Making Time for Art

I'm getting ready to leave for ArtFest - tying up loose ends in the e-mail in-box, reviewing my supply lists, packing layers of clothing - and thanking heaven above for some serious artmaking time.

I have a huge studio and no children at home. Artmaking is the thing that keeps me grounded and healthy and happy and spiritually connected. Yes, I'm juggling several part-time jobs (or "gigs" as we largely self-employed types call them), but it doesn't seem like it should be all that difficult for me to set aside artmaking time at home. Especially since several of my gigs actually depend on me being a creative, productive artist. And yet that is exactly what I have been struggling with the past few months. It's felt like all the creative activity I have time or energy for is teaching, putting up a few Twitter posts and reading the occasional article. Of course, one of those articles was by Lesley Riley about, you guessed, making time for art (and of course, I Tweeted about it). It's all about putting artmaking as a priority in your life and acknowledging those little neglected blocks of time that you can dedicate to your art, to your own self, to your sweet journey and the intuitive inner voice.

You can read her article here. And I suggest you do it now. For yourself. While I take a few more millennia to integrate it and actually apply it in my life in a consistent way.

It's good sometimes to read someone else's eloquent description of all the things you already know. It's like a gentle reminder of who you really are. Now, I've got to go finish getting ready for my art jumpstart.