Mar.23.2007
3:32 pm
by Libby
The view back
I have written here before about how our two moves disrupted my creative life, but I was made painfully aware of that the other day as I uploaded photos to my new gallery www.libzoid.net/gallery . Ever since I started taking pictures of my work I have tried to include the date in the photo name. It’s a helpful reminder.
As I was sorting through the pictures on my computer I learned a few things. First of all, I have come a long way since I first marbled a couple of colors of Sculpey together. Here’s an example of a necklace I made in January 2002 that I was fantastically proud of:
In contrast, here’s a pin I made in 2006:
Big difference. Looking back over my photos and sorting them out by categories also gave me a nice view of how my style has been evolving. The other thing that this retrospective examination made painfully clear was how my work just stopped after 2004. I made very few things worth photographing in 2005 and only two in 2006. There were plenty of reasons for the sudden break, most of all selling houses (the cleaning for real estate showings nearly killed me, lol), buying houses, packing and unpacking, plus all the details of getting a family of four plus two dogs settled into new houses, new schools, new jobs and new friends. Still, it makes me sad to see the visual evidence of that creative break. I did knit a lot of scarves during that time period, but it’s not the same. (and they aren’t terribly photo-worthy either)
It’s been hard to set my feet back on the path. Lately I am coming to the conclusion that I need to force myself to schedule studio time just like a doctor’s appointment and make myself touch some clay or beads with or without specific inspiration or plans. It’s just so easy to put off. Family life can be so busy. We’re beginning the process of trekking around colleges with my older daughter and both kids need to be ferried places pretty regularly. There’s cleaning and errands and bill paying and whatnot. And the biggest time sink for me is the computer. I can waste a frightening amount of time online, reading my email, reading blogs etc.
I’ll let you know if the scheduling thing works.
Filed in creativity, polymer clay |
Libby, that pin is gorgeous! I absolutely love it. And it is interesting to see how our work does evolve over time. This time away will probably bring some new insights to your work that you are not even conscious of yet. Good luck and be gentle on yourself….and let the house get messy!
The pin is beautiful!
And I completely understand on the scheduling. It’s been one of the most miserably difficult things to understand that if I don’t schedule in the ‘good’ stuff, then both the good stuff and the boring work stuff don’t get done. Creativity can require a surprising amount of time to maintain the habit.