Friday, February 18, 2011

Art, Intention, and Chaos


            Being a full time artist puts me in the unique position of having no separation between work and the rest of life.  My studio and office are in the house.  My business partner is my husband, and naturally, there is a lot of blurring between the work day, household conversation, and creative playtime.
            I feel a lot of gratitude for the ability to make my profession a creative expression of where I am in life and subjects that are meaningful in the moment.  Our most recent project has been a series of copper pendants centered around animal medicine and sacred symbols.  I love the organic feel of the copper and really enjoy creating jewelry as an outlet for sharing expression of meaningful ideas with people.  There are few things more fun than connecting with a person at an art show who relates to the spirals or shapes in our work and celebrates the sacred symbols in them for her own life.
            I also feel very grateful to be able to work with my husband, Mark.  We both are very compatible in our values and vision for life, so it is fun to collaborate on different projects.  We also both really want to see each other succeed, so the studio definitely feels like a very supportive work environment.
            The down side to our lifestyle is that we are always at work.  Because we have no official schedule, any time that is not set aside for other things usually gets absorbed by jewelry, business, and remodeling.  I miss the days when I got off work and didn’t have any guilt about the things that I think I should be accomplishing.  Because Mark and I are a couple as well as business partners, if one of us is working, the other one has a hard time relaxing because neither one of us wants to be a freeloader.
             One of my goals for 2011 is to become more intentional with how I live and work.  Mark has done a great job of setting up some specific space for work so that we do not have reminders of things that need to be done all over the house, and that has been wonderful.  We are also working with a friend/ mentor who is helping us organize our space time and dreams. 
            Generally, I have found that the most important part of accomplishing any dream is starting to take the time to act on it and then just following up.  Managing time is a lot like healthy eating.  Most people already know how to do it, but the magic happens when it becomes habitual rather than an external thing that we have to think about. 
Right now, I am in the “starting” phase of it.  Hopefully, this will be an intention that becomes ingrained into habit rather than falling off the wagon with all of those other good intentions.  I often limit myself because I fear failure, but making time to stay on top of life, work, and art seems so vital for a sane joyful and productive existence. 
Today, I am resolving to stay strong, calm, and focused on the goal and the milestones on the way.

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