I have had a very productive week. I screen printed a huge batch of shirts, applied to two holiday shows, reorganized all of my inventory and packed it for my future shows, worked on two canvases, did a lot of research into booth displays for indoor shows, volunteered at a school library, finished off a novel, cleaned my house, did a lot of drawing, two loads of laundry, and now I’m writing this.
No, I’m not on Speed. I have been listening to a lot of Podcasts and books on CD as I work, and this has been keeping me on the move. The latest is Chrissie Hynde’s autobiography, Reckless, which has the worst choice of narrator possible. Rosanna Arquette sounds like Buffy Summers, and cannot pronounce British slang or place names at all. Don’t even get me started on those English and Welsh accents she attempts. No, no, no, Chrissie, you should have narrated that book yourself with that smooth voice of yours.
Despite all of that, there is nothing like a good story to keep me going. I have trouble getting out of my car if I park before my audiobook has come to the end of a chapter. This whole week I have been happily printing and painting away, only stopping to change CDs. My lunch breaks have been shorter, I have been in a flow state, and I have wasted much less time. Maybe I have found the secret to working happily from home? Nah, I still want a big ass studio.
One quote from Reckless that has been stuck in my consciousness was something about creativity flourishing in times of hardship. Chrissie, like many others before her, opines that domesticity can kill creativity. I think about that very thing almost every day. As the mother of two school age kids, I have had to tweak my work habits considerably. That list of stuff I did above does not include the school runs, swim classes, homework help and other parenting tasks that happen during the week.
It is harder to properly feed a creative process that demands and needs constant nourishment,  because, well, my kids need nourishment too! I stop and start projects at weird times, and can’t get back into them, and find myself limited in so many ways.I’ll be honest, it’s often frustrating, but I’m slowly finding my own ways and methods of working. The audiobooks have been great at lifting me out of a slump, so has my yoga practice. Work wise things may not be optimal right now, but I’m not sitting still, I’m still making stuff, I’m still trying. I’m learning to be patient, my kids are learning a lot about work ethic from me. Chrissie is right, I have had to slow down and change the trajectory of my creative career. Domesticity is having it’s way with my creativity,  but that won’t always be the case, and I when things do kick off, my family will have my back!
