Procrastination - Starting's really not so bad!

My botanical watercolor of a tulip is all done! I’m very pleased with both how it turned out and also for getting it done. I have so many unfinished drawings in my sketchbooks that part of what I’m doing with my dailies* is to work on some of them and get them finished before starting new drawings on empty pages. I’m hoping that will clear some of the clutter and distraction in my head.

What I found interesting about working on this tulip from a creativity point of view is how long I resisted and procrastinated working on it - 2 years. I was very good at coming up with excuses to avoid it. Many of my reasons had to do with color matching and blending colors. There was a lot of internal whining.

The funny thing was once I started, it was surprisingly simple and straightforward. Once I mixed a color and put it down, I could leave it or change it by adding another layer of color. It was that easy. And if I really messed up by spilling water across the page or big blobs of color got on the picture somehow, I could chose to continue or I could turn the page and draw it again and start over or not. The choices weren’t difficult but my mind before starting did a great job in over-complicating things.

Procrastination is all about fear but if somehow you can take a first step or action, then you have something to react to and make a decision on. It’s no longer the unknown. Progress is made.

What are you procrastinating on? How can you take a step forward with it? What will you do?

(* I am currently taking the online class, The Creative’s Workshop, and they encourage the participants to show up daily with something they’ve been working on. Rough and incomplete is fine. Just show up. I posted in the class for 4 days running with progress on this tulip.)

Creativity and Fear

Day 6/100 of Creating and Showing Up

Today’s daily for The Creative's Workshop brings a page of color mixing. This particular sketchbook (Stillman & Birn Zeta) is primarily full of these kind of color mixes. I took one color of watercolor and mixed it with all the other colors I had, individually, to see what kind of mixes would be made. The left side of the chart is straight from the tube as is the right side with three mixes of the two colors in between.

Above each of the charts is a wet-into-wet combination of the two. That kind of thing which can be a beautiful characteristic of watercolor doesn’t work well on this type of paper. It’s also possible I’ve never quite learned how to do it very well. But I am one page away from finishing this sketchbook and will not continue this series. Sometimes it’s good to know when enough is enough and move on. I will keep on with color charts though!

I wasn’t spending a lot of time thinking about my paints while I did this exercise today. I was considering the concept of fear and what holds me back from creating in other areas of my life. I do want to do more with my art somehow, but I think that exploring how to be more creative with my words and business will help push me to do more with my art too. Showing what I make with my art is safe because it’s easy for me. Putting words together to describe me and what I have to offer is really my creative challenge. Playing with words is what I will try for in my future dailies. I’ll do a picture too just because I like the visuals.

What does being creative mean to you? Do you follow your creative urge or does something hold you back? How do think you'd feel if you went through with it anyway?

100 Days of Creating! Ready, Set, Go!

I signed up for Seth Godin’s The Creative’s Workshop yesterday. I am both excited and wondering what exactly I have gotten myself in for.

“This is a workshop for writers, painters, playwrights, sculptors, musicians, stand up comics, designers, coaches and anyone else who has a craft and a point of view. It’s for people who have a job doing this work for an organization, or for indies who want to do it on their own.

“In this workshop, you’ll learn to find your voice, to do work that a professional can stand behind, to make a living while making a difference.” Seth Godin on The Creative’s Workshop

The students are creatives from all walks of life, from all over the world. I’ve just been on the class site for over 24 hours and already the range of topics is astounding! In addition to responding to fellow classmates and what inspires you from their stories and comments, the course encourages you to do the Dailies and the Prompts.

Dailies are everyday posts about what you’ve been creating and working on. They can be rough, they can be incomplete, but the challenge is to show up and do them daily for 100 days. More if you want to. The Prompts get sent out three times a week. Since those are external, it can be a challenge to respond, but new ideas can be generated form getting out of your comfort zone.

I signed up because I want to push myself creatively to see what I can do next and because I wanted to meet creatives across disciplines, see what holds them back, what inspires them and what do they do in this workshop. The last day to sign up is February 18th. Join in on the challenge to take your creativity to new places!

My first Daily for the Creative’s Workshop Day 1/100. Chocolate Wrappers, ink and watercolor in my sketchbook.

Travel Journaling in Ink and Watercolor

I like to travel journal after I get home from a trip using my photos and odds and ends that I bring back. This is from a trip to Porto, Portugal. The seagulls are happy to dive bomb unsuspecting diners to snatch treats away. Do watch out!

I use ink and watercolor in Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbooks. I choose pictures from a day that have the most meaning and significance to me and then edit and put them into an arrangement that seems pleasing. I make a rough sketch of the elements on scratch paper. Once I like how it looks, then I start drawing in my sketchbook. I use pencil first, then ink - often with a fountain pen but sometimes with a fine liner but always with permanent waterproof ink, and then I watercolor. I try to leave white space for a title and notes.

If you are interested in learning more of this process to create your own ink and watercolor travel journal from your own photos, check out my workshops to see when the next one will be offered. At the time of this post, my next Travel Journal 6-week workshop will be on Wednesday evenings, 6:15 - 8:45 pm, at Cloud 9 Art School in Bothell, WA.

Porto Travel Journal Page

This is an example of one of my travel journal pages that I do in ink and watercolor. Look at my Workshops page to see when my next Create an Ink and Travel Journal workshop will be held.

Porto Travel Journal Page

This is an example of one of my travel journal pages that I do in ink and watercolor. Look at my Workshops page to see when my next Create an Ink and Travel Journal workshop will be held.

Porto Travel Journal Page

This is an example of one of my travel journal pages that I do in ink and watercolor. Look at my Workshops page to see when my next Create an Ink and Travel Journal workshop will be held.

My February Art & Creativity Newsletter is available

My February Art & Creativity Newsletter is available. There's news of what's been happening and what's coming up including upcoming classes, a conference, and art walks. - https://mailchi.mp/686015fc768b/anya-toomre-studios-february-art-creativity-newsletter

Some of my sketchbooks that were on display at the Kirkland Library in January.

My Gelato Jar: A Creative Solution to My To-Do List

Are you a person who has a lot of creative interests and projects? Do you have a variety of non-critical short-term and long-term projects you want to work on? I do. I love exploring new ideas and topics as well as having long-term interests with no real definable end, like gardening and genealogy. I like having a variety of projects going on at any one time so I can work on a complicated piece one day and have something fairly simple to work on when I only have ten minutes the next. I also like to eventually finish most of what I start. The question is how to keep track of all these projects and keep them all moving forward? What do you do?

My solution is an empty gelato jar and slips of paper. I write my to-dos and projects onto these bits of paper, fold up them up and put them into my jar. Every morning the fun then begins. I pull out up to six pieces of paper and those random drawings become the extra projects that I can focus on that day. I like the randomness but also like the specific to-dos spelled out for me. Every day is different. Every day there is progress.

Why six slips and not two or seven? I have found that six is the most I can do on a good day. Typically, I’ll get three or four done. I like having the choice of deciding what will be my top three for the day and I’ll do more if I can. I also like having the freedom to put off a project if I want to. Your mileage may vary.

I don’t have to do a lot on any particular to-do but I do feel I need to do something tangible before I can put it away. When I’m done, after I date and refold it, I then have two choices with the slip of paper. If it’s something I’d like to work on more frequently, I put it back in my gelato jar. Otherwise I put it in a holding tin with other recently worked-on slips of paper. When the gelato jar is empty, I put all the folded slips from the tin back into the jar and start the process over to select again from all possibilities.

Occasionally I do actually finish a project and it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to throw away that small slip of paper!

Why do I date my slips? Besides it showing that I’m slightly obsessive about keeping notes, writing down the date I worked on a project gives me accountability and shows my progress.

I currently have 49 projects rotating through my gelato jar. I could have more but I’m going to work on these for a while. I’m really pleased with this strategy. I’ve been using it for 4-5 months. It’s fun because every day is a surprise.  I enjoy the excitement of pulling items out of the jar wondering, “What will it be?” It’s a good way for keeping me accountable to myself. It also helps me avoid procrastinating. Every item I’ve written down is something I’ve chosen to have as a project. That piece of paper is a reminder for me to work on that thing. I don’t get to put it away until I’ve done something to move my project forward.

This is my strategy for working on my to-dos, projects and interests. How do you keep track of yours? Let me know how this works for you. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Any type of wide mouth container would work to hold slips of paper, but having an excuse to eat gelato first is rather nice too!

Open Studio Time Starts at Cloud 9 Art School

Monday was my first Open Studio night hosted at Cloud 9 Art School in Bothell, WA. There was a lovely variety of work going on: maps, travel journaling, Life of Pi animals and quilting. Please come by if you want some creative company or input on to what to do next on your projects. Open Studio hours will be Monday nights 6:00-8:30pm. Drop in as fits your schedule. Click here for more information or feel free to contact me. Welcome!