For the past couple of weeks I have switched things up and stepped away from my normal routine.
I believe that it's good for your soul and your sanity to do such things particularly when things begin to feel stale or when your regular things start to feel tedious or when you know you're going to be inundated.
I have a hectic summer coming up with two back-to-back month long engagements in June and July. The month of May will be spent preparing for both - and there will be LOTS to do - so if I don't take a break now and recharge to the best of my ability I won't have the chance again until...August! So this break is like taking a vacation which sounds like a weird thing for someone who works from home. It isn't really, though. Working from home means that I am almost always "on" -- for instance, I started writing this post at 6:30am on a Sunday morning. That's normal for me as I begin every single day taking my first sip of coffee while already seated at my desk. There doesn't seem to be a rel separation between my home and working lives and sometimes there needs to be.
Included in this break has been social media. Stepping away from that has been less about regrouping and more about taking better control of how I spend my time. The truth is that I have always had much more engagement with a website/blog than I ever had with Facebook and the like.
Like the rest of the world it seems I got very caught up in hanging out where everyone else hangs out which is the opposite of who I am or ever was and is also....well, silly. Especially for someone who makes pretty pictures! Pretty pictures are e v e r y w h e r e on social media; mine just get lost in the shuffle there.
Plus, when was the last time you said "let me go log on to Facebook and see which piece of art I think I'll buy today"? The problem is that not a lot of people would answer that they always/often/sometimes/once in a while log on to Facebook with the intention of purchasing art. Trying to convince people to do that takes A LOT of work...of time...of energy. All of that takes me away from making the art! It's a conundrum that won't easily be resolved. Like anything else, it will take a good deal of trial and error. And head-clearing breaks.
In the meantime of my disengagement I've been really busy with other creative endeavors...lots of painting and even some fairy-making...
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| My 'Make A Wish' painting |
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| Fairy Doll that I made head to toe |
Amazing the things we can do if we step out of and away from routine from time to time..
