I really liked the metaphor of the garden for the creative rhythm. It reminded me of my daughter, who is a painter: her art grows in the same way, not under strict schedules, but through a daily devotion that blends patience, discipline, and passion. Just like a garden flourishes with steady care, so does art, when it is nurtured with love and attention, it becomes a reflection of life itself.
I'm retired, too, thank God! Cecil, you sound like you are a very disciplined person. I'm very disciplined about what my latest "gig" is. Right now it is writing. I take little breaks now and then, but for the most part, I let my creativity dictate where my energy is going. I mostly stop writing when my typing gets really bad and I have to make a lot of corrections.
Right now, my husband's mother just died so he has been gone to Ohio for over a week, and while he is gone I am doing all the stuff I usually get help with doing. I have 3 cats, one of which is a kitten and needs constant attention, the second fortunately is still a young cat and likes to play with the kitten, however, they just recently broke 2 lamps while playing, and the third is 13 years old and likes to mash up against me and sleep all day. I usually don't feel much like eating, but I need to or I feel crappy.
Then I have my Etsy shop, which I haven't paid any attention to for weeks, except when I have orders to send out. I'm also taking 3 writing classes online. I'm glad they are flexible, and I'm also glad I'm taking them. For me, if I don't have stuff to do, my life is feast or famine at each occasion. I'm disciplined if I really like what I'm doing or if I have deadlines to meet. My problem is that I want to do SO MANY things, that there isn't any way to accomplish that. I caught myself starting to take on another project the other day, and just had to tell myself "NO!" But I'm not knit-picky. There are times I have to just walk away from it all.
You said at the beginning of this post, "But if you recognize that art, writing, and administration 'each belong to different states of being', you begin to handle them with greater care." I had a fortune cookie a couple of days ago that said, "The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination." Coincidence or Affirmation? Who knows? Time to do the dishes, now.
Everyone works differently as to how time and doing art works for them the best. I'm grateful I'm retired so I just listen to my inner drive to head into the studio whenever......middle of the day, middle of the night, early in the morning before I've even had a mug of coffee, or early evening after I've fed the animals. And the reasons I go into the studio are several different ones.......yes to create art: either to work on an ongoing piece, to create a new one, to cleanup and organize, sometimes I just go in there to get away from "the window of the world" (my desktop) as I've had enough of that and just need to sit still and perhaps something will stir me up and get me going on a piece. Sometimes I'm anxious to get into the studio to work and sometimes I just want to avoid it for whatever weird reason. And sometimes I make myself go in there as to not get too used to NOT going in there. And often, it's a cathartic place to just go into and just be as I feel I am surrounded by all the stuff that helps me to create. I have several rooms in my home where I can go to and just hang out, but the studio is THE ONE place where I feel my artist-being is true and intact.
I really liked the metaphor of the garden for the creative rhythm. It reminded me of my daughter, who is a painter: her art grows in the same way, not under strict schedules, but through a daily devotion that blends patience, discipline, and passion. Just like a garden flourishes with steady care, so does art, when it is nurtured with love and attention, it becomes a reflection of life itself.
I'm retired, too, thank God! Cecil, you sound like you are a very disciplined person. I'm very disciplined about what my latest "gig" is. Right now it is writing. I take little breaks now and then, but for the most part, I let my creativity dictate where my energy is going. I mostly stop writing when my typing gets really bad and I have to make a lot of corrections.
Right now, my husband's mother just died so he has been gone to Ohio for over a week, and while he is gone I am doing all the stuff I usually get help with doing. I have 3 cats, one of which is a kitten and needs constant attention, the second fortunately is still a young cat and likes to play with the kitten, however, they just recently broke 2 lamps while playing, and the third is 13 years old and likes to mash up against me and sleep all day. I usually don't feel much like eating, but I need to or I feel crappy.
Then I have my Etsy shop, which I haven't paid any attention to for weeks, except when I have orders to send out. I'm also taking 3 writing classes online. I'm glad they are flexible, and I'm also glad I'm taking them. For me, if I don't have stuff to do, my life is feast or famine at each occasion. I'm disciplined if I really like what I'm doing or if I have deadlines to meet. My problem is that I want to do SO MANY things, that there isn't any way to accomplish that. I caught myself starting to take on another project the other day, and just had to tell myself "NO!" But I'm not knit-picky. There are times I have to just walk away from it all.
You said at the beginning of this post, "But if you recognize that art, writing, and administration 'each belong to different states of being', you begin to handle them with greater care." I had a fortune cookie a couple of days ago that said, "The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination." Coincidence or Affirmation? Who knows? Time to do the dishes, now.
Everyone works differently as to how time and doing art works for them the best. I'm grateful I'm retired so I just listen to my inner drive to head into the studio whenever......middle of the day, middle of the night, early in the morning before I've even had a mug of coffee, or early evening after I've fed the animals. And the reasons I go into the studio are several different ones.......yes to create art: either to work on an ongoing piece, to create a new one, to cleanup and organize, sometimes I just go in there to get away from "the window of the world" (my desktop) as I've had enough of that and just need to sit still and perhaps something will stir me up and get me going on a piece. Sometimes I'm anxious to get into the studio to work and sometimes I just want to avoid it for whatever weird reason. And sometimes I make myself go in there as to not get too used to NOT going in there. And often, it's a cathartic place to just go into and just be as I feel I am surrounded by all the stuff that helps me to create. I have several rooms in my home where I can go to and just hang out, but the studio is THE ONE place where I feel my artist-being is true and intact.