere. At some point. you will return to it with a fresh perpective.

I am now convinced that having multiple passions is not like having multiple personalities. It is a perfectly acceptable path and that I am not doomed with a life of frustrations. I think it would be a much bigger frustration to have to give up on some of my passions/interests to keep only one. Life is long enough. I have time to explore them all and discover new ones.

As an artist, it could be easy to say that my passion is to create art and that the rest is just source of inspiration.
But in my situation, I see it in reverse. I have passions that I need to express and share though my art.
At first glance, it sounds like the same things. But for me it is not. How do I know that?
Put me in a room with people talking about art, glass, jewelry. I have nothing to say or share and there is not much they can say that speaks to me. But put me in a room full of shooting sports enthusiasts, scuba divers or UFO buffs, and I have a blast.
Give me a booth in a traditional art show and I get skunked. But give me a booth at a dive show, UFO convention or NRA meeting and I am sure I’ll do a killing.

Yesterday, I was expressing myself through glass. Today it’s jewelry. Who knows of what tomorrow will be made… polymer clay… wicket baskets… but I’ll still be a diver, I’ll still shoot guns and I’ll still keep looking at the sky wondering if I am alone in the Universe.

So, do I believe that I can crush it with my many passions? Hell yes. Or I’ll die trying.

By the way, I highly recommend to anyone to read Gary’s book.

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2010 – Patricia C. O’Neill

If you have been following me for a while, you certainly know that my business site O’Neill Glass Art. And if you go there, you will find yourself forwarded to a new site. And now you may be scratching your head wondering where did O’Neill Glass Art go?

Alas, all good things must eventually come to an end. As an artist, I think that I was at the end of what I wanted to do with glass. After 10 years of creating intricate glass pieces, it was time for me to reinvent myself into another type of work.
To be perfectly honest, I was feeling that my work was weighing me down and it is a great relief for me to have been able to stop, reflect upon myself and discover what is going to rock my new world.

Making people happy always has been my greatest satisfaction and I have received from many sources the message that I should create jewelry.
My new jewelry is made of precious metals, glass, gemstones, fresh water pearls, clay and unique finds.
However, kiln-formed glass will still be very present as I am also experimenting with pate de verre.

As the work changes and evolves, my inspirations are staying the same. I am always very much attracted by everything related to energy flow, healing, balance, harmony and symbolism.

Right now and until the end of the year 2009, not much will happen as I am working hard at developing new collections.
My new work will be promoted under the name “Patricia O’Neill Studio” and I will set up a site www.pco-studio.com as well as a www.pco-studio-fr.com for my French contacts.

As a convenience to my current clients and accounts, I am still offering work to re-order. Please, do not hesitate to contact me to tell me how I may help you.

Thank you for your support over the years. It was sad to take the decision to stop O’Neill Glass Art, but in my soul I know this is the right thing to do and I am very excited by the adventures waiting for me ahead. I also know we will still be seeing a lot of each other again in the years to come!

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

How does it relate to glass? well… I don’t really know. However, since I’d like to talk about my inspirations (coming soon with new jewelry designs for the shooting sports enthusiasts), I think it’s about time that I come out of the closet about a controversial topic.

This new hobby of mine is recent. Until 3 months ago, I was used to be scared to death about guns. I did not want to hear about guns, I did not want to touch one, I even did not want to see one.
But I thought I’d better get to learn about them, first to loose my fear, and then in case I need to defend myself someday.
My husband took me to the range and I found out that not only guns are not as bad as they look, but they are a lot of fun. No… really… A LOT!
I like to shoot on targets. Maybe someday I’ll move up to the next level and shoot on stuff like watermelons, old milk jugs or go cathartic on my old windoze laptop that gave me so many headaches. But for now, I like to shoot on a big sheet of paper.

My husband helped me getting started and then I signed up for classes at our local range (Shooter’s World in Phoenix). I love it so much that I want to learn more and I am now the one pulling his sleeve to come with me training at the range.

I have noticed that for many people, guns are taboo. I think because they associate gun ownership with violence. All excited by my new passion, I talked about it around me. To find out that I was judged as a dangerous person by some people, especially in my country of origin (France). And nothing could be further from the truth.
I, like many other people, own a gun, am responsible about it, and like to shoot it for several reasons. And violence is not one of them.
Although I do support the self defense aspect of owning a gun, my interest is mainly recreational. I have found a great article that explain the various reasons why a person owns a gun. Click here to read it.

I personally own a Glock 19 (the one on the photo) enhanced with a few cool gadgets like a glow in the dark sight and a laser grip. Also I just got a 12 gauge Remington shotgun as an early Christmas present (thank you Santa!!). I do not know much about the shotgun yet -just that I loved it at first sight, no pun intended and that I had to have it!- and this is why I am taking a class in a few weeks.

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

Hi!

I wanted my first official post to be a fair warning to the grammar patrol out there.

Yes, I admit it. I may be grammatically incorrect at times. At least I have an excuse… English is not my maternal language.

