Back in the Studio
And the routines of studio life.
I don’t really have a theme on my mind for this post, so I am just going to say whatever comes to mind to help me get back into the swing of writing some new articles.
The problem with going out on trips is that it causes a disruption in my daily routine. When I return from a trip, I usually need a day or two to unpack and chill out for a bit and then try to reorient myself and get back into my routine. Sometimes this takes another day or two.
Another problem for me is that I usually come back inspired to do some things related to what happened on the trip. This is not a problem actually because I usually make a whole bunch of new art with fresh collage material, I brought back with me that I want to use or I got a new idea that I want to play out because of something I saw or experienced on the trip.
Related to my routine, the upside is, that I usually leave a number of unfinished projects at the time that I left so that I have something to finish up that helps remind me of where my mind was before I left. This helps me to pick up where I left off and remember to continue the trail that I was on.
Maybe I have spent too many years as a kind of hermit in the hermitage of my studio with my wife Rosalia. We commented to ourselves at the time of the pandemic that the massive disruption to the public sphere of having to stay isolated and avoid crowds - which seemed to be deeply traumatic to many - had little effect on us. That is how we lived on a daily basis already for the most part. We didn’t realize it, but we were also already preppers. Since Rosalia’s favorite hobbies are nutrition, food and cooking, we already had more than a month or two of supplies in the freezer and pantry and lots of toilet paper. We were only short on napkins.
Living a quiet, reclusive life encourages establishing routines. For many, routine probably seems very boring. If you are an artist however, you rarely get bored and there is always something to think about and do. It is a rich life once you have set things up where you are not constantly being interrupted by outside influences. But it does take discipline and keeping yourself on track.
Still, there are advantages to going out on trips. A lot of artists start feeling anxious when they go out on a family vacation because they start missing their studios. I certainly do. On the other hand, going on trips can bring a lot of new energy to the studio. So, my basic solution is to plan out trips like the one I did with Les Jones to Brooklyn a couple of months ago where I figured out how to bring or set up a personal studio on the fly. I can usually bring enough stuff in a couple of ziplock bags in my suitcase to be able to keep on making art with whatever I find.
Still, there is nothing like being back in your own studio and getting back into the hard-won routines developed over years of experimentation.
It is hard to do anything when your sick except take it easy. If you don't need to work because of obligations like I do then no problem. However, self determination then becomes the question if you don't feel the consequences of not getting motivated. This can cause debilitation and feeling debilitated frustration follows. When frustrated then avoidance follows. Then pretty soon endless time passes. How I think about this is that it is really hard to get things restarted once the engine gets cold so it is best to always at least keep the engine on idle. I see the beginning of an article idea.
I'm having the opposite issue......after my son visited here, I got Covid and hadn't done anything in the studio, I thought that maybe I just needed a break which I sometimes take after I finish some pieces. But then all that turned into a couple of months of not working in the studio, then the hurricane, some depression and other issues came about. I'm a procrastinator by habit. I'm not too worried, but on the other hand.......I am concerned at why I'm not anxious to get back in there and create art. I'm a mess.