Remember my "GoGoGo" resolution for 2020 that I printed and taped to my studio door? All last year I had meant to pen in between the lines the 2021 resolution "Finish" but never did. Now in the first week of the year, I quit putting it off and penned both last year's and this year's resolutions between the GO lines. I like its energy and I hope it continues to entice me into the studio on a regular basis this year.
I had thought I might work on another leather book this week, one to use up left over signatures, one I had thought to gift to either my goddaughter or my hair dresser but I just didn't find the time in December to work on it. Nor have I started on it yet this week but it is high on my finish more list. Instead, I needed to trim some printed pages to insert into a journal I'm using for a series of webinars I've been watching before I start the next series this month. It's ridiculous how much I enjoy cutting paper with that big paper cutter I bought last year. I realized how it was lulling me into serenity with lining up the paper and then that satisfying snick as the blade cuts through. The actual gluing not quite so seductive but it did clear a spot off the table so I could start on that book.
Then I got totally sidetracked while picking up leaves that have fallen off my money tree. I noticed for the first time that there are not just veins running out to the edge from the stem but an amazing pentagonal thing going on. How had I missed that? I saved one that had not dried too much and took it up to my studio thinking this would be an interesting leaf to add to the sketchbook designated for sketching and stamping leaves. Not now, but set aside for "when I have more time".
NO! I stopped myself right away, reminding myself of how many leaves have withered away or molded in plastic bags because I'd set them aside for a better time to use them. Nope, no reason not to sketch that leaf today. I also like to get out a stamp pad and using the leaf like a stamp, transfer its image into the sketchbook too, picking up even more detail (click on photo for a larger view). I didn't have inkpads in colors to match the leaf so I tried first stamping the image using sand ink, and then over-stamping with the green ink. I did an amazingly good job of lining up the two stamping goes.
So that's something. Maybe not textile, maybe not exactly finishing an old project (although this idea to fill this sketchbook with leaf sketches IS an old project), but definitely fulfilling on the level of I actually did something rather than put it off. It doesn't matter what I do in that room as long as I do something and go there often.
In an e-newsletter sent today from Lisa Call, she talks about the disruptions in her 2021 and how she doesn't let them derail her for long. I know this wisdom is true but I do need to be reminded of it often:
Showing up, day after day, doing the work.
The time away was wonderful. And then I show up again. That's how progress is made.
Just showing up. Again.
And Again.
And I'll keep doing it in 2022 because something else is guaranteed to come along and interrupt my routine.
Let's hear it for showing up! I'm really going to try this year, especially as I navigate the interruptions I know will come. Showing up, catching up, keeping up, making progress. Do you have any tricks or saying that get you back on track and into the studio?
4 comments:
Living in a basement with only three rooms, the largest of which is at the bottom of the stairs and is also my sewing/computer desk/creative space helps. I have to pass through to get to my bedroom or to go from bedroom to upstairs. It's hard to miss the fact that I may have something on the wall to finish or the bookcases filled with fabric, paint, etc. I can't close a door and forget about it.
I've been pondering this ever since I moved and got settled here in Colorado Springs. I do believe that it helps me be more! lol, if not creative at least busy.
I'm sure you're right, Susan, about having to walk through that space many times a day and not being able to shut a door on it probably does make you a bit more productive. I'm thinking of a woman I met who had this very small house - practically no kitchen or living room but both looked onto the end of that floor, a porch she had closed up to give herself more square footage and a place to set up her studio. Never shut off, always visible to entice her. In fact, she said the first thing she always did upon rising was sit down and sew, before getting dressed, even before making coffee and eating. She pretty much sewed all day because she was practically living in her studio space. While having to pass my studio door with its sign many times in the course of the day, it's quite different than if I had the door open and could see what's waiting for me in there, let alone have to pass through it to get to where I was going.
I don't say it enough, how impressed I always am with your work, especially your art quilts. Was happy to hear you report that you'd found SAQA group that fit.
I guess we can all say it’s not the amount of art we create, it’s the quality and the pleasure we take in making it that’s important…..so ignore the dates…..just mosey on as the spirt moves you…… Your work is worth waiting for!
Thanks Mary!I like that you have targeted quality and pleasure as the important things in creating. I have to admit, I don't miss those tight deadlines I put myself through when actively exhibiting with the arts council. Granted, they pushed me to make work I otherwise wouldn't have considered, or at least not for a long time, and I credit the influence of exhibiting with artists from other mediums for pushing me to create some of my best work, but that's not suiting me now, "moseying" more to my liking. That IS, if I still get something done!
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