Part 2 OUR CREATIVE HOME Where I am Now....Seriously, I am LOST in the Space!!

Welcome back!

In Part 1 of my series, "OUR CREATIVE HOME", I talked about the process of finding the right spot in ones home to do your creative work, and stake claim to it. For me, the best of my choices was the spare bedroom, which I then moved into, and set up as best I could. So, to continue on from my last post.....flash ahead to now.

I moved into the spare bedroom. I bought 2 tables, a HUMONGOUS storage cabinet called the Scrapbox, and tons of those plastic stacking drawers. GUESS WHAT??? I have stuff all over the floor!!!!!!! I packed all my storage containers to the hilt, and the tables I thought I would be using for work space...lol......are filled with supplies as well. See, I am a multi medium artist. I never considered this when planning out my studio space, my Creative Home. Each medium we work with obviously has all these little "sub" supplies that are also necessary. In other words, my clay work also needs storage for all my molds, tools, pans, oven, coloring agents, etc etc etc. And since I am not willing to give up any of the many things I work with, I just am going to have to find a way, and places, that make it all fit and work for me AND the rest of the family. So... the process went something like this:

First, I sat down with pen and paper, and wrote down all my different art mediums. Clay, jewelry making, Needle Felting, Paper Crafts, Gourds, Painting, Glass/Mosaics, Kiln Pottery and glass fusing, etc.

Second, I decided which are the mediums I work with the most, and thereby, which items NEEDED to be in my actual studio space, and which things HAD to be there. The ScrapBox had to remain, since it is wayyyyy too big to even think of moving. So, all paper craft related items would stay in my studio.

Third, I scoped out my house for any possible storage/work areas. An unused corner, an extra dresser storing unused items, anyplace that can be repurposed will work. I found 3 such areas, one upstairs where my studio is, and 2 downstairs.

The next step began my BIG CLEAN...the actual process...the going thru all my "stuff", reorganizing it into more appropriate storage (plastic shopping bags really do not work well!!), and tossing anything that really was just plain old junk.

Enough of my rambling for this post. In my next entry, I hope to tell you how it all turned out, and summarize all the actual tips, plus throw in a few others to help anyone else out there who finds themselves LOST in their Creative Home.

As always, thanks for reading!!!

Our Creative Home - Segment 1- Finding Your Space

Where we do our creating and expressing of ourselves is almost as important as the creative process itself. It can essentially be a part of the process.

Originally, I was going to just do one long post on this topic. I decided against that, however. I myself am in the process of re-creating my CREATIVE HOME", which I think is going to be a long process for me. So....I decided to make this into a series of posts, each one including a little about my own progress, along with tips and hints I am picking up from the magazines and online research I am actually doing about Artists Studios. In this first segment, I will start with where I started.

My current studio is in a spare bedroom of the house. Like so many of you out there, I had been working off the dining room table back a few years. When I decided I was going to open a shop, it became a mandate for me to have a specific space, someplace I could leave my work when I chose to, and come back to work on it later. At that time I had three places in our home to choose from...the unused den, the unused family room, or the "guest room". I actually chose the smallest of the three, the guest room. I had hopes for the den to become a place for the kids to hang out with their friends, do their homework, etc when they were a bit older (remember, this was in 2004). That would actually have made the best studio space, but kids come first. The den, where my husband wanted me to set up shop, is right off the garage, and one of the 2 main entries into the house. Talk about no privacy!!!!! It is also very dark, despite the 2 windows, is used for a good deal of storage, and houses the 2 litter boxes. To me, that was a no brainer to say no to.

So, the spare room won out. Altho it is the smallest space, it has a large closet, which I had envisioned turning into shelving and a work area. It also is on the main floor, so I could keep an eye on the kids. It has two windows with good light, and a door that I can close off from everyone.

So I guess the first tip in finding ones "Creative Home" is to look around your house, and decide which area makes the most sense for your needs, and stake your claim on it.

That was what I did......then. Next time I will talk about what it all looks like now, 6 years later, and how I have decided to deal with it.

ARTISTS BLOCK

It has been awhile since I have added a new post to my blog, so what better way to get back into the swing of things (if I was ever "in" to begin with ) than to write about what I am currently going through.

For the last two weeks or so, I have been experiencing ARTISTS BLOCK. I have not been able to get any viable work accomplished. I sit in my studio, and my mind is blank. I tried to make some greeting cards, which I would usually consider a more simple task than some of my other creations...again, nothing.

This is something we all experience from time to time. It can be scary for those who are not used to going thru it, wondering if all the creativity has been used up or drained from your body. Some people get so nervous and frustrated that they will put their art away...sometimes for years.

Quite often, we experience the block because of other things going on in our lives. Stress at other jobs, family matters, or issues with our health can all have an effect on our creativity. Before jumping to the conclusion that all artistic abilities have been expired, first take a look at what extraneous things might be interfering. With me...it has been my health.

I made an appointment with my doctor, so I could get my current medical issues resolved. I also did one other thing, which might prove helpful to those experiencing artistic blocks as well.

I took a step back....

I work with almost every medium under the sun. My art studio looks like an artist supply shop, where one can find almost anything related to the world of art. But the one thing that I finally realized, something I had been saying for awhile that I wanted to find the time to do (and is not something I sell in my shop), is my painting. Painting is where I started. It is the first art I ever did, way back when I was a kid...all through school and college. I love to paint.....pictures...landscapes...flowers...on canvas. But I have not painted for quite awhile, since those items I sell in my shop have taken precedence. So that piece of me had been put on the back burner.

