Do the stuff that nags at you-it might be important stuff

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you’ll pretty soon have realised I’m prone to thinking, probably too much, about stuff. Which can be a problem if you prefer to act only when you have ALL the information in front of you. And I was getting a bit down with my job, the lack of time available to focus on art and how that inhibited how it could move forward.

This is a case of finding my life’s passion (horribly cheesy but it’s a good enough description) later than most, though earlier than some, and feeling an overwhelming sense of lost time and having to get wherever I’m going fast, to make up for the slow start.

But not being entirely sure where I’m going or how I’m going to get there.

And having to remind myself that it’s enough to just get an overall sense of what you’d like and stop getting in the way of that by trying to work out all the nitty gritty details of exactly how you’ll do it. Because that’s impossible and it just paralyses you.

So, realising I hadn’t even done my work plan for 2019, I wrote up this year’s goals based on what had changed or been accomplished last year - more than I thought actually. Which shows how important it is to log things regularly so you can see you’ve made progress, otherwise, you likely won’t remember the good bits and then beat yourself up for not having achieved anything.

Cuz some folks don't know how to give themselves a break.

A glance at the last two year’s plans showed I’d aimed to do some painting – abstract and dance related, but not really made any time to test out what was in my head. This weekend that got a kick start with a bunch of test runs with acrylics and foam brush and some quick sketches using an eraser with paint. And a bit of ink blotch experiment (see image below).

There’s potential there, so I have a project to do – produce a run of paintings to represent every aspect of what BPS is about. So that means male and female dancers, acrobats and gymnasts on every piece of apparatus, using every piece of rhythmic kit and covering classical and contemporary dance, and maybe some other forms as well. Phew. That’s around 25 pieces of work but when I’ve finished, I’ll have defined a style of working or be well on the way to doing that, and also have a good chunk of work to show prospective customers who might have a need/desire for art work rather than (or as well as) sculpture.

Project number two (because variety is the spice of life), is to review all the abstract ideas and inspirations I’ve collected, and try to formulate what is compelling to me about those things. The challenge is to pull all that together to begin work on a few concepts.

Here’s the thing. As a part time artist, it’s tricky trying to create a second, viable income in a limited amount of available time each week, but if I keep working the way I have, I’ll be trapped in a no man’s land where I’m spending a lot of time on just one area and not making or earning enough from sales to drop the job and do art full time. Instead, if I can apportion that time between two or three areas which will provide more avenues to show and sell my work, then I have a greater chance to expand my art income and move towards a full time creative career. That’s as detailed as I need to get for now. Do the art. The opportunities will pop up when I have a portfolio to match them.

And that’s my art/life lesson for this week. If something’s been gnawing at you to do it for ages – do it. It’s still there bugging you because it’s important. Don’t talk yourself out of it because…something - whatever you tend to do. Start it, get some movement going and see where it takes you. It might be a place you had no idea you wanted to go. And it might be just wonderful.