This Artist’s Hobbies

Have you ever wonder what kind of hobbies artists have? What do they do to relax or take their mind off their work? Today I’d like to talk about this artist’s hobbies.

Believe it or not, I had to stop and think about this. Really! Art, writing, blogging, publishing in all it’s forms, and other activities blend seamlessly from one to another. Most of the time, I take a break from one activity by doing one of the other activities. Who needs a hobby when that happens?

So at first blush, I didn’t think I had any hobbies. But after sufficient thought and evaluation, I came up with some. Here they are.

This Artist’s Hobbies

Walking

I have always enjoyed walking. When growing up in central Michigan, I had country roads, fields, woods, and pastures to walk along or through. I enjoyed walking during all the seasons. When I became a serious artist, walking took on new life. I walked with a camera in hand and took photos that might one day become artwork.

I am a city girl now (at least in location), so my husband and I measure our walks by the block instead of the mile. It’s not as pretty most of the time, but I still enjoy walking.

Photography

I have enjoyed photography for decades. My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic X-15, which I bought when I was either a teenager or in my twenties. I have never been without a camera since then, though now the camera is on my phone.

And I still enjoy snapping photographs.

Old Movies

My husband and I are big fans of black-and-white movies, usually murder mysteries. So we spend most evenings watching B-movies in the public domain while enjoying our evening meal. Some of them are pretty silly, but there are a lot of really good ones, too. It’s almost like a treasure hunt.

One of our favorite YouTube channels is Hastings Mystery Theater from Hastings, Michigan. I admit that part of the reason I like it is because it’s from a small Michigan town not much bigger than the little town I grew up in.

But the main attraction is all those B-movies, some of them with big name actors before they got to be big names.

We’ve also discovered the nostalgia of television series from the 70s and 80s. Ellery Queen with Jim Hutton is a big favorite, but so is Nero Wolfe with William Conrad. The Miss Marple (Joan Hickson) and Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) movies are big favorites when we have more than just an hour for viewing. We’re always looking for new old things.

Reading

That leads me to reading.

I enjoy reading mystery novels and have been known to sit up until the wee hours of the morning reading a novel that’s especially gripping.

But I also enjoy the novels of Grace Livingston Hill, Janette Oke and others. (Do you detect a theme? I just like old things!)

Among current authors, one of my favorites is Bruce Hammack. I confess that the reason I like his novels so much is that one of his lead characters is a landscape painter as well as a private investigator. How can you beat that?

Jigsaw Puzzles

I don’t do this as often as I would like because a pile of unassembled puzzle pieces attracts cats like honey draws bees. Most of the time, I put puzzles together as a form of pain management. Also most of the time, that seems to be late in the evening or in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep.

It doesn’t hurt that the cats are also usually sleeping in the middle of the night.

The puzzles I prefer are those old 1,000 or 1,500 piece landscape photos of mountains and water and sometimes rural villages. But I do have some smaller puzzles and a nice collection of Thomas Kinkade puzzles. Believe it or not, putting together an art puzzle is a good way to study the work of the artist.

Writing

You may find this odd, but another way I relax is by writing. I used to write novels and I enjoyed that immensely.

Now I write blog posts like this one, a weekly newsletter, and occasional freelance articles (not to mention the magazine). Yes, those things are part of my workload, but they aren’t drawing, and they are relaxing most of the time.

So when I need a break but I need to keep working, I usually write something.

Country Drives

I think the thing I enjoy most as a relaxation from work is a drive in the country, though. We don’t do that very much anymore because neither the cars nor I am able to endure the day-long jaunts we used to do through the Flint Hills, the Gypsum Hills or even going back home to Michigan (which takes us about 15 hours door-to-door.) The old bones just don’t like sitting that long.

Actually, the sitting isn’t the problem. It’s the getting up and walking around again after that much sitting! Yikes!

That’s a Short List of This Artist’s Hobbies

I guess I have more hobbies that I thought. They just aren’t all regular hobbies.

They are a good way to refresh my spirit and take a break from the more serious work that takes up so much of my time.

This post is part of a series in which readers ask questions about my life as an artist, and I answer them. Most of the posts this month will concern one of these questions. If you have a question you’d like to ask, please ask it. It’s never too late to get your burning questions answered!

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