Introducing a new “occasional” series: Colored Pencil Ramblings.
Have you ever had a looming deadline? You know you need to do something to meet it, but you have no idea what? That was me with the blog this week.
Monday was totally off limits because I woke with a headache that lasted almost all day. I could do things that required no thinking like dishes and laundry. But more creative things like writing blog posts was next to impossible.
Monday was also our anniversary (the big 2-4!), so we spent the evening riding around the countryside in south central Kansas. I took a few photos like this one, but it was late when we started, so the light was already fading.
Tuesday was better (no headache!), but I still couldn’t seem to come up with a suitable topic for the weekly post.
Then, while walking laps and doing housework, I thought of the Colored Pencil Bits & Pieces I do for the weekly newsletter when I don’t know what else to write about. Immediately, a light bulb came on.
Why not do the same thing on the blog?
So here it is: Colored pencil ramblings.
Colored Pencil Ramblings
Seasons in the Artist’s Life
A friend and fellow artist emailed me this week to talk about the difficulty she was having finding time to make art. She cited the number of things going on in her life that required her attention. Her most creative time was no longer available each day. By the time evening came and she had time for art, she no longer had the energy.
Boy, do I know how she feels!
I don’t know what the answer is for her, for me, or for you if you’re in the same place. The best I can tell you is what we agreed upon between us.
There are times in every artist’s life when creative time is restricted. Family responsibilities, health issues, and other life changes have a way of interrupting what we consider our well-planned and organized lives.
The only thing we can do when those times come is make the best of them. Re-organize priorities for as long as is necessary. Do the important things, the things that Must Be Done.
Then find ways to be creative, even if it means doing something other than artwork. My friend likes to do coloring pages and Lego builds. I do ACEOs, most of which are one- or two-color sketches.
No, we’re not making exhibit-quality art, but we are finding ways to stay creative. That’s the important thing.
Something Other than Colored Pencils
I mentioned that my friend likes Lego builds. She also enjoys Diamond Art.
I tried that once, and it was interesting. But it doesn’t work for me because I have two many helpers (cats). All those little pieces getting scattered all over the house gives me chills! Jigsaw puzzles (which I enjoy) are challenge enough.
One non-art thing that does give me pleasure is keeping plants, like this Golden Pothos (no, this is not one of my plants). Seeing them grow through the winter and thrive outside in the summer is pleasing. It’s even more fun to take cuttings, have them root out in water, and then see them grow when they’re put in good soil.
I’m trying something new this year. I had put a small Peace Lily into water while repotting and thinning a larger plant about a month ago. That was an act of faith on my part, because I honestly didn’t think it would survive. Then I discovered the first root appearing. It now has three or four small roots, but I couldn’t get it to stand up in a jar of water without drowning the leaves.
I’ve been seeing how semi-hydro can benefit some plants, so I washed a cup full of gravel, put it into an 8-ounce plastic cup, added drainage holes, and tucked the Peace Lily into that. The plastic cup is in a decorative ceramic cup, which I fill with water.
So far, so good! The plant is now able to stand up, and it doesn’t seem to be too much shocked by the new set up.
Puzzle Books
One thing I’ve long been a fan of is word search books and crossword puzzles. I don’t do crossword puzzles much anymore because they lean so much on popular culture such as TV, movies, and so on. Popular culture and I are on two entirely different wavelengths. That means crossword puzzles are also no longer among my hobbies.
Word search puzzles, on the other hand, are definitely on my hobby list. I was gifted with a dozen or more word search books over the winter and have been indulging in a big way ever since. I usually do at least one puzzle each evening and sometimes two or more.
You may think this is strange (and maybe it is), but after I find all the words listed for each puzzle, I spend more time circling extra words. Usually they’re three or four letters, but it is interesting to see what I can find.
And I get twice the good out of every puzzle!
You’ll notice the suduko book above. Until now, I’ve never had much use for suduko, but I’m enjoying this one. Who knew?
Colored Pencil Ramblings
If you take anything away from these ramblings, I hope it’s two things.
First, there are times in all of our lives when there isn’t time to dedicate to the kind of art we want to make. The best thing to do is to do what you need to do and find other ways to be creative.
Second, there are a lot of ways to be creative, including gardening, Legos, and puzzle books. Don’t look at those things as distractions. Instead, look at them as ways to recharge your creative batteries.
That concludes my first colored pencil ramblings. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little side trip in my life with (and in addition to) colored pencils.
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