Anyone have anything they'd like to talk about tonight?
No?
Damn. Well, I guess we'll see what I can come up with on the fly because I don't have anything prepared.
To be honest, I'm feeling a bit lost in this new month already. I chose to add this theme to the project because I know the act of making things (art?) is a therapeutic process for me. It's something I regularly neglect, save the last 4 years of birthday cakes for spiderman, and something I hypothesize will contribute to my feelings of fulfillment if I do it regularly. But as often happens when the possibilities are endless, I find myself a bit overwhelmed.
Figuring out what to do last month was easy. I have been thinking about how to enhance my physical health for most of the last 5-6 years... In contrast, I have only been thinking about how to improve my creative health for the last two days.
So, I'm going back to the source. You may have noticed (or remembered) that the format of the FP is inspired by Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. And although it is my goal for this to take on a life and identity of its own I did ask myself WWGD (that G is for Gretchen, not God) today. And going back into her book I found that she gave herself some tasks or issue to tackle each month.
If I were to do the same mine would be:
- Make something new (rinse, and repeat).
- Morning Pages.
- Artist's Date.
- Finish an old project.
- Recognize CREATEivity.
- Art party
The first one is pretty basic. I will make things. I have been pinning away inspirations for a few months now and last night I committed to those I want to tackle first. My artwork isn't usually rich in meaning... I don't express my feelings through art... It is the act of making it that is helpful to me. I'm a pretty literal person and I prefer the use of words and common symbols over imagery, but I'm also a sucker for what's beautiful.
Morning Pages and the Artist's Date both come from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I have been holding onto this book for a few years, with every intention of taking the journey within... but yeah... didn't happen. Picking it up again to do a little research excited me about doing it. Anyone want to go for the ride with me? I'll be available to start on January 13, 2013 (actually... maybe I'll want to take a month to rest... how about February 13, 2013?)
"Morning Pages" are three full pages of long hand, stream of consciousness writing first thing in the morning. Now the idea is that you do them before you do anything. Two out of two times I have been interrupted by spiderman, but I think I'm going to call that a success anyway. So far I've found them to be enormously helpful in clearing out my head. I tend to wake up feeling panicked lately, so a quick brain dump onto the page seems to work well. I seem to have gotten myself worked back up a few hours into the day though... I think morning, noon, and night pages would be helpful!
"Artist's Date" is the habit of taking yourself (ALONE) on a weekly outing that your inner artist will enjoy. My first one will be this Saturday... I think I may be taking myself to breakfast and then to a junk shop to browse around... not sure yet. Of course I will report back.
I have a few things in my home that are almost art. I have pieces that I've never framed and hung and others that just never got finished. This month I will do at least one of those projects through until the end (even if the end is the trash can)
I will choose to be aware of my power to create. This seems to be happening already. I've enjoyed cooking a lot the last couple of days and the things I'm making seem to taste better too. Creating a dish is more fulfilling than cooking food so far.
The Art Party (which was 38's brilliant idea. thank you!) is going to be a gathering of all of my peeps. Hopefully people will come to make stuff, or at least drink beer while being around other people making stuff.
That's all I have for now. I have a fair bit of work ahead and I expect a lot of learning to come along with it... I'm going in pretty blind and am interested to see what develops!
