August

So it’s the beginning of a new month and the year is officially half over.  It seems like time is slipping by faster and faster (My dad said this would happen but as a teenager I wasn’t really paying attention).  The question I ask myself is, have I accomplished half of what I wanted to succeed at this year.  I think it is a good idea to really evaluate your goals and your accomplishments periodically or suffer the fault of wondering where all the time went.

As an artist, I want to be prolific with my work, turning out series work and experimental work using mediums and techniques that are new to me.  I want to say, this year I created this series and explored this style and entered this and that show.  These are hard goals to manage when time slides by just trying to keep up with jobs and family, home and house, bills and the mundane of laundry.  Some days I wish I were independently wealthy so that I could just focus on my creative work and not be distracted by the mundane.  A selfish wish, I know.  The truth is that if I were to win the lottery or something, I would not be so driven to purposely carve out time for my art.  I know myself well enough to know I would get fat and lazy, kicking back on my piles of money.  No, there is a reason I was never to have that kind of plenty.

So I take inventory to be sure I am purposefully and creatively carving out time for my artistic goals.  How about you?  Have you made the time for your creativity today?  This week?  This month?  For me, just one day without a creative challenge is a sad day.  Creative people need to be creative with their time management so there is always at least a little time for the arts.  Before work, after work, after the kids have been put to bed.  Whenever you have a moment to engage in the creative, take it.  You won’t be sorry you did.