In the last few days i've been on a few fieldtrips to bloglandia, commenting, oggling, searching and communing. Here are snapshots from one of my avorite getaways...the amazing D Sharpe's most excellent blog I am honored,truly.
Next a long schpeel about the setbacks and remedies for art blocks on Pikaland's coming VOICE IT OUT column. Here's what bubbled out of my head:
This is a GREAT addition to the wonderful world of Pikaland!
Q: What is your biggest stumbling block to creativity (or expressing yourself artistically), and what works for you in overcoming these setback(s)?
A: Well, now, where do i start?!
One of my main blocks is time management. i have alot of beings that depend on me from the second i wake up til the moment i lay my head down to sleep. I remember feeling like I had to choose an art life over a family life. I'm not naturally a super organized person but more of a dreaming fly by the seat of my pants type who does her best art in this mode however, as a big grown up with big grown up things to attend to, i feel like my day is swallowed by "duties" which requires tremendous energy and focus often leaving no time for selfless (or rather super selfish!) absorption into my "real work" which is always calling me. Now that my babies aren't cooing in the backround but rather needing rides across the state to go to sports events , i feel i never have the TIME to produce quality artwork. I doodle a bit here and there and hope for more time.
What to do? I am learning, as my family and their needs grow, that it imperative that i carve time for myself everyday to do something artistic. As i get closer to a show i naturally take the time i need because of the impending deadline but the family rythmn does suffer...everyone puts up with it and is glad when it is OVER..esp in the meal dept.
My blog is a way to committ to a snippet of artistic indulgence on a daily basis. I may not post an entry everyday but i do go there and check out my ever growing list of Esty loves and sites.Go on a little field trip to Pikaland :) Here's another time management issue...i can't stop!!! Following one link to another, excited by the visual sense of familiarity and adventure...is what keeps me going. Hence the COMMUNITY of artists all over the planet gives me the incentive to keep trying everyday to squeeze in my art.
In the grand scheme of things, I am simply taking a sabbatical, my children need me and i signed up for them, pledged my time the day they arrived. Once a wise lady told me..."your art will always be there, your children will be young for just a short time. You decide."
So, I suck at juggling all the bills and hopelessly unartistic and boring duties but make really awesome birthday cakes and host insane birthday parties, i volunteer in the school and bring in boxes of junk and get the kids to sculpt high wire acts out of corks and wire and tell them about Calder's Circus, point out the ever amazing shapes and shadows of the clouds and mountains, light and birds, patterns of hay and the way snow crystallizes on every tiny bare branch in the dead of winter.
So, as i transition into a more organized person who can guiltlessly report to her studio (her husband made for her) and be a "real" artist, I will keep flying by the seat of my pants and in the grand scheme of things, add YOGA to my routine, calm down, do the bills quickly so i can get back to LIVING, exploring, evolving and know that i am always doing my art even if it doesn't end up on canvas.
xoxoMilady
Stephanie Morgan Rogers
miladyproductions.etsy.com
miladyproducitons.com
miladyproductions.blogspot.com
Next a long schpeel about the setbacks and remedies for art blocks on Pikaland's coming VOICE IT OUT column. Here's what bubbled out of my head:
This is a GREAT addition to the wonderful world of Pikaland!
Q: What is your biggest stumbling block to creativity (or expressing yourself artistically), and what works for you in overcoming these setback(s)?
A: Well, now, where do i start?!
One of my main blocks is time management. i have alot of beings that depend on me from the second i wake up til the moment i lay my head down to sleep. I remember feeling like I had to choose an art life over a family life. I'm not naturally a super organized person but more of a dreaming fly by the seat of my pants type who does her best art in this mode however, as a big grown up with big grown up things to attend to, i feel like my day is swallowed by "duties" which requires tremendous energy and focus often leaving no time for selfless (or rather super selfish!) absorption into my "real work" which is always calling me. Now that my babies aren't cooing in the backround but rather needing rides across the state to go to sports events , i feel i never have the TIME to produce quality artwork. I doodle a bit here and there and hope for more time.
What to do? I am learning, as my family and their needs grow, that it imperative that i carve time for myself everyday to do something artistic. As i get closer to a show i naturally take the time i need because of the impending deadline but the family rythmn does suffer...everyone puts up with it and is glad when it is OVER..esp in the meal dept.
My blog is a way to committ to a snippet of artistic indulgence on a daily basis. I may not post an entry everyday but i do go there and check out my ever growing list of Esty loves and sites.Go on a little field trip to Pikaland :) Here's another time management issue...i can't stop!!! Following one link to another, excited by the visual sense of familiarity and adventure...is what keeps me going. Hence the COMMUNITY of artists all over the planet gives me the incentive to keep trying everyday to squeeze in my art.
In the grand scheme of things, I am simply taking a sabbatical, my children need me and i signed up for them, pledged my time the day they arrived. Once a wise lady told me..."your art will always be there, your children will be young for just a short time. You decide."
So, I suck at juggling all the bills and hopelessly unartistic and boring duties but make really awesome birthday cakes and host insane birthday parties, i volunteer in the school and bring in boxes of junk and get the kids to sculpt high wire acts out of corks and wire and tell them about Calder's Circus, point out the ever amazing shapes and shadows of the clouds and mountains, light and birds, patterns of hay and the way snow crystallizes on every tiny bare branch in the dead of winter.
So, as i transition into a more organized person who can guiltlessly report to her studio (her husband made for her) and be a "real" artist, I will keep flying by the seat of my pants and in the grand scheme of things, add YOGA to my routine, calm down, do the bills quickly so i can get back to LIVING, exploring, evolving and know that i am always doing my art even if it doesn't end up on canvas.
xoxoMilady
Stephanie Morgan Rogers
miladyproductions.etsy.com
miladyproducitons.com
miladyproductions.blogspot.com
4 comments:
Ah, yes, the attempt to keep the balance! I know of many women who struggle here - myself included. I, too, had the wise council of a group of older women shortly after I birthed that first boy. They all told me that there will be my time but to enjoy the present time growing those babies because it is so precious and fleeting, as we're learning. I don't regret one minute of putting myself on hold for those boys who are my joys AND that does not mean that I also have days of pure frustration that I have not had my time. Then I simply remind myself that at some point there will be oodles of time and I will yearn for some sweet boy to invite me to a game of monopoly. With that said, yes, I believe it is critical to take time for yourself each day - doing your art, re-charging your own batteries, restoring your creative soul, in some way, however small. It is one reason I have taken to knitting recently because I can do it while watching a game of you name it.
AND on the subject of yoga, having practiced yoga for a full year now, I highly recommend it. Just realize that there are many forms of yoga and you should find the class that is right for you. I am to the point now where if I miss a week, I crave it!
Best wishes with keeping the balance! Rosamund
OMGosh! thank you thank you for posting this. Being in the throws of motherhood myself, I often wonder if there really IS a balance out there to be found. still working on it. But I LOVED your post, and found it incredibly helpful and insightful! Thank you so much! Finding time to clear my head and focus on what is most important in my day is crucial. something I am not very good at! Thanks so much!
I stumbled upon your blog while researching images of Joseph Cornell.
I came to see the art but found myself distracted by the title
"Frustrated Artist Mom".
"There are others?", I thought.
Feeling as though we live parallel lives;
I will now get off the internet and back in my studio.
Oh yes Blair...there are many of us! Thanks you for commenting.
Post a Comment