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?!

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!