Longtime readers may be wondering why I haven't been posting any Inktober drawings since I've been doing it faithfully since 2016. For those unfamiliar with Inktober, it is a worldwide challenge to get out pen and paper and sketch something - anything - each day of October and post it, even if it is only on your refrigerator. When I decided to join in, I decided it would be more interesting for me and keep me on track better if I chose a theme for my drawings. The first year it was cups, the next my shoes, then a year when I focused on Zentangles. Maybe the most interesting and educational for me was the month of Medieval Bestiary. Last year I focused on TV quick draw Portraits as I'd just finished watching a part of a Sketchbook Skool Class that covered that and I not only needed the practice but felt it was something I could do that wouldn't suck up too much time each day. Boy did those other themes absorb my attention and time! But every year I have done this, I've been quite surprised at how good most of the sketches are and how much I learned and how much better I got by the end of the month. I remember being a little disappointed in the Zentangle year and my quick draw portraits often made me laugh or cringe at how bad they were, but I never felt like it was a wasted effort.
This year though, I simply could not rally enthusiasm for the practice. I tossed around ideas for a theme, unable to settle on anything that I didn't think would be too time consuming, and I've felt so bogged down lately that I didn't want to add anything else to the list of must dos. But paging through those past successful beautiful pages made me not want to break the cycle. I finally decided to go back to a practice I learned in one of the Sketchbook Revival classes, the one where you draw for no more than 10 minutes on a sticky note using two random words as inspiration. That practice was one suggested to do for at least 30 days and while at first it might seem nothing special was happening, eventually one would see usable ideas being sparked.
Well, I tried. I really did. But it was a slog, something I could feel I didn't want to do and wasn't getting into and not pleased at all with results. I fessed up to myself and quit after 6 days. This just wasn't the year.
Oddly enough, this whole thing got me thinking about things that are free, like free You Tube tutorials and free lectures and free e-newsletters. I spend so much time on these free things which is part of the reason I fall behind on other things. It finally dawned on me that much that is "free" out there in the world really isn't free. It may not cost money but it does cost time. And who among us does not usually feel short on time.
So I am now looking more closely at the free things I am spending my time on/with and really analyzing which actually benefit me and my creative journey and which need to be jettisoned. It's hard to pass up those freebies, but if I'm going to break away from too much computer time in order to have quality studio time as well as time for my other interests, then the freebies that aren't all free will have to go.
3 comments:
You have to decide for yourself when to say 'enough'. Good for you giving Inktober a shot this year, but also for knowing it wasn't going to work. Free stuff can be a time-suck, for sure! Loved the beautiful leaves on yesterday's post! Jan in WY
I understand your decision completely. I'm sure it was the right one.
In the last two years, all the time spent in lockdown or restricting meeting up for our health focused my mind too and made me evaluate my commitments and how I would like to spend my time. Since I don't have the pressure of making a living out of my stitch and art activities, I came to realise that if they didn't bring me pleasure and fulfilment, what were they for?
As a result, after much thought, and more than 10 years of significant involvment, I recently withdrew from one of the groups I used to stitch and exhibit with because I felt its aims were no longer in line with my own. As the first commenter so rightly said, we all have to decide when to say 'enough' and to change course.
The surprising thing was that, although I knew it was time to leave and that the decision was the right one, I was taken completely unawares by the huge sense of relief and freedom I felt when the decison had been made. Perhaps until the moment came I hadn't fully realised just how much I was in the wrong place.
I now have much more time to follow my own work priorities and no obligation at all to take part in things that don't appeal to me. I am very happily working with a group of like-minded textile artists.
Although they are all more experienced than I am having worked professionally in the field, they give me a lot of support, confidence and friendship as well as the opportunity to exhibit in more challenging galleries.
What more could I want?
This leads to what is your time worth?? To me…enjoyment of an activity is the end goal!
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