or trying to. I suppose there are two things that are currently competing for my attention apart from my day time job. One is our intended move to Spain and the other is my trying to get more focussed on my textile art. Both are related to each other.
Since our return from Spain I haven’t felt like getting into the studio at all. We still have lots of decisions to make about the new house and all my free time has gone into activities around that, when I’ve had any energy at all. We are trying to downsize although not drastically, but we still want room for our hobbies and interests. We will be sharing one big room as an office and studio. The other rooms will be smaller than in our present home too. We’ve spent some time trying to imagine how the house should be furnished, which pieces of furniture should go with us and which be replaced. It’s not easy. I can understand why they say moving house is one of the biggest stress factors one can have in one’s life.
What’s the connection with textile art you ask? Well although Sqeze is now in early retirement, I am not. Being freelance my work depends on my contacts and they are all in Germany. However when the house in Spain is finished I should like to be able to live there too. So what would be nice would be to earn some money somehow with my textile art. Just how this should happen needs some thought putting to it – another task on my to do list.
And then come all the little voices that tell you you are mad and it won’t work and ask why I am having a studio built into the house when I can’t even get my act together to use the one I have here. And the competition entry I was going to make for the 16th Carrefour Européan du Patchwork in France has not left the ideas stage and just won’t get made in time now. And then it feels like time to pull the covers over your head.
I did however order the book Living the Creative Life by Rice Freeman-Zachery and when it arrived I got stuck into it. Although it hasn’t got me back into the studio it has got me thinking. One thing it confirmed is that you aren’t going to get rich making art. You either need some other source of income or a rich partner. So some more thought required there too. I also learnt (again – as Twyla Tharp says the same in her book The Creative Habit that I have read too) that you must do something creative every day. Even when you have no good ideas and no inspiration, just make a start, just do something.
At the same time I was trying to give some thought to colour schemes for our new house. A bit premature I know as we’ve not even got a completed set of plans yet, but I thought it was something creative and useful I could be doing. I was flipping through books at the bookshop on Interior Decorating, when one called Simplicity caught my eye. The style of rooms didn’t appeal much, but the colour schemes did.
Back home I went into my usual research mode and searched the internet. The website Zen Habits popped up. First of all with this interesting post on the Four Laws of Simplicity. This was a very timely post to read, because we really have got too much stuff in our present home and will need to get it pared down to fit into our new home. The idea was so simple and appealing that I took the time to browse through the site and came across some other posts that gave me more food for thought in my ponderings.
These posts are so good I thought I’d share them here:
The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People – I certainly find myself wanting some solitude away from the bustle and hustle of daily life, not just to get creative, but to find time to relax and think. I often think my ideal holiday would be to stay in a little house near a beach and take long walks by the sea. No television, no distractions just good books, good company, good food and peace and quiet.
The Little But Really Useful Guide to Creativity – More good advice here, some of which also turned up in the Living the Creative Life book. Just getting started and taking small steps appealed to me.
Get Off Your Butt: 16 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re in a Slump – This one came as a timely reminder for me, most relevant was the advice to concentrate on one goal. I have a tendency to get involved in too much. I was trying to learn Spanish, take piano lessons and take my textile art seriously, all alongside a full time day time job not so long ago. Something had to go and it was the piano lessons then. Now I realise that I am seriously in danger of doing too much again. So I’ve dropped the idea of entering the competition in France. It’s not the right time for me this year. (Pity though because I liked the theme and thought I had a good idea – might still make the quilt but not in a hurry and not to a deadline – just taking a few small steps at a time.)
I’m not finished in my cogitations yet, but I am feeling more positive towards the changes going on in my life right now. The panic has subsided, as I knew it would, but couldn’t quite believe it to be true. No-one likes change and the first reaction is to resist. Me too but I think I’ve taken my first small steps to accepting it, thinking positively. We are on the road to simplifying our lives and I hope that will give me more time to be creative. Take it from there. Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
