A Jump on a Resolution

I don't take enough time to create - just for me. I work too many hours then come home tired and hungry and the night slips away before I can make it upstairs to my studio space.

Mornings aren't much better. I get up and start working or checking email or fall into various other technological distractions.

Journal page from last summer.

I also don't take enough time to read. Except on a recent vacation where I read 2 entire books and got halfway through a third. That book, along with another I haven't finished, are waiting patiently for me to finish them.

I learned an important time management lesson from Pam - to understand that it isn't that we don't have enough time, we just don't prioritize the things that are important to us... then we say 'I don't have enough time for ______', which simply isn't true. We spent the time on other things.

Art challenge box from last summer.

I'm going to choose to take more time for art this year. In that spirit, I've already scheduled a week of art in March in lovely Taos, New Mexico and will be following along with The Sketchbook Challenge. I've also become a member of the International Union of Mail-Artists.

Sketch in progress from fall drawing class.

In other words, like seeing my personal trainer, I've made a commitment to other people and invested some money in something I think is important - so I just get off my preoccupied butt and do it!

2011 is the year of living creatively for me. Wherever that leads. And from what I understand, I may have to polish my interpretive dance techniques. What have I gotten myself into?!

Part 1: What a difference a year makes

Has it really been a year? A year! A lot has happened in that year. Maybe that's why this blog has been languishing like an unfinished sewing project tucked in a closet.

My sister moved back to Wisconsin after living most of her life in Texas and then Arkansas. She raised a family, made friends, but always felt a bit like a fish out of water. It's good to have her 'home' and back in touch with her Yankee leanings.

My mom, Peggy died in October. I still miss her everyday.

The last conversation I had with her was to tell her I was going to Switzerland in November. She told me how she had always wanted to travel there because her grandfather was from Bern. She was really happy for me & Pam.

So part of her came with. I scattered some of her ashes off the Spreuerbrücke bridge in Lucerne and left a prayer card at the chapel inside. She would have loved Switzerland and I wish I had known she wanted to go there sooner. Much sooner.

The holidays rolled by, we welcomed a new year and winter descended upon Wisconsin. Sunshine beckoned...it was time to visit a place that always soothes my soul - the Sonoran desert. It's good for what ails you.

And work was busy - crazy busy - and every ounce of my creativity was directed there - instead of the now dusty art supplies languishing in my studio.


To be continued...

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Journal

A while back, my 2 sisters, Pam and I started a traveling art journal. Each of us would do a page or two and then mail or pass it along to the next person on the list.

Here is the box complete with instructions and a 'goodie bag' we're always adding to and taking from.

The page on the left is by my sister Ruth (Corky), the one on the right, by me. Very coordinated if I do say so myself!

Here's one of my first entries.

And one from Pam.

Here are two pages from my sister Carol. For some odd reason, we've all been compelled to create circus-themed art. Hmm...

Here's one of my latest. My attempt at the more abstract.

And one more from my sister Corky.

We still have a lot of pages to finish. And now with my sister moving back to our neck of the woods, it should go much faster!

I highly recommend trying a traveling journal with your friends. It's fun to wrap it up, add goodies to the package and send it on its way. And it's even more fun to crack the box open and see what treasures are inside!