So...I took out my paints, and a small canvas. I did not want to get myself too involved in a painting. I just wanted to feel my paint brushes in my hands again.

And you know what????

IT WORKED!!!!!

It felt wonderful. I felt creative, enlightened, and could not wait to get into my studio to work on my painting.

Then I realized I was mentally designing new jewelry pieces, and had some ideas on other items. I don't feel like I am quite as hyped as I usually am, as my health piece is not quite taken care of......but I feel like I can at least get some work accomplished, and enjoy myself a lot more than I have the last few weeks!!!!

So, I would like to offer this advice to those of you experiencing artistic block. Take a look at what is going on in the rest of your life, and see what might be interfering...

And while you are trying to take care of all of that.....take a step back. Back to where you started...to your original passion. And do it.

So...what ways have the rest of you dealt with blocks???? What has worked, and what has not??

ART AS SALVATION- I NEED TO CREATE!

So many of us, especially women, seem to work our full time jobs, constantly wishing we could be home. Maybe not all of us, but I don't know how many times I heard almost all of my female coworkers, over the course of my working life, stating their wish to stay home, or work just part time like so many of our moms did. I was guilty of the same wish. And I have just one thing to say to that now....



!!!!!!!!!BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!!!!!!!!!



It just might come true.



As I think I mentioned somewhere on my blog page, I had to leave my job in 2004 because I become chronically ill. I had not planned on retiring, did not want to retire, and had NO IDEA what retiring was going to mean for me. Sure...the first couple of weeks was great! Like a vacation! Had the house to myself, could do what I wanted.... All the friends I had made through my job had made great plans with me about how we were going to stay in touch....all the lunches, shopping trips, movie excursions. It was going to be fun! And you know what?? None of it happened. Suddenly, I had the time, but no one else did...EVER. They were always too busy. My calls were always sent to voicemail, seldom returned . Some people seemed to just shy away from me because I was now "ill" with something they were not familiar with....maybe they thought they would "catch" it?? Most of these people were work associates who needed to stay on my good side (in their minds), because of my job position. They had to return calls immediately, and many even spent considerable time "kissing up" and whatever, because being on the good side of the state agency was considered very important and conducive to their employers keeping in good standing. And I knew and accepted all this....but still knew that I had some long standing friendships, I thought. But once you retire, that all changes.



So, I had pretty much lost all my friendships and personal connections. But I was also realizing I lost a lot more than that. I no longer knew who I was. I never realized how much my position had become who I was. My job was what I did . It was what I was good at. It was something I had spent years building an excellent reputation on. Now it was gone. And like I mentioned in an earlier post, even my family started treating me a bit differently, especially my husband. I was no longer bringing in the paycheck, so I no longer had a say in things. I felt like I was being treated as though I had no education at all...in other words....like I was just some blubbering idiot. And that was just not going to cut it for me. I needed to do something, if nothing else, than to just fill up all the time I had on my hands.



I dug through all the stuff in the attic, and found my old easel and paints. I decided to make some birdhouses for the yard. They turned out really well! When I had enough for our yard, (and since no job meant no money to Christmas shop) I made one each for my mother and sister. BOY were they a hit. Next thing I knew, my mothers friends and sisters friends both wanted some. My sister suggested I consider selling my birdhouses as a small business.. Altho I considered it for a bit, I also was not sure I would be satisfied painting birdhouses day after day. So.....back to the attic. I dug out all the rest of my old art supplies, and started playing. Then on a trip to the craft store (for the first time in a decade or more), I discovered some new interests. Pretty soon, I was making some other things, mostly out of clay and paper. My sister asked if I would try making some wine glass charms........she has since bought several sets, and so have different people she knows. The gourds were something I just discovered 2 years ago, but found that, for the most part, I am quite good at carving and painting those, if I do say so myself!.



What was that I said....?"good at"?????????



Suddenly, I was GOOD at something again. People were complimenting me, and I was getting a whole different "reputation".....my ART was becoming my new identity. Something that distinquishes me from others, something I can be proud of myself for. Once I decided I was comfortable enough with what and how I was doing, I made a goal for myself.....to open up that shop and make a business, just like my sister had suggested 4 years earlier. So, in November, 2008, I opened up my Etsy shop. I had been selling by word of mouth for a couple of years, but a "Shop" seems like more of an accomplishment, more......well, just MORE. I had a LOT of obstacles to get here (my husband being the largest, and ongoing), and it is definitely slow going, but I did it. And now, I might even be starting to feel a little bit good about myself. There are things I am good at, things I might even do better than other people I know!



As for the issue of "friends", well, I am still working on that. I may not have a lot of people around where I live that I can get together with anymore, but here, on my computer, in my "artist" groups, I have made friends. Good friends. Friends who now call ME on the phone sometimes to chat, who email back and forth with me, and accept me just as me, not because of the position I held or whatever. People who also realize the value of friendships, and know the importance of taking the time to spend time together, even if it is just on the phone.



So...I know this was a long post. But it was important for me to get it all down in writing. This was a major life change for me. It might happen to you someday. The change when you retire is MASSIVE. When it happens under the circumstances it did for me, it is even more difficult. But my art saved me. I think it saved me from going into a deep depression, maybe even from getting more ill more quickly.





THE VALUE OF ART, OF CREATING, IS INVALUABLE.



It soothes the soul, and gives you wings to fly....sometimes when you are most in need of something to help ground you!



Keep creating-

Cathy