Never Give Up

As an entrepreneurial spirit, I have always had a drive to work independently and creatively.  Has everything I've tried worked out? Not by a long shot. And there have been several distinct time periods in my life where the crushing blows of failures kept me in a creatively dormant state for long periods of time.  Although there was no particularly difficult or crushing blow in 2016, my creativity was definitely one the wane.  I allowed it to be fallow and dormant.  I got distracted by other things.

Part of this perhaps stems from moving to a new home where my art studio is not insulated. Since Florida stays warm most of the year, the ambient outdoor temperature for example today on January 2 is hovering around 68 and is expected to get to the mid 70s.  This means that my studio will be in the mid 80s.  When the outdoor temperature in the summer was around 90, my studio temperature was in the 110 range. It is very difficult for me to get excited about working in a space that is that warm and knowing I'm going to sweat all over my artwork.

It also can stem from the fact that I have a lot of stuff in my art space--some of it unrelated to art. I need to clean it up, organize better and make room for what I really love to do.  I need to purge the supplies I do not use, need or want anymore.

But I'm not now and never have been a quitter. I may have had to rejuvenate. I may have had to reinvent. I may have had to alter course or change the way I was doing things. I may have had to start completely over. But I never quit. I never give up.

In the past few months or so, my creativity has been tugging at me--I've been drawn to painting again, to doing glass work, to creating more jewelry designs, and to working in my visual art journal.  I was creatively fed in 2016 by teaching art classes, working sporadically in my visual art journals, and doing several custom mosaic pieces for customers. I was creatively fed by practicing medieval illuminations with the Society for Creative Anachronisms.

At one time, I was driven by an interest in getting my work into big galleries, into art magazines, and being known as an artist on a larger scale. Although I certainly would welcome all of these, they no longer are my driving force for doing artwork. Now I want to spend time intimately with each piece that I do. I don't care if it takes me three days or three months to complete a painting so long as I truly know it is finished. I don't have to make dozens of pairs of earrings but I want whatever earrings I do make to be something I would either want to wear or be thrilled to give to a friend.

I am not formally trained as an artist and am mostly self taught. I do not know the "right" art people, I do not live in an especially arty location, and I certainly am a long way from any of the major art cities of the USA or World. I cannot give up my love of creative art just because I'm not going to be a world class artist. I cannot give up my love of creating even though I have no need for more artwork in my home.

My goal for January is to 1) clean up my art studio and research some ways I might be able to insulate it better; 2) work on more medieval arts/illuminations 3)begin a new painting or finish an old one and 4)work on revitalizing my website which I have taken to bare bones over the past 6 months because I was fed up with the web hosting system I was on.  I'm never going to give up on my creativity. I need it too much as it is one of the ways that I get into the "zone."  I love that sense of timelessness. I love connecting with that lightness of being and my truly creative self. I had forgotten my artful self this past year, but I am ready to reawaken.

In what ways have you given up on your artful self that you can rejuvenate, reinvent or reawaken your creativity?

(c) 2017, SZing, Bohemian Art Cafe. All Rights Reserved. Photographs courtesy of Pixabay public domain images.