Moving…

This week I have started going to a gym for 6:30 am workouts! I know – crazy, right? I thought this would be a good way to support my writing practice. By 8:00, I am sitting at my desk, having already made a great start to the day and I am ready to write. It’s a big change to get up and out of the house so early. The first day I went, I left my breakfast on the counter because I’d underestimated the time I needed. I was totally worried about being late, so I almost didn’t go. Then I got almost to the door of the gym when I realized I’d forgotten my shoes, so I almost turned back. I mean, it’s already uncomfortable to make a start on something new, never mind this early, never mind late, never mind without most of my breakfast, never mind without shoes!

But I went anyway.

Here’s what I know. There is always a reason to turn back. There’s always solid evidence that the comfort zone is the place to be. But the unfamiliar doesn’t get more comfortable until you step into it again and again. I figured I might as well start that process even without my shoes!

Learning…

Something else new that I’m preparing for is taking the Writing and Drawing Comics e-course with Summer Pierre. I’m so excited and totally nervous. At least the supplies are unintimidating: a composition book, some index cards, a Black Pilot Precise Pen (fine) and a Black Papermate Flair Pen (medium). I ordered the pens on Amazon and had the cards and the notebook on hand. I’m ready for class, Summer!

Reading…

If you watch Creative Living Bookshelf, you’ll know that I picked up this book quite a while ago, Plant Dreaming Deep by May Sarton. It takes me forever to work through a book. Right now at the far edge of winter, I couldn’t have been more delighted to read a chapter about the garden. When May describes her excitement about her morning tours, I feel excited by what is soon to come:

“From May on, I can hardly wait to get up to see what has happened overnight, for one of the pleasures of the garden is that something is always happening; it is not static even for a day. I go out by six-thirty and sometimes earlier, still in my pajamas and a wrapper, to take look around before breakfast.”

This is just what I do too when I take my camera to capture a #goodmorninggarden moment each day and share on Instagram and Facebook.

from last year’s garden

These days I’m looking longingly out the window, waiting for the snow to melt and for things to start sprouting and I’m not the only one.

Kittens…

Windows will always be a favourite spot for kittens. Our three seem to rotate between three favourites: the front window that looks onto the street, where I imagine they watch with amusement all of the people heading to work while they enjoy their life of luxury, the kitchen window, where they often perch with tails swishing, watching squirrels and birds flit by and elude them, and then the studio window, where they sometimes peer out at the sky, Shibumi, in particular, pawing at it as though the glass will give way and a whole new world will open up to her. I know that feeling too.

Thinking About…

And the other day I came across this, which has me thinking.

“In their book Art and Fear David Bayles and Ted Orland tell the story of a ceramics teacher who announced on the opening day of class that he was dividing the students into two groups. Half were told that they would be graded on quantity. On the final day of the term, the teacher said he would come to class with some scales and weigh the pots they had made. They would get an ‘A’ for 50 lbs of pots, a ‘B’ for 40 lbs, and so on. The other half would be graded on quality. They just had to bring along their one, perfect pot.

The results were emphatic: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group graded for quantity. As Bayles and Orland put it: ‘It seems that while the ‘quantity’ group was busily churning out piles of work—and learning from their mistakes—the ‘quality’ group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.” Matthew Syed from Black Box Thinking

Does this resonate with your own experience? I’d certainly say that the last two years of having a regular art day has made all the difference for me, not only in developing my skills and confidence but also in loosening me up for learning. The more I make, the more I’m willing to experiment.

Prompts for Your Studio

• What practices will or do support your creative life? How might you start them, return to them or celebrate them?
• Move your body.
• Go anyway.
• Step outside your comfort zone.
• Take time to read.
• Take a moment to just look out your window and breathe.
• Experiment with quality over quantity. Notice the impact.

Getting back to Art Day with my sister Shannon this weekend gave me that wonderful feeling of things finally settling down just a bit. It’s amazing how grounding it is to be back to your normal routine! Though, actually, that’s a bit ironic for this Art Day because we worked on our next Y is for Yellow class by Carla Sonheim, which invited us to really get out of our comfort zone and try things we don’t usually do.  For me that meant abstracts (okay, I did paint a fish) and working with a more neutral palette. It cracks me up that I ended up using a lot of green, which Shannon tends to use, and she had a fair bit of pinks and blues on her palette, which I tend to use. I guess that means we followed the rules!

There were times in this exercise that I felt completely in the weeds. I had no idea where to start or how to develop an abstract painting. I still don’t! But the wonderful thing was I didn’t panic. I didn’t get mad or even particularly frustrated. I just kept painting. In the moment there were two things that helped me keep going and eventually finish with paintings I quite like.

The first was Carla’s instruction to keep going until you liked it. I really committed to that and I trusted (mostly) that eventually that would happen.

The second was that after I had been painting for some time and was still not liking the results, I got curious. What was I doing or not doing? One thing I noticed was that I was being very protective of the two little bits I did like on the painting. Every choice that I was making was to protect those bits but nothing else was working. It was only when I decided to let them go and trust that I’d find something else to like that I did!

I love doing collage work too and have been wanting to do more of it. This weekend I gave myself a little bit of time to start developing a piece. I really enjoyed just pulling together this and that and seeing where they led me – clearly to gentler skies!

I think Escher was on the same page! (I love that on Facebook Michaela called him a Purrito!)

Today in addition to working with my brilliant clients, I popped out to put more Give a Girl a Journal packages in the mail. Girls in Ontario and across the US (Florida, Arizona, Texas, New Jersey and North Carolina) as well as girls in Germany, Australia and India will be getting journals soon! Feeling inspired, I took the scenic route back and I’m glad I did. Check out the robots I saw on the way home.

Now that’s a sentence you don’t hear every day!

