getting started
little popeye, march 2006.)
today i'm thinking about getting started. my studio is freezing cold, but mostly put away. it is time to continue with my twenty two paintings due in june. due to me, of course. it is a goal i set upon returning from the solvang retreat. "belong" and "paradox" await varnish and can be moved on down the line once sealed.
yesterday, i lay on the floor as miles had his "tummy time" and snipped inspiring color combinations and palette ideas from spring catalogs and today i'm ready to work. just waiting for my little man to wind down and take a nap, then i will sprint out and get set up. being a mom and being an artist is possible. being an attachment parenting mom and being an artist is possible.
i am relearning how to budget my time. instead of having hours with my journal and sketchbook to outline, work and rework ideas before i put brush to surface, i now leave them open-faced and as i run by with miles in arms, jotting down little thoughts or concepts that will be there when i am ready to go. it works rather well. i think about the work i want to do while i'm nursing, feeding, holding, changing, singing, and bathing the little man.
sometimes i see my life like an 8mm film. it is all moving before me, i am fully present in whatever it is i'm doing, but i'm brewing things (art, meals, lovey dovey activities) underneath. my hands are constantly busy with my little acorn, so i've had to learn to find a way to do the work despite their availability.
what special tool have you developed in order to adapt to your life? doodle while on the phone? record your ideas into a tape recorder while driving? journal as soon as you wake up? what creative goal do you intend to reach by summertime?
posted by pinkcoyote at
3/15/2006 09:50:00 AM
4 Comments:
I love visualizing make little notes and doodles as you pass by your sketchbook. It is so inspiring and makes me realize that perhaps I need to come up with new ways to squeeze in creative time. Teeny tiny creative time...because I tend to get hung up on the idea that I need big blocks of time to really get going. This is exactly what I need to read as my life goes into full throttle for the next 4-6 weeks.
My writing mentor instrucked me to keep a notepad (and not a fancy lovely journal because they you may treat it as a "precious journal" and be afraid to write shitty, uninteresting, not perfect things in it) in my purse, my car, and next to my bed (with a little light so I don't wake up my lover). I have been ignoring these things lately. I need to figure out how to balance my love (and worry) for my new puppy and my screaming need to be alone and take care of myself. I will think about what I want to do by this summer and get back to you. Today, even coming up with a goal seems too daunting.
Love you!
Thanks so much for this post. I have been struggling with this ever since I gave birth (well, more accurately, once I could think after the sleep deprivation boot camp). The hardest thing to give up so far has been the huge blocks of time I once had, to doodle and dream and read. I thought that without those things, I would never be able to write. But now I write more than ever--because the limits have made my hunger for expression grow.
I write freeform morning pages as soon as I wake up (after settling and nursing Madam), and I try to read and write during her naps. I do feel like I need a better way to record all of the ideas that drift by while I am walking with her, or nursing her. Those tend to dissipate before I dig out my notebook.
I'm still working on all this, but I don't believe it's impossible anymore.
Thanks so much for this post. It's nice to know I'm not alone.
What a beautiful baby!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home