For the same reason, I do not use fancy words like “ludicrous”, “preposterous” and my all time favorite “nonetheless”. Just because I usually do not memorize the words I cannot pronounce

I like to write the way I feel, with my each day simple vocabulary.

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen! I really wanted to write one of those pompous biography where I talk about myself at the third person, but… well… guess what.. I’m not good at it. So, here is how I see it:

1- My name is Patricia Christine O’Neill.

2- With such a name, you would believe that I am American… or Irish… None of the above. I am French! So, don’t be surprised if my English is not perfect and if I speak with a funny accent.

3- Since 2000, I am the owner of an art studio specialized into glass, and I am also the studio artist. The name of my studio is O’Neill Glass Art. It is located in Phoenix, Arizona where I live since 1998.

4- Although I have some (little) help, I am deeply involved in all the aspects of my business. I like to see myself not like an artist who owns a business, but like an entrepreneur who happens to be an artist.

5- About my work… it is made of glass that I melt and shape using the heat of a kiln, thus the name kiln-formed glass given to this process. Please, do not call it “fused glass”, because I hate it!

6- Since as far as I can remember, I have always had a strong attraction for the metaphysical world as well as lost and ancient civilizations. Maybe because I have always felt that I was connected with something more than I already was…

7- I practice Tai Chi, collect quartz crystal skulls and study Feng Shui as a hobby. Everything related to energy flow, healing, balance and harmony is a great source of inspiration for me.

8- I would describe my word as a combination of elements of nature, anthropology, archeology, symbolism and spirituality. And that’s about as much as “artist speak” you will hear from me.

9- I do have other interest than glass, and the list is pretty much eclectic:

• exploring Arizona. As much as I hate Phoenix, I love Arizona. One the first thing I did after moving here, was to purchase a Jeep (the same than McGiver but all white) to access remote areas.
• photography,
• SCUBA diving,
• guns,
• paranormal,
• everything new age,
• travels,
• metal detecting for gold,
• purses and bags (I never have enough),
• computer and everything geeky,
• white chocolate,
• Ricky Martin.

Voila, you already know a lot of things about me. For more, click here to read my story.

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2009 – <a href=”http://www.patriciaoneill.com”>Unleash the Spirit of Glass!</a>

I was born in Paris, where the romantic idea of bohemian artistic lifestyle is bound with the way of life. From a grandfather glassblower, a grandmother lace maker and a father photographer, I have inherited the love of working with my hands. As I grew up, I loved to draw, paint, knit and sew outfits for my teddy bear.

As a teenager, I wanted to be an artist. But my mother did not see it this way. You must know that my Dad was my hero. I was 7 when he passed away in an accident and my mother raised me by herself. She had a strong influence on me and everything had to be done her way. So, when she decided that the best for me would be to embrace a career in technology, I had not much of a choice. This is how after getting a Mathematics and IT diploma from Paris University, I started working as a designer for a mainframe computers manufacturer.

Years later, while visiting friends in the South of France, I met a Navy sailor whose ship was anchored in the bay of Nice. We stayed in touch and travelled back and forth between France and US to see each other. Needless to say that my mother was not thrilled…
More than a year later, my boyfriend flew to Paris with the intention of asking me to marry him. Exactly one week before his arrival, my mother died in her sleep. The Universe was setting me free!

In 1998, we got married and I left everything behind to follow him to the United States. At the time, I just took a leap of faith and had no clue that I was going to realize my childhood dream. After living in different places, we settled down in Phoenix, Arizona.

And this is when I stumbled upon a store in my neighborhood who was proposing classes in stained glass. From the hours spent playing with the paperweights made by my grand father, I had kept a fascinating attraction with the colors and the softness of glass. And I had always admired the effects of the light going through the stained glass windows of Notre Dame and the Sainte Chapelle. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to learn.
What started as a new hobby became very fast a new passion. After exploring several aspects of glass working, I found myself passionate with the kiln-formed glass process.

A simple comment from a friend visiting our house triggered my memory. It all came back to me. My old dream of becoming an artist that was buried deep down in me since so many years, came back to the surface.
At the same time, I also realized that the true meaning of the saying “America, land of opportunity” is that there is no excuse for not achieving your dreams. Leaving behind a successful career in computer technology was not easy. But moving away from home and from my friends to live in a new country, speak a new language and integrate into a new culture was even more difficult. And doing well with it made me aware of my potential to achieve anything I wanted. It gave me the courage and the confidence to take a new plunge. With the full support of my husband, I decided (for myself this time) that not only I was going to be an artist, but I was going to be a professional artist!

At the same time I was perfecting my glass techniques and designs, I was also learning about the business aspect of owning and running an art studio. And in 2000, with the determination of a true Taurus who is not afraid to work hard to reach their goals, I officially opened O’Neill Glass Art.

After doing all the possible mistakes and learning from each one of them, I know today that awards and recognitions are not the motivation that drives me. It is the need to strive to be the best I can be, to find my voice and to let it heard by all who will listen through their eyes.

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!