Foundational Practices

I have to keep relearning things in the studio. I don’t know how it works for you but I do some things that are foundational practices and then at some point, I just…I dunno forget to do them? and then I’m floundering around wondering why things aren’t working for me and I’m a grouch and hate my studio and my work and everything under the sun is awful.

In “The Creative Habit” Twyla Tharp talks about how she starts a new project by getting a box and just putting things in it. Things that might contain the seeds of ideas for the new project but she doesn’t know exactly what it will look like. The box holds all these interesting ideas in it so she has something to scratch at like a chicken looking for grain in the dirt. I’ve talked about my paper bins before. Those paper bins are my idea scratching boxes.

Sometime a year or so ago, I reorganized my bins by color. It seemed like a good idea at the time but they got stagnant in my attempt to keep them in color order. It made me feel like I should keep them that way, which meant I didn’t mess with them like I normally do.

Sorting

This week, my gap year kiddo helped me sort my bins. I went through each one and sorted them by how much energy they gave me. Sometimes disparate things are stuck together in the bin and that generates creative energy for me so I went with that vibe. I cleaned out the main bin that sits on my desk and only put things in it that sparked that creative energy. My kiddo sorted things into scrap piles to sell in my Etsy store. So if you are a paper nerd too, you can check here to see if there’s any left. These paper packs have jazzy names like “Techno Space” and “Vintage Housewife”, which crack me up. That kid is so funny.

This all started earlier in the week with a creative coaching session I had with Elaine from See Change Studio. I’ve been feeling stale for a while and she helped me explore exactly what’s been happening. I started with a mind map of what’s important to me right now with my creative practice. I boiled that down to a few things. As we talked through them, it occured to me that one thing I’ve been pretty regular about over the years is resorting my paper bins to generate new creative energy. It’s a foundational practice for me and not an add on. I need to do it periodically. I had forgotten that truth over the past year.

Things to remember

I wrote in my studio notebook “things to remember” and I highlighted it:

• My space gets stale. Sorting isn’t outside the scope of work, it is the work.
• It’s ok to focus on making small things because they make it into larger things.
• I get to make what I want because
• I make the rules.

I feel like I maybe need these things tattooed on my body somewhere? Maybe then I wouldn’t forget.

The writing I’ve been doing this week in my studio journal and here for the blog feel really important. Again, it’s more energy around my creative practice than I’ve had in months. I’m really looking forward to channeling that into Art Retreat Week in July.

The “shoulds”

I also mind mapped things that are less important or not important to me right now or as I like to call them: The Shoulds. I should be making big work…I should be getting ready for a show…If I’m not doing these things, am I really even an artist? These thoughts zap my energy. They make me feel like crap and when I feel like crap, I avoid the studio to search for things that don’t tear down my self esteem. It was nice to see the shoulds written down because I can’t build strategies against unspoken things.

In one of the videos from the Daisy Parris post last week they say:

I write on my phone, then I write it on paper, then I write it on canvas, then I cut it out. The more I spend time with it, the more I believe it.

These words work just like a tuning fork on me. I don’t know what I think until I write it down. It’s one of my foundational practices too. Even writing down the negative stuff, maybe especially writing down the negative stuff.

What didn’t make any list

When I started rereading my studio journal for this post I realized that social media didn’t make any list. Letting it go was so hard but now that it’s gone, I don’t even miss it. I’ve had time to do other things. I also feel like my concentration is better, I think? It’s certainly less fragmented. It seems weird to list the lack of something as part of my practice but doing without checking all of these socials feels like it’s something I could build on.

What are your foundational practices you forget from time to time? I’d love to hear about them! Email me or start a conversation by leaving a comment on this post. If you’d like to keep up with what I’m working on, I’d love to have you as a newsletter subscriber. I include blog posts from here, cool things I find online, and pictures of my dogs. Sign up here.