Balancing Time Spent

http://youtu.be/aYnlpaWWH4E

I simply cannot get enough of Levni Yilmaz's Tales of Mere Existence today!  My facebook friend, Cathrine, posted one today and then I was hooked.  Thank you, Cathrine!

Though, I must confess, I have probably spent too much time viewing the films on his youtube channel.  My goal of cleaning the apartment today is quickly losing time, but at least I am finding myself motivated to do more of my artwork.

Of course, I'm telling myself that I have to accomplish some cleaning first before indulging in some art time.  Will there be enough hours in the day today?

So many days are planned like this.  I feel as though I need to earn the right to spend some time creating and I think that's faulty thinking.  I plan the day with all of the stuff that I don't want to do, but need to do first, and only after all of that is accomplished can I be rewarded with what I really want to do.  This is most of the time a lose-lose scenario for motivation.  If I do happen to do all of my household chores, by the time I get to have fun I lose all motivation for it.  I'm too tired and would rather just read or watch tv.  Then I feel a type of anxiety that I wasted the day because I didn't create anything.

Adversely, sometimes I make these grandiose lists and they just sit there, as do I.  I think of things to do instead of doing anything on the list.  I'll spend too much time on the computer, or looking up cleaning/interior design shows to inspire me, or playing with our cats, or exercising or a combination of all of these plus more, and then get nothing else accomplished for the day.  Nothing on the list gets done, and again, my artistic motivation is not acted upon, ending in anxiety that I wasted the day.

This is how I functioned for several days out of the past year.  I either did what I needed to do and was left with little motivation/energy for the end of the day to enjoy creating, or it was spent without making the day count for much of anything.  This year has not been too bad so far, but I'm scared of this happening again.  Now that I see this pattern, perhaps I can stop this phenomenon through a careful plan of attack.  What plan of attack have you taken that works for you?  How do you balance your time successfully?

Did Picasso do dishes?  When did Rauschenberg do his laundry? 

Optimism, Productivity, and Dickinson

December for K&A Plasticwear's Twelve Project, 2011

Mixed media on paper, 6x12".

This is a recent work...further exploration with media, layers, and drawing.  This Twelve project was a collaborative project that Amanda Knauer Crismore and I did last year.  We took turns every month creating art based upon what the other one did the previous month.  It was like a conversation through artwork, and it was a blast!  This year we've opened it up to other artists and it's going to be so interesting to see the work throughout the year.  Since Amanda started the 2011 year, I'm kicking off the year this time around, and I've been working on it all day.  I decided to take a bit of a break and so here I am - happily writing.

So far this year, I feel really optimistic and productive.  The website is finished on wix now (go to www.wix.com/krystallbooth/art to check it out), complete with a rewritten bio, and all is well.  It felt great to get it all done, and I'm looking forward to adding more works to it as the year progresses.  The motivation for creating work hasn't been a struggle since November when I embarked on this year long experiment.  I would be lying if I said that I wasn't surprised by this.  Usually when I sign myself up for a year long anything, I lose my umpf after a few weeks...my weight-loss/health quest is a great example of this.  Yet this year feels different.  I don't know what it is, but perhaps it is the impending doom factor...?

I don't believe that the world will end at the end of this year in a sense of gloom and doom, but I do hope that perhaps it will be an global awakening of sorts throughout the year.  It feels as though we are going through some kind of philosophical wormhole and when we emerge on the other side, we will be better for having gone through it.  It's a sense of hope that has me thinking this way, especially at this time of year and on this particular day.

Hope

by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Thank you to Mrs. Powers for requiring me to memorize this poem (though of course I messed up when reciting it for the class).  It has stayed with me all of these years.

 

Once Upon A Time On Nova

Dwelling, 2012

Mixed media drawing on paper, 14x20"

Finished!  Details are below.  I hope that your 2012 is off to a good start too!



The Big Snore and An Honest Portrayal

It seems it is time to redo my artist biography.  I started working on it this morning and am going to get it revised fully by tonight - at least that is the goal.  In general, bios are meant to be boring.  They are simply a paragraph form of a resume, and we all know how mindfully invigorating resumes are to read. 

Pure delight.

None the less, biographies do not have to boring according to some of the sources I've read, including the book "I'd Rather Be in the Studio" by Alyson B. Stanfield.  Some of the ways of adding interest seem cheesy though.  For example - "If you do not suffer from indigestion or rapid-oh-my-I-need-a-loo digestion after spicy food, there is a great Mexican restaurant around the corner from Clifford's work at the MOMA," or "If you are not afraid of getting shot or mugged, check out Gallery 3467 in the seedy part of the city which holds a work by Glenda in the main gallery."

Okay, so maybe I exaggerate on the ridiculousness, but it seems that writing a bio can be a fine balancing act.  No one wants to come off as a bore and likewise no one wants to come off as a hokey gimmick either.

To put it simply, the one I have now makes me cringe to place as an introduction for an online audience.  It would be okay for galleries, but even then it would be mediocre at best.  I will be taking a bit of advice from Ms. Stanfield in this endeavor to try it out...maybe not so drastically honest as the following:

"Krystal Booth is an artist that needs more practice and so she is trying different things out constantly.  If you like a work by her, you will be lucky if she creates another one like it.  This works well for people who do not enjoy a work created by her, as she is an artistic charmeleon and may possibly create something they like in the future.

She enjoyed earning her BFA and BA at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne, but regrets not being smart enough to ask the right questions while there, and has had to research ever since.  Krystal was so naive at times that it causes her to cringe at some of her memories.  She rarely missed dollar pint nights at Munchie's on Mondays by the time she was a Junior, and enjoyed her fair share of Scooby Snacks there- fries with old bay seasoning and cucumber dip.  It caused her to be quite "volumptuous" at best.  She also learned that she is not skilled with 3-D Media as her metal-smithing projects always fell apart and her ceramics were unanimously agreed to be of the ugliest designs ever witnessed before and after firing.  Luckily, she was amused by her lack of skill.

She was born in Coldwater, Michigan and grew up in the cozy small town of Angola, Indiana.  She lived in Florida and New York chasing other dreams in order to avoid being an artist - she thought being an artist was only for a select few.  In New York she "grew a pair" (she emphatically hates this saying) and finally decided to go for it by enrolling in college for art back in Fort Wayne.  She now lives in beautiful Portland, Oregon with her fun and wonderful fiance and two cats.  She dreams of having a funding sponsor for her art someday and feels this sponsorship has been well-earned with Maruchan Instant Lunch and/or Nissin Cup of Noodles."

Done!

"Only If For A Night" 2011

Mixed media on paper inspired by the Florence + the Machine

This is now entered into the contest for Talenthouse.com - hooray!  Finished a week early!