Designing a practice

I need an artistic practice for the end of summer that will give me a creative outlet without too much pressure. I'm full up with expectations and caregiving; I need something that fills my creativity well without much time or energy.

The kind of filling I need is quiet and contemplative, and also short; projects or art tasks I can complete in half an hour or less.  

A day is an abundant portion of time; I can accomplish great things in a day or I can waste the day, whichever I please. And moments in a day are meant to be wasted - if I want to read a book, I should read! If I want to play a game, I should play!

But by the end of each day I want to feel like I did the work of an artist, teacher, activist, and loving human. I want and need to do something meaningful each day, to move closer to my purpose, because if I fall in to a pattern of wasted days, weeks, months, then I will feel unhappy; working on my priorities fills me and frees me.

Agenda:

1. Read the Creativity Book

2. Interesting art task ideas

3. Starting

1. Read the Creativity Book:

A few years ago I started but didn't finish this book by Eric Maisel (one of my favorite writers). The subtitle is "A Year's Worth of Inspiration and Guidance." Who doesn't want that? 

I'm on Week 8: Dispute Boredom. This chapter reminds me that boredom has a purpose - to cause me to find changes. "How would it improve matters to inform yourself that you're tired of your own stale thoughts and repetitive worries, unless you also had a way to vacuum out your brain and start fresh with a whole new outlook?"

Maisel advises that once you admit to boredom you set yourself up for either depression or change, so it's best to just admit it out loud. 

Stop right now and find your place on a boredom meter, where the scale is 0 = absence of all interest; 5 = occasional creativity; and 10 = flowing creativity. Repeat your readings at different times over the next week. 

"When the number is low, stop everything. Jump up and shout, 'My God, I'm bored!' Then do something." Remind yourself that it is your sacred responsibility to use your freedom to do something interesting.

2. Interesting art task ideas:

Maisel offers suggestions such as start a new project, or work on an old project, or take your daughter to lunch - really anything that re-connects you to flowing creativity.

My interesting task list for the week:

• Make some more paper butterflies to hang in trees, to educate about butterfly habitat.
• Pull out an old, unfinished painting and paint over it for 30-minutes, to express the End of Summer.
• Work on my big quilt project - sew the beach and water for the Puffin Rock block.
• Make handprints of our grandsons' hands.
• Begin to paint the butterflies I drew on the wall in our bathroom.
• Take photos for one of my blogs.

3. Starting:

And I need some kind of discipline that helps me to START. I always intend to make art, and it's always on my schedule, but I have a hard time keeping that time sacred, and doing the work. 

“Even if you can’t make it the first thing you do, it’s important that you commit to and maintain a daily art practice. Once we allow ourselves to miss a few days, huge swatches of time tend to disappear. Your job, then, is to determine whether you really intend to make art and, if so, to make time for it each and every day...” ~Eric Maisel

Here's my End of Summer Art Practice plan:

1. Review: When I review my schedule in the morning, make a list of what I need to prepare in order to do one of my art tasks. Also, pinpoint the first step to starting work.
2. Preparation: Gather supplies and information; at the very least, set something out on the kitchen table that will entice me.
3. Flow ritual: When it’s time to START, stop everything, turn off all distractions, and create a little space around my next actions. Pause to pinpoint the first step. Take that step, and give it all my attention, in the moment-- really take the time to savor it. Continue like that, slowly and whole-heartedly.