After a fantastic visit from the ladyfriend I took some time to get caught up with my old friend and former housemate this evening. We spent some time on the phone discussing a novel he wrote that I was lucky enough to get a chance to read. I got to tell him some of my thoughts about it, and he shared some tidbits about where the next book will lead. It has really come together to be a well thought out, well written, and well executed tale, and I'm very proud of my friend for bringing his ideas together in an awesome story. It was great to talk to someone who was manifesting their creativity and had an excellent "end-product" to show for it. In addition to really loving the story, and really enjoying the conversation, it also was an excellent motivator; it helped me pull together some of the things I've been thinking about in regards to my own creative pursuits as of late.
I’ve spent a lot of time doodling and reading
the last few weeks, but not a lot of time working on anything print
related, which is unacceptable! I’ve really enjoyed my experiments so
far, but as anyone who knows me at all could tell you, I am lousy at
time-management. It’s time to try to do something about that.
I recently stumbled upon this article:
And found it pretty illuminating. Then I followed a link to this article:
This
made me realize just how inefficient my use of my time has been. So I
scheduled my life. As in, I scheduled my entire life; the time I
will wake up, when I go to work, when I eat, when I will go running,
when I will work on my art, when I will do housework, and when I will go
to bed. It sounds terrible, I know. Truth be told, I will probably hate
the over-structured day to day for a couple weeks, but after I get into
a rhythm, I think it will be very fruitful. After a couple months, when
my schedule becomes habit, I will probably relax on all some of these
things. Once I have indoctrinated myself with my new routine, I don’t
think that I will need to have “Prep for Bed” on my google calendar, but
I feel that it will be useful for me to establish structure and see
just what I can get done when I expect myself to be accountable for my
time outside of work. I know myself pretty well, so instead of just throwing myself into it, I've built in a little time to work into the schedule this week, but by the end of next week, I'll be pretty well into the swing of things.
There
are, however, some exceptions to my newly scheduled life. Actually,
just one exception; the weekend. I felt that it was important to have a
few days that weren’t completely schedule oriented in order to relax. I
have a post-work run scheduled for Friday evenings, and then I have a
loose guideline to work on art or study for at least an hour on Friday
and Saturday, but that’s it for those days! On Sunday I have a yoga
class scheduled in the morning, and then some time for housecleaning
later in the afternoon, but otherwise I have some time to kick back and
watch a movie if I want, or go out for a drink or two if I fancy. Then it’s back to a structured, organized life
on Monday. This is an entirely new state of existence for me, but I
figure that it never hurts to experiment.
While
doodling, and during the few times as of late that I have been working
on any of my printing designs, I have found myself a little bit
frustrated. I have a lot of ideas in my head that are wanting to come
out, but my hands just aren’t cutting it! Before I can print a design, I
have to cut it, and before I can cut it I have to draw it. The idea may
be awesome, but that doesn’t matter so much if I don’t have any way to
express it. I’m a long way from when I received any instruction on
skillfully putting pencil to paper, and while my patience has improved
over the years, I have let my muscle memory fade. Sometimes I just can’t
make my hands put the design on paper that I can see in my head. It’s
time to rectify this.
Though
the main goal is to become a better printer, the step I have decided to
take is a drawing class. I have signed up for a five week course at the
Figge Art Museum starting the second week in September. If I end up liking the
course and find it fruitful, I may sign up for the second course that
they offer. We’ll have to see how it goes. Hopefully it will drive my
printmaking to new levels by improving my ability to manifest my design
ideas.
All told, these things may not lead to awesome prints right away, but I think by year's end you will be seeing some pretty awesome things up on this blog. With that in mind, I'm signing off for the evening to work on an origami project I've had in the works.
Cheers until next time!
