No Art this Week

I had the whole week off this week. And I did no art, not one piece. I got a lot of other things accomplished. But I didn't do any art. This makes me wonder about why? Why do I not do art? It is what I long to do, or so I say. When I do make time to create, time flies and I feel great. I know that I have been distracted by getting ready for the PWTP training, Christmas, and a thousand other things. But the simple truth, one that I have always believed is that you do in life that which is most important to you. So why do I not do art, especially when I have the time. It is what I think about almost constantly. I see pieces creating in my head. Why do I not just do them? I didn't have this problem when I was a costume designer. Was it because I always had deadlines? I had no choice but to produce and be creative. It was part and parcel of my life, my day, the fiber of my being. So, what is up now? I wonder if I should impose some deadlines on myself. What would those be? Perhaps get involved in some of the many art prompts? Maybe find a place to show my art...Put me on a deadline to actually create a body of work? Or maybe I should seriously consider selling my art. Or maybe I should just make a promise to draw every day, sketch a page in my sketchbook/journal, and work on an actual piece every day. Push myself to create finished pieces that are quality enough to sell, not just pieces that I am playing around with techniques or ideas. Or maybe, just like the nike commercial I should just quit whining and "Just do it".

I love what Swirly Girl says in a recent post about being accountable to her coach for the time she spends in her studio. It feels good to know that I am not alone in struggling with this thing of spending time in the studio. Thanks for being so honest and sharing this post with us! I am so amazed that something that I love to do, that fulfills me in ways that not much else does, that totally holds be spellbound when I actually do it, is so hard to commit time to.

But at the same time, a lot of the things that have been distracting me over the past few months have been "clearing out" kinds of things. Finishing up commitments that no longer are things I should be doing, cleaning out and setting up my studio, doing some deep cleaning and thinning out of stuff for mom, sorting through my life, keeping the things that are important or seem to be things God is calling me to do and letting go of the other things that are distracting me. It almost feels like it has been an incubation time for me. A time to finally say yes to things I need to do and no to all the things I have thought I should be doing. I have this quiet deep excitement and expectation for the new year that it will be like no other.

Ever year I re-read a book that I bought a couple of years ago called "The Gift of a Year". Basically it is about giving yourself the gift of concentrating and making time for one thing in your life for a year. Last year my gift was to concentrate on the issues behind my issues with food and giving myself the time to begin the road to health and fitness. Other Gifts have been give myself the gift of making time to journal everyday - something that I had let business rob me of for years. The year I moved back to care for mom - the first year after I bought the book my gift was to take the pressure off myself to find a job that was a career and take the time to mourn and heal from the death of my brother and a painful divorce that happened almost at the same time. It was wonderful, I didn't work for almost a year; when I did I finally took a job that was way out of my training, but was strictly a 40 hour a week job. This was the first job of that sort I had in over 20 years. That first year of being home, living and getting used to an adult full-time relationship with mom, where our roles sometimes switched to me being a caretaker, and healing only happened because I gave myself permission to not rush to find a job, but take time to settle in and heal.

I have been re-reading this book this week. I am pretty sure that this year I will have 2 gifts. Creating art on a daily basis...even if it means drawing a radish at work on my lunch hour in my sketch book. The other will be getting certified as a Pathway to Purpose Coach and Lifeplan facilitator and establishing a coaching clientele. These are not mutually exclusive, but actually will facilitate each other. Coaching is time flexible, will allow me to work pretty much from home, and also allow me time in the studio...Particularly at late night when I am most productive. I will not have to get up at the crack of dawn to be in the workplace....well eventually. I am sure that for most of this year I will still need to work full time at a bill paying job. Well I have rambled on and on...I need to get to bed. It is now New Year's Eve morning here, so Happy New Year's to everyone. May you have a very creative and fulfilling 2006! And to those who will be doing the Artist's Way with us I am excited to share this journey with you all.

Uploaded AEM work

I have finally uploaded some of my AEM scans from November's Art Everyday Month hosted by Kat. I have about a week left to scan. I just haven't had the time to scan and crop and get them uploaded. I am enjoying having some time off this week. I had planned to work in my studio, but spent the day taking a nap, doing paper work, scanning and uploading the images and working on getting the final pre-reqs for my upcomming training to be a life purpose coach. But I hope to get the studio finished this week. It will be nice to have everything in one place, unpacked and organized ready to use!

Inspirations

I have been so inspired by several artists on the internet. Too many to list, I know that I will surely forget some, but I wanted to list them as a way to say thanks for generously sharing your work with the word, with those of us who wouldn't get to see your wonderful creativity if not for this wonderful connector called the WWW. Thanks to Kat for getting us all going in November with AEM and for sharing her wonderful art. Kat, I STILL want to be you when I grow up to be a "real" artist. (tee hee) Here are a few others that I check daily, in the early morning hours before my mind focuses, it is a way to start my day with beauty and encouragement; for inspiration both artistic and written, Check them out, you will like them too, I am certain.

• Kathryn you inspire me!
• Kirsten yes your art does inspire me...keep at it I love your creations
• Summer Piere living her dreams in the big Apple
• Andrea a superhero to me, even though she says we are our own superhero
• Christine yummy photos and beautiful words
• Kerri where does all those wonderful ideas come from??
• Katherine Dunn lavender and art, what a life!
• Ninth Wave Designs wonderful art created in moleskines!

There are so many more, but the links are at home so will have to wait until later to be included. Check back and I will update.

Next week I will have some time off and am anxiously looking forward to finishing the set up of my studio! whoo hoo...can't wait! A place to create!

Progress

I spent the whole day Saturday in my studio organizing and unpacking. It was snowing like mad out and it was nice to just give myself permission to just stay home and inside all day and be in my studio. I indulged in one of my silly time-wasters all day too. I watched a whole week of General Hospital on the Soap Channel. I have watched this soap off and on my whole life it seem. I used to watch it with my grandma...she called them her "stories". During the famous "Luke and Laura" dynasty we actually had a TV in the costume shop at college and watched it. It was one of the only years that we had more students volunteer for the costume shop than we could keep busy! But somehow it worked to have it on as a background noise, while sorting through hundreds of collections of things; putting them into boxes, into order. It brought back memories of times past, listening to the characters, many of the same ones from years ago, were like listening to friends from childhood. But I have to say, they need new stories...and lives! They seem to be having the same life crisis that they did years ago. But then, sometimes so do I. (laugh)

I am almost finished with this move into my studio. I have a few more boxes to bring down from upstairs. There is some rearranging of furniture I think I want to make happen, but I might wait until I work some more in it to see how I work and what my needs are. I think that this is going to work well for me now though. I have a part of the room sectioned off by a half wall that I will be using for my sewing studio portion and a larger room do do my less messy art in. There is a room off of that one that has cement floor that Dad had used as a workshop (he left his wonderful antique wood workbench) that I will use for the more messy kinds of stuff. Off of that room is the laundry room with water and a sink. After I recover from purchasing hundreds (or so it seems) of plastic storage containers I will need to address light sources. I went to Home Depot last weekend to look at lighting options. Who knew how expensive lighting is?? Fortunately what I like and want is incandescent shop lighting...the kind that hangs from the ceiling with aluminum reflectors and lightbulbs. I hate fluorescent lighting. That is what is there now (growing up the basement was finished off to use as a family area...still very 70's looking, lighting is that fluorescent tubes with the frosted plastic insets in the drop ceiling). But lighting will have to wait. Any suggestions from anyone out there? I also am realizing that I need to invest in an easel. Can anyone tell me why artist's supplies are so expensive and making money at art is so illusive? The great paradox of my life.

I did get a bit of art done this weekend. I made a new soul-card; I will try to get it uploaded tonight. I also need to make time to get the rest of my AEM stuff posted soon. I loved doing that in November. Most of what I created was in my sketchbook. Next year I think I would like to challenge myself to create actual pieces of art, not just sketchbook stuff. But out of the sketch book came some ideas I want to develop into full blown pieces though, so it was all good.

Another Soul Card

This is the last of the first ones I created in early summer/late spring. I don't have a date on this one, but I remember making it. I was so frustrated with trying to find a job and everyone telling me that I was overqualified. I remember just feeling so angry, like give me a chance already!