Busy is an understatement!
Make room to follow the new ideas that come when you least expect them. Better yet, schedule a few days off to develop new work.
I will be teaching a new class using vintage buttons, wire, and beads this winter at the JOGS Show in Tucson.
Originally Published 11-7-2015
Feast or Famine. This is the way of life for most creative people. Every artist that I know in every discipline constantly copes with waves of too much/not enough over the course of their career. This applies to everything: work, money, time, inspiration, sleep, raw materials, you name it. If you aren't used to that too much/not enough rhythm, the artist's lifestyle is bound to be too stressful for you.
I think it's crucially important to find whatever balance you can and establish a boundary system of sorts -- despite the fact that being undisciplined is more common to us creative types than the opposite.
Since the last time I posted here, I have fabricated 9 objects, taken a master class, tech edited 4 issues of the magazine and done the never ending onslaught of day job stuff, produced a series of set designs and illustrations for an immersive theater performance, pitched 9 newly created classes and created sample objects for them, packed kits for 3 Tucson classes, taken inventory for the 6 others and formulated a 2016 student needs shopping list for Tucson, traveled to the home office and back, oh, and also dealt with the normal life stuff: house, family, pets, laundry, garden, gym, etc.
Most of this recent wave of stuff has reached the finish line, and I can see an open space on the horizon. Yahoo!
Bring on some famine, because I sure need it now. I look forward to my famine times -- however brief they may be -- because those are the places of possibility. Where I think, dream, begin and push. I start to build an energy bank for the next wave. Having those calm, empty, famine spaces is essential for me, so I have disciplined myself to black out sections of my calendar specifically for the purpose of having open space. I may or may not go anywhere or do anything particular during those times, but if I don't create that space and protect it from intruders, I know I will self destruct.
So here is a trick for you -- if you are also a member of the feast or famine crowd, trust me and try this. The crazy holidays are coming. Don't feel guilty, just do it. Block off three days of your choosing and then don't let anybody schedule you for anything. Except you. Guard those three days and see what happens to your head when you know they are there to depend on and that you can trust yourself not to surrender them to anything or anyone. And then, once you have spent those three days doing exactly what you felt like, take a look at how proud of yourself you are for defending your right to open space.
Then, make a habit of it.
See you next time!