It's kind of funny- last night when I was talking to my wife about how much I had got done last week I started to feel bad about how selfish I had been with my time; that I had spent all the sun up time (and some some down) working on artwork & paintings instead of putting nearly as much effort in to some correspondences and communications. I love talking with people about artwork and cars and artwork technique, but this week I just focused on having a bit of 'me time' for artwork which I really haven't had in a while. While I was thinking about the week I at first thought of it as selfish, then I started to feel like, "no wait, this is just a display of my work ethic and passion for what I do". I should ALWAYS want to be having this much fun and making new pieces! I should also want to spend time doing the other side of business things or at least admit that I need to hire some help to keep the gears moving while I'm producing artwork. This week was unique in that I started and finished 9 new paintings- NINE!! Most days that was 2 a day, which is jammin'. Interestingly I had got my oil paints out at the beginning of the week and then just never put them away. It is funny how the slowest paints have helped me produce the fastest artwork. And sure, not every piece is amazing, but the process of creating is sometimes more important then the end result. If I could just sling paint messes about every day I fairly confident that would bring me joy, however, I think my social media audience expects just a little more of me. So I've been working on a happy medium- a mix of messy but legible artwork which has been a unique challenge. I've spent years refining what I consider to be a clean art style, so this want to create messes is different. While I've always enjoyed graffiti and many artists I follow that do do beautiful messes, I recognized my happy spot. But now I think that happy spot was a great way to learn a lot of fundamentals that can now be bent and twisted to suit the mood for that particular piece. I've also spent the last several years working on speed and technique mostly on paper which has given me a little edge on canvas. But perhaps the most important thing that allowed me to be productive this week was (almost) a total lack of distractions. We got a puppy for Christmas and she certainly needs plenty of attention thru the day, but, not nearly as much as responding to comments, emails, messages as soon as they are coming in; a habit I'm very familiar with. Yes, those are the things that keep the gears of business rolling, but if my business is art I also need to be creating art, but in an authentic, organic way (not just because its what Im supposed to be doing). There's a time to handle the communications, or at least there needs to be time set aside for them, but when I answer everything in real time I am constantly disconnecting myself from my artwork, and that's not cool. There's still a balance there that I need to work on, but all part of the journey. One last big factor is that I didn't schedule in any commissions for this particular week which kept me 100% focused on what I wanted to create without limitations. Yes I do some commissions, but most of what I do is non commissioned, actually. And while they can be great, too many may take you of course of your goals or eat up more of your creative time then you think, which is why I don't schedule myself full of commissions.
Well I decided today was going to be a non-art day so I could prove to myself Im not a robot. Going to wash the car and cruise the coast with my wife- have a good one!
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