
My first blog entry so I thought I would talk about why I call myself 'The Naked Fox'.
When I first made my facebook page and called it The Naked Fox one of my friends recently told me that at first he didn't want to 'like' my page because he actually thought I was going to add naked pictures of some sort! Seriously.... ahh No. So maybe I need to explain a little further...
My name is Sarah Box, and I was the subject of quite a lot of teasing throughout my schooling - one thing that often came up was my last name. In primary school I was sometimes called cardboard and wooden... That was bad enough but then when I hit high school the meaning changed all together and I ended up with names like 'Share-her' (rather than Sarah) Box... and wow - what a c##t of a last name! Then a few years later when my daughter was born I was even told she may get 'I-feel-ya' (instead of Amelia) Box... I used to get quite upset and I wished I had a different name many a time.
However when I left dreaded school and started studying art one of my teachers commented on how I had such an unusual last name, that it's perfect for an artist and everyone will remember it - so I should embrace it! Well it took a while, but a few years later I was not as geeky as I had been growing up and some of my friends gave me the nick name - Foxy Boxy... It was all fun and games and stuck for quite some time. I used to 'tag' my name as 'Foxy' and even had it tattooed onto my back! Unfortunately for me thou I'm now more Kath n Kim style 'Foxy' - and wonder what the hell people are thinking when I go to the beach in my bikini.
I digress... So The Naked Fox is me! Being stripped back, bare and exposing my art to the world. This was very hard for me at first - putting pictures of my works up on my facebook page for anyone to look at and pick apart. I tend to over think everything and constantly worried about what people thought. So yes - I feel very naked when sharing my paitings - I've spent many hours working on them and getting some positive feedback is so important for your self-esteem.
When you don't get many 'likes' after posting a work on face book you can start to wonder if what you do is worth anything at all and really question yourself. You question why your family and close friends don't like posts - just to be supportive, even if it's not exactly their taste...? I'm finally starting to get better at trying not to obsess about what people think and not getting praise from everyone. It's my journey after all and when I do get a great response it really is a special thing!