Gussy Link-up: Sunshine

Oops... I just noticed I wrote 2 days. Oh well.

See my post about perfectionism below...

Have a bright, bright sunshiney day... or uh 2 days.

Art Journaling: Everything in moderation...

In Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis talks

about the virtue of temperance.

moderation.

A virtue which I severely lack.

MaryAnn Moss

(I would love to take this class.)

 

I 'm an all or nothing type of girl.

I dwell in superlatives...

Pam Garrison

I'm going to exercise every day for the rest of my life.

I'm not ever going to __________ again.

I'm going to ___________ every day.

For reals this time.

 Teesha Moore

In truth,

I think it's an excuse.

I don't have a full hour, so I won't...

go for a walk around the block

or have that quiet time I know I need

write that friend a letter,

or even blog, for that matter.

Michelle Allen at Michelle my belle

And it spills over into my art.

If I don't have at least an hour, forget it...

What's the point?

Mary at A Splendid Adventure

But the more I read about other artists' art making schedules and practices...

no one with small kids has huge chunks of time and energy. no one.

they all seem to say... I take my time where I can get it.

in little doses here and there and an ocassional long nap time or late night.

Right?

Kathy at Paper Pumpkin

So, that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm going to work on taking little snippets of time here and there

to do whatever it is that needs to be done.

Or that I want to do.

A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk

These are friends and their art journals that have been inspiring me lately.

I've wanted to art journal for so long.

And I've never made time.

So I'm going to try (TRY)

to do a little each day.

 even if it's only 10 minutes. 

whatever.

just something.

I will let you know how it goes...

Alisa Burke

How about you?

How do you find time to do the things you love?!?

Art Studio Makeover Part 1: Time to Purge

I'm making progress on the spring break list.
 I  finally decided to get serious about organizing my studio for productivity,

instead of making it a dumping ground for all things miscellaneous.

Up until now I've just kept adding stuff to the room

where ever there is  had space.

But now that I know I'll be here a while

I'm trying to:

A. Purge.
Anything I haven't used for the last year.
I could write several posts on this.
How tough it is at first,
how good it feels to let go,
and then I wonder why I held
on to it so tight in the first place.
surrender.

B. Organize stuff for efficiency.

Think function first.
Make it pretty later.

C. Make it pretty.
finally. the fun part.
inspiring. creative. beautiful.

Of course I have to fight the urge to do it in the opposite order.
Right now I just need to get rid of the stuff that is getting
in the way of making the art I want to make.

I keep asking myself
Do I love this?
Have I used it in the last 6 months?
Do I need it in order to create the art I want to create?

I can always make it pretty later.
Right now I just need to let go & simplify.

The biggest thing I let go of was this monster day bed.
I was saving it for my little girl.
We're not having a little girl.
Hard to let go.

Then I finally put up some blinds and added a little color to the curtains.
I went out of order. I know. I couldn't help it.

Got rid of piles and piles of stuff.

 Brought in the hutch with the

printer for paper work.

Covered some storage boxes with text.

Fixed the cluttered, falling down shelves.

FIlled in all of the holes I've made in the last 2 years.
I was left with a wall full of spackle.
And, being 7 months pregnant,
I can't breathe the fumes of regular wall paint,
plus I just didn't want to deal with the hassle of it.

So I used my acrylics to paint the wall.
I started with paint brushes
and then switched to paper towels.
Don't worry. I have a plan. I can see it.

Art Studio Makeover Part 2: Function before Form
Organize my work stations to be
functional.
efficient.
simple.

and then make them pretty.