So I've had this week off, and I've found it incredibly difficult to simply switch into a strict mode of eyes-forward, head-down, busy-hands.
I keep thinking "god, what's wrong with me? why can't I just sit down and GO?" And then I remember how I work forty to forty-five hours a week at my day job, if not more. Now I've got a problem, a conflict. Since I'm on vacation I want to do what working people want to do - I want to play.
I want to read a book, play in the grass, watch a movie, get lost in a video game, go to the mountains, look at art, clean up the house, take a walk, daydream, catch up on blogs and news on the internet, start and not finish about five different blog posts, stare out the window ...
I see this time as a working vacation but I can't just turn it on and get a full straight eight hours, no matter how hard I crack the whip. I'm not used to working that way - when do I ever have this kind of time? It feels dizzying, like standing at a great height looking down and I don't know how to get to the road five hundred feet below.
It turns out making a piece of work isn't the only thing that matters. I'm spending a lot of time working, it's just a different way of thinking about my career duties. After all, I've been researching artist grants, making a to-do list for upcoming membership applications and awards, checking out residency possibilities, updating my link list to the left, including my art blog list and CV. I've been researching ideas on the internet and reading up on what everyone else is doing via my GoogleReader feed (ok that was a bit gratuitous but you should read what I've been reading). Oh and let's not forget, I've been blogging.
Solace comes from asking other artists how they work, watching artists work and talk on PBS's art:21 series, and reading Joanne Mattera's awesome conversation about how we slice our veritable pie. Just knowing we're all busy and working it out has helped me simmer down immensely. The blissful side effect is that I simply get back to work.
So what about you? How are you working to maximise creativity in your daily life? If you made a chart, what would it look like?
Ok so this is my new and improved true-to-life technicolour graph based on hours in a week, in which I reveal
that I do in fact, sleep (much to my detriment)
I keep thinking "god, what's wrong with me? why can't I just sit down and GO?" And then I remember how I work forty to forty-five hours a week at my day job, if not more. Now I've got a problem, a conflict. Since I'm on vacation I want to do what working people want to do - I want to play.
I want to read a book, play in the grass, watch a movie, get lost in a video game, go to the mountains, look at art, clean up the house, take a walk, daydream, catch up on blogs and news on the internet, start and not finish about five different blog posts, stare out the window ...
I see this time as a working vacation but I can't just turn it on and get a full straight eight hours, no matter how hard I crack the whip. I'm not used to working that way - when do I ever have this kind of time? It feels dizzying, like standing at a great height looking down and I don't know how to get to the road five hundred feet below.
It turns out making a piece of work isn't the only thing that matters. I'm spending a lot of time working, it's just a different way of thinking about my career duties. After all, I've been researching artist grants, making a to-do list for upcoming membership applications and awards, checking out residency possibilities, updating my link list to the left, including my art blog list and CV. I've been researching ideas on the internet and reading up on what everyone else is doing via my GoogleReader feed (ok that was a bit gratuitous but you should read what I've been reading). Oh and let's not forget, I've been blogging.
Solace comes from asking other artists how they work, watching artists work and talk on PBS's art:21 series, and reading Joanne Mattera's awesome conversation about how we slice our veritable pie. Just knowing we're all busy and working it out has helped me simmer down immensely. The blissful side effect is that I simply get back to work.
So what about you? How are you working to maximise creativity in your daily life? If you made a chart, what would it look like?
In [Ch]Art Lies The Truth - maybe I should just get off the goddamned computer 12:50p 18 Jun 2009
I like how I conveniently left out the day job part . Also maybe I should sleep more.
I like how I conveniently left out the day job part . Also maybe I should sleep more.
Ok so this is my new and improved true-to-life technicolour graph based on hours in a week, in which I reveal
that I do in fact, sleep (much to my detriment)
And this is participant X's graph, in which they reveal that they do in fact "snugl"
Here's what you *don't* want to happen to your pie. Whatever you do. Don't do this.
Although its' kind of glittery, and juicy... Thanks go out to Shaun for this one!
10 comments:
Er yeah, if I re-do my pie chart to include my 40+ hour a week job, I'm pretty much not sleeping! (ok I'm lying, it's a good 7 hours a night and MATH SUCKS!!!)
Mine would have to be daily, at this rate:
http://tinyurl.com/dailypie
this is awesome. i love the pie charts. i always think about this quote i read years ago in a nyt article by michael kimmelman about gerhard richter:
"He sticks to a strict routine, waking at 6:15 every morning. He makes breakfast for his family, takes Ella to school at 7:20 and is in the studio by 8. At 1 o'clock, he crosses the garden from the studio back to the house. The grass in the garden is uncut. Richter proudly points this out, to show that even it is a matter of his choosing, not by chance. At 1 o'clock, he eats lunch in the dining room, alone. A housekeeper lays out the same meal for him each day: yogurt, tomatoes, bread, olive oil and chamomile tea.
After lunch, Richter returns to his studio to work into the evening. ''I have always been structured,'' he explains. ''What has changed is the proportions. Now it is eight hours of paperwork and one of painting.'' He claims to waste time -- on the house, the garden -- although this is hard to believe. ''I go to the studio every day, but I don't paint every day. I love playing with my architectural models. I love making plans. I could spend my life arranging things. Weeks go by, and I don't paint until finally I can't stand it any longer. I get fed up. I almost don't want to talk about it, because I don't want to become self-conscious about it, but perhaps I create these little crises as a kind of a secret strategy to push myself. It is a danger to wait around for an idea to occur to you. You have to find the idea.'' As he talks, I notice a single drop of paint on the floor beneath one of his abstract pictures, the only thing out of place in the studio."
perhaps I create these little crises as a kind of a secret strategy to push myself. It is a danger to wait around for an idea to occur to you. You have to find the idea
Oh Gala, thanks for this excerpt, it's awesome (and so fitting)!
Wow, what a great quote! (I think maybe we mortal artists will find a key word here.... HOUSEKEEPER! ha!) I especially love the part about the dangers of waiting around for an idea. I sometimes feel like I have to play hard-to-get with my own art practice. Like, if I appear too available, it will get bored with me and stop trying to seduce me.
Susanna, that's awesome, true, hysterical, frightening, and omg I know what you mean! God, we wouldn't want it to be too easy, would we?
(well, maybe just a little bit easier)
Oh My, I don't know you but I got a link to the blog from a Vermillion email. This series of pie charts is one of the best things I've seen in a while! "idling in the face of not-even-very-hard tasks" would be a huge part of my day...
Hi Jamey, thanks for stopping in! The pie charts were fun - I highly recommend making them! The site I used is this one.
I wish I'd remembered idling in the face of not-even-very-hard tasks - this summarises my 9-5s perfectly :)
Oh Oh....
If I do one of these I may have to actually admit I dont get anything done.......
*lol* FogRocker, that's the caveat of a pie chart, for sure! :)
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