YES - First, I have to say that I am not a professional artist. My main and only revenu is from a job as a janitor in a school district here in New-Brunswick, Canada. During Covid, my interest in art has increased not only in quality but also in quantity. At about the same time, I was diagnosed as being in the autistic spectrum. I had started an introduction course in drawing, following advice from my therapsist. From the first course, I knew that my future was sealed into art making. Since then, learning is at warp speed. I cannot feed my brain enough.
Every morning I wake up, brew a cup of coffee, get into my studio, a 9 x 11 feet room, and immerse myself in my artsy universe for a certain amount of time, undetermined, but enough to give me a satisfying enjoyable time.
2-Continuing to learn
YES - For me, since I was at elementary school, I loved to ‘..take a line for a walk..’. At ten years old, I made my first portrait of a family member. Fifty years later, that family member, my uncle, gave me that drawing I made of him, saying that it belonged to to me, in a way, giving me an encouragement, a motivation for the path I had started. There is not a single day since my ‘come back’ to drawing that I haven’t feed that brain of mine of even a single piece of information about art, whether in books or YouTube videos. It is hard to explain how I really feel about acquiring information about a topic that has become exponancial in the learning diagram. The best explaination I came up with, has to do with Dr. Who. If you are familiar with Dr. Who’s surroundings, you must have a knowledge of the tardis. That blue telephone booth, small looking from the outside but once inside, has the space of a small house. My brain is like the tardis. Small in comparison of the space it can withold. Sometimes I believe that the universe could fit inside. I know, impossible right ? But the comparison is the best one I can give. That continuing insatiable need to learn is real. My Kindle library is a proof of that afirmation. Yes, learning for me is at warp speed and my brain is insatiable.
3- Focussing on a consistant body of work
YES and NO - Yes in a sense that I am aware of what I have to do and no, because my every day obligations are in a parallel universe…
4- Staying present on social media
A big NO. I am sometimes present and comment on the YouTube subscribed channels of mine but otherwise, