Loosen Up, Lady

Having all this time off from work is a gift, I have come to realize. I can work on my craft and art. I can hone skills. I can find myself. I’ve felt lost for some time as far as my art goes. My work is done in so many different media that I’m constantly switching between them all and never really perfecting any one. And I am asking myself, “Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” I don’t know, but I have this need to find out. Could I really be excelling at something I do only a little bit of the time?

To help me with this journey, I bought a recycled-paper-filled blank spiral bound journal. I’m making a visual art journal in it. Art just for me. Art for art’s sake. As an artist I get so hung up on the final product that I have forgotten to enjoy the process. I am giving myself permission to make bad art! Not everything has to be the freaking Mona Lisa! (Oh, that makes me a little dizzy. Where was I? Who are you?)

Yesterday was spent thinking a lot about what I want to get out of this experiment. I’ve been so focused on trying to make this business work that I forgot how to play with my art. My focus has been “make, make, make, promote, make”. That’s getting old. I don’t want to burn out. So play has officially been added to my TO DO list! Yay! Forget housework! Well, maybe a little.

If the pages are not too personal I will share them with you. Shoot, I might even challenge myself to share something too personal just to see how that feels! My plan is to complete a page a week at least to begin with. That may not sound like much, but for me it may be a challenge as I have a lot of unblocking to do.

Traveling with me on my journey is a new book called True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling by L. K. Ludwig (© 2008 by Quarry Books). The pictures in this book are full of color and delicious. Sprinkled throughout it are journaling prompts, inspirational quotes, and writings from art journal artists. I could spend all day between its pages. I have to remind myself to put this book down and work!

Speaking of work, my art table is calling. Happy Art-ing!