Putting Things in Place
A productive day, in the end. Made some more revisions on an old story, I like it a lot better. Writing group rocks. Looking forward to sending it off, soon.
Got a request for a tarot reading for next week... A repeat client. That makes me feel good. It's probably the first I've had from my first official batch of clients. Tarot reading is so fulfilling, I just love doing it. It honors such a big part of me, my skills as a counselor and an intuitive. There's nothing quite like it. And I learn so much from my clients. I hope this becomes a bigger part of my picture, because it is really satisfying, in a deep way I never would have expected.
Went to the studio and spent a couple of hours tidying up and reorganizing. Still have a good bit of work ahead of me. I'm not going to start painting until the studio is in better shape. I want to have my desk finally set up, but before I can do that I need to organize my supplies better. I have too much stuff from too many creative pursuits: painting, jewelry, sculpture, printmaking, collage, sewing, flower arranging, photography. It's a struggle to find a place for everything that is logical and makes good use of the space. And it's tough to let go of things, because I never know where my interests will take me creatively. The other concern is that I don't want to infringe too much upon my studio-mate's space. She doesn't need as much room as I do, because her interests are more focused, but even though she keeps one shelf mostly empty, that's still *her* shelf in my mind. I'm struggling to reign all my stuff in, but I think I'll get it sorted out. If I got rid of my big mirror and got some closing shelves, though, I think I'd be making better use of my side. But I find it difficult to part with that mirror. It's really lovely, and I bought it for a steal. I call it the "skinny mirror". For some reason, everyone's reflection looks skinnier than in reality. I suspect the mirror is slightly bent by the frame.
It will be good to get it all in order and start thinking abut painting again. I need to give myself a chance to get better at it. And to build a body of work, even if it's only a few pieces. Right now I keep looking at work in restaurants and coffee shops and I keep thinking that my stuff should be up, too. I think it's good enough to find an audience at a nice place. There's just not enough of it. And that can be solved by more dedication to producing. I could at the very least reserve a Saturday or Sunday each week to the studio. It would be slow progress, but not as slow as the "no progress" record I have had for the last eight months (not including jewelry and prepping decor for the wedding).
I'm thinking about following through on a friend's offer to throw me a trunk show at her house. I'd probably need to make a bit more jewelry for that to work, but I bet I could swing it without too much effort, I don't need a ton more. I think it would be fun, and relatively stress-free. When I need relax and do something with my hands, I'll go to the studio for a bit and knock out a few pairs of dainty, easy earrings. It's very zen. I have a lot more complex stuff, so I think they'd round out the selection nicely. Anyhow, I haven't spoken to the friend yet, so we'll see. I may wait a bit longer until I'm in a more consistent groove with everything else. I don't want to overdo it.
It's easy to get excited about things, especially with the extra time I feel like I suddenly have. But I keep reminding myself to pace myself, despite it all. This is the priority stream in my mind: stay healthy, spend time with Grant, work hard (and get caught up on my work), pay off wedding debt, write, create art. The paying off debt means that a lot of other things I want aren't possible right now, but I am increasingly okay with this. Detoxification is the key word in my life right now, and getting rid of debt, clutter, and distractions are all part of that. I usually want to charge ahead, but it's time for me to show a little restraint for awhile. At least, for once, I know this is going to pay off big dividends, and in a year I will be most pleased with my decision. It will be much more thrilling to not feel the pressure of debt and the turmoil of clutter in the home. For once this all feels like it's much more within my reach.
Got a request for a tarot reading for next week... A repeat client. That makes me feel good. It's probably the first I've had from my first official batch of clients. Tarot reading is so fulfilling, I just love doing it. It honors such a big part of me, my skills as a counselor and an intuitive. There's nothing quite like it. And I learn so much from my clients. I hope this becomes a bigger part of my picture, because it is really satisfying, in a deep way I never would have expected.
Went to the studio and spent a couple of hours tidying up and reorganizing. Still have a good bit of work ahead of me. I'm not going to start painting until the studio is in better shape. I want to have my desk finally set up, but before I can do that I need to organize my supplies better. I have too much stuff from too many creative pursuits: painting, jewelry, sculpture, printmaking, collage, sewing, flower arranging, photography. It's a struggle to find a place for everything that is logical and makes good use of the space. And it's tough to let go of things, because I never know where my interests will take me creatively. The other concern is that I don't want to infringe too much upon my studio-mate's space. She doesn't need as much room as I do, because her interests are more focused, but even though she keeps one shelf mostly empty, that's still *her* shelf in my mind. I'm struggling to reign all my stuff in, but I think I'll get it sorted out. If I got rid of my big mirror and got some closing shelves, though, I think I'd be making better use of my side. But I find it difficult to part with that mirror. It's really lovely, and I bought it for a steal. I call it the "skinny mirror". For some reason, everyone's reflection looks skinnier than in reality. I suspect the mirror is slightly bent by the frame.
It will be good to get it all in order and start thinking abut painting again. I need to give myself a chance to get better at it. And to build a body of work, even if it's only a few pieces. Right now I keep looking at work in restaurants and coffee shops and I keep thinking that my stuff should be up, too. I think it's good enough to find an audience at a nice place. There's just not enough of it. And that can be solved by more dedication to producing. I could at the very least reserve a Saturday or Sunday each week to the studio. It would be slow progress, but not as slow as the "no progress" record I have had for the last eight months (not including jewelry and prepping decor for the wedding).
I'm thinking about following through on a friend's offer to throw me a trunk show at her house. I'd probably need to make a bit more jewelry for that to work, but I bet I could swing it without too much effort, I don't need a ton more. I think it would be fun, and relatively stress-free. When I need relax and do something with my hands, I'll go to the studio for a bit and knock out a few pairs of dainty, easy earrings. It's very zen. I have a lot more complex stuff, so I think they'd round out the selection nicely. Anyhow, I haven't spoken to the friend yet, so we'll see. I may wait a bit longer until I'm in a more consistent groove with everything else. I don't want to overdo it.
It's easy to get excited about things, especially with the extra time I feel like I suddenly have. But I keep reminding myself to pace myself, despite it all. This is the priority stream in my mind: stay healthy, spend time with Grant, work hard (and get caught up on my work), pay off wedding debt, write, create art. The paying off debt means that a lot of other things I want aren't possible right now, but I am increasingly okay with this. Detoxification is the key word in my life right now, and getting rid of debt, clutter, and distractions are all part of that. I usually want to charge ahead, but it's time for me to show a little restraint for awhile. At least, for once, I know this is going to pay off big dividends, and in a year I will be most pleased with my decision. It will be much more thrilling to not feel the pressure of debt and the turmoil of clutter in the home. For once this all feels like it's much more within my reach.