Prompts for Your Studio…

• What routines help you feel grounded?
• Book an Art Day for yourself. I know “Art Day” sounds really ambitious but we spend about 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon creating. What time can you give yourself?
• Get outside your comfort zone by experimenting with the opposite of what you normally do. This can apply in life too, not just in art. If you always dress in neutrals, try something bright. If you always make the most efficient choice, try the most leisurely. Where can trying the opposite stretch you?
• Is there anywhere that holding onto what you like is actually holding you back?
• Where might you find some gentler skies?
• Be a part of the circle of magic that is Give a Girl a Journal.
• What did you see on the way home today?

It seems like every day in the studio there simply must be a kitten story and today is no different. In fact, I have a breakthrough moment to share. Last night, for the first time ever, Escher dropped a ball at my feet. Half offering, half invitation, it was all amazing, a big social step from our most reticent rescue. You’ve come a long way, Escherpants!

This morning I settled into writing and had a wonderful time digging into some thoughts about our creative lives and how they develop. I was noodling how our creative expression can be a kind of manifestation lab for our life. Whatever we want to bring more of into our life, we can start experimenting with in our art. Wanting more courage in your day to day? Start with being more courageous in your art! Want more spontaneity? More focus? More fun? How can you allow that energy to permeate your creative work no matter what your medium is?

If you’re on Facebook with me, you’ll know I was also getting curious about why it is we never judge our creative efforts to be enough. “I studied dance but only at the local community centre.” “I’ve never really done art, except for summer painting classes.” “I draw but it’s not any good.” Do you find yourself diminishing your creative experience this way? What would it take for you to consider your efforts enough?

Let me follow that up with the fact that I have signed up for a class I feel wholly unprepared for: Summer Pierre’s Writing & Drawing Comics E-Course! Ever since the kittens came into our lives I’ve been drawn to the idea of creating a comic.

Though I feel tentative about my drawing, I find myself wanting to capture all of the wonderful moments they give us. I find myself filling my fauxbonichi with moments like this.

My hip is feeling much better today. Thank you, everyone, for the well wishes! I’m still moving slowly and being gentle with myself. Readying more packages for Give a Girl a Journal seemed the perfect way to spend the afternoon. As I read the little notes that people often leave when nominating a girl to receive a journal I was blown away by all of the love. It is life-affirming to witness a tribe of women looking out for girls with such love and care and deep belief in all that is possible for them. May every girl experience such love and care and belief.

As I wrote, immersed in this circle of love, a song came on that always stops me in my tracks. I’ll close today’s diary by sharing it with you: Lament for Phaedra by John Tavener, performed by cellist Maya Beiser.

Prompts for Your Studio…

• Inspired by Escher, where might you expand your comfort zone and come out of your shell?
• What do you want more of in your life? How can you experiment with that in your creative expression?
• What will it take for you to consider what you create to be enough?
• Capture a moment of your day in a drawing (even if you don’t think you can draw) (especially if you don’t think you can draw!)
• Look out for someone today.
• Nominate a girl or sponsor a journal at Give a Girl a Journal.
• What’s a song that stops you in your tracks?

 

 

Over the past while, I’ve found myself not moving as much as I normally do. I’ve been stretching and strengthening my creativity more than my body and now it is time for a change. To  kick-start my return to moving and grooving, I thought I could use some structure and support so off I went yesterday on an exploratory mission to a local fitness spot.

The experience was great and as I recounted to the director how I’ve been tending (and not tending) my well-being, I knew this was just the right move. She gave me some simple tips for making a good start, from having a protein and a produce at every meal to getting up from my computer every 2 hours to do some simple but effective hip and lower back movement. Perfect.

As I walked home, I was planning a new structure to my day, imagining early morning workouts and then time in the studio for writing. I was feeling encouraged and motivated, ready to make a fresh start right away, when I slipped on a thin covering of snow on the sidewalk. For a moment I caught myself and almost stayed up. Then I lost control again;my feet slipped from beneath me and I landed hard on my hip, a hip with deep memories of old dance injuries and pain.

Ouch.

After that, tending myself looked very different yesterday. I lay down gently and rested, rested, rested, allowing everything in the studio to wait. I get pretty grumpy when I can’t get to it but I had to giggle when my friend Bridget responded to my plight with “My body also tries to injure itself when I mention the gym!”

Today I’m creaky but my hip is improving. I thought it wise to have another gentle day in the studio but managed to get a few things done, like cuddling with the kittens.

One of the best new routines in the studio is morning cuddles with Scout. As soon as I get my coffee, he bounds in before me and jumps on my chair, waiting to crawl into my lap for cuddles. It’s amazing to remember that just 8 months ago he was so skittish we couldn’t get close to him at all. I think he’ll always be high-strung, our Scout, but he’s also a total lovebug.

It was exciting to spend some of the day packaging up journals to send to girls around the world. Today I prepped parcels for girls in Florida, Minnesota, Virginia, Ontario plus India and Australia! There’s nothing like sitting down with a cup of tea and a dream come true!

My husband, Justin, also has major changes occurring in his work life and today was a pivotal day. That made it the just-right day for cookies. Thank you to my sister Shannon who just happened to leave a package of Pillsbury chocolate-oatmeal cookie dough in our fridge!

Cookies, journals, change and cuddles: all in all a pretty good day.

Today’s Prompts for Your Studio…

• What is your body hungering for? How can you give it more of what it needs?
• If you sit a ton at the computer, set your timer and ever 2 hours get up and move.
• Cuddle with kittens, if you can. Puppies are good too. (PS “Kittens” and “Puppies” can be terms of endearment for your grown-up furry friends!)
• Participate in Give a Girl a Journal
• Bake cookies.
• Take or make a picture that shows today’s weather.