The Artful Art of Making Art

You'll have noticed work output from me has dropped off a bit recently. I found myself having a bit of an internal dialogue with myself about it, and thought it might make an interesting blog post. Well possibly!

The combination of a month long illness running into some of the busiest weeks of my kids school year has combined to shut out art almost entirely. Much of this is the same balancing act that mums everywhere juggle - family life v work v self v other pressures and responsibilities - but having previously been involved in other enterprises and various charity work since becoming a mum, being an artist seems to be the trickiest for me to juggle (which is in contrast to the fact I find it the most rewarding thing I've ever done).

The trouble is with art is that like many things it's hard to turn it on and off. This does sound like a bit of a cop out, I know (and there's much to be said of being disciplined in the way you work and the way you gather inspiration, but beyond that...), but in order to create in a real and meaningful way I find you have to keep in a constant loop of...

... as soon as life gets in the way and breaks your (at least partial) focus on creating you've kind of hit a blank wall!

Restarting the process, I find, can be a little bit like push starting a car - you have to give it some considerable shoulder-shoves in order to build up some momentum before it starts to 'roll' and help you through the pushing process a bit (to get back to the 'almost drives itself' cycle).

In these 'still' moments it's very tempting just to say 'OK, let it go, give it up', and stick to the things that are more pressing - the school run, the housework, the garden, keeping up with friends and the rest of everyday life.

So I find myself in one of those lulls pondering that same old question - are the shoulder shoves worth it? And what's next if I do? Where am I headed and what's on the horizon.

Big stuff!