Two weeks gone

A lot has happened since I posted last. The reason for that is this.... I threw my back out last Friday morning and have been stuck in bed way more than I would like this week. But, that aside, I've actually made some good sketches the past couple of weeks and I have also finished a sketchbook. So here are some of the last two weeks high points from my last sketchbook. Enjoy! 

And here is a quick flip through video of my last sketchbook if you want a little look at the whole messy thing:

http://youtu.be/WsSti1RXj-Y

I've started a new Moleskine watercolor sketchbook and have also been doing more drawing and painting on loose sheets in recent weeks. I'll keep you posted on that as there is more to share. Hopefully I will be able to spend more time making art and less time lying on my back in bed this week. Only good thing about lying around in bed was catching up on watching The Night Manager, which is fantastic so far.... Did a little sketching during it too. 

Too much and not enough

Some days, when sleep overnight wasn't what I would have wished for, children waking me up at odd hours in the dark, or a late night of the "just one more chapter" game that all avid readers play sometimes, on those days, I feel like there isn't enough coffee in the world to wake me up. And, anyway, if I drink too much coffee, I'm just jittery but not more awake. It's a problem I face often. 

So, exhaustion is a problem for me, for sure. And it shows up in my art. 

Frequently. 

I usually just push through it. A cup of coffee or strong tea, a bit of self discipline, and another cup of tea or coffee later in the day. I manage to wake myself up enough to get to work on things, to get the kids to school, to make some art, to get dinner on the table. But as I make myself tea in the afternoon I often wonder: how much is too much exhaustion? Too much drained energy? How much is enough sleep each night to not have several days a week of feeling like I am dragging myself through the day? Will I ever get back to that feeling of being able to wake up fully when I get up that I had until my mid twenties and that disappeared when daughter number two came on the scene? Would I make more or better art if I felt awake? Or would I just keep drawing my coffee cups and coffee pots just because they are there to draw? I've been up since 3:30 when daughter number 3, who is 5 years old, woke up and turned on her light and informed us that it was time to get up. A half hour later, after being told firmly that we have to sleep in the middle of the night, she was back to sleep, and I was wide awake and couldn't fall back to sleep myself. Why is it that at 3:30 in the morning I felt so awake that I couldn't sleep, but too tired to actually get up? Why don't I feel wide awake 2 hours later? I'm too tired to answer these questions. That probably means it's time to go make some coffee. 

Friday musings

I recently completed an artistic challenge. I challenged myself to make art in my sketchbook every day for 60 days. I did it as a personal artistic challenge as part of My Peak Challenge. You can find out more about MPC here 

http://www.mpc2016.com/ 

MPC is basically a challenge to get healthier and more physically fit, but also to challenge yourself to break out of your comfort zone in whatever way you feel you need to in order to be your best self. 

During the fall and early winter I had been struggling to figure out how making art fit into my life. How to juggle or balance taking care of my kids, the house, my own personal needs, and make time to make art. So out of this struggle I came up with my 60 day challenge. 

I decided that one of the things that was holding me back was simply the idea that me making art was less important than all the other things that need to be done every day. I could easily put off making art until tomorrow, for instance, but I couldn't easily put off feeding the kids their dinner until tomorrow. The problem with that kind of thinking was that I have been completely miserable when I get stuck in that attitude. So I decided to take the advice of Pablo Picasso, one of my least favorite popular artists, and to remind myself that, while I don't particularly like Picasso's art, I admire his volume of work and his work ethic. So as I picked up my drawing tools and my sketchbook each day I reminded myself of Picasso's words: 

"Inspiration exsists, but it has to find you working." 

In the end that shift from thinking of making art as the thing I could put off to thinking of art as my real work, the only work I have ever really loved, helped me to see a path ahead of me that I actually feel good about instead of just worrying that I would never find the time. 

If you are interested in looking at more of my 60 days project (minus a few that I just didn't feel like showing!) you can find most of the sketchbook pages in my 60 day challenge album at Flickr 

https://flickr.com/photos/7517647@N08/sets/72157666493395382

If you want to follow my art on Facebook, here is a link to my page 

https://m.facebook.com/Nora-Allsup-Gardner-Art-1713339342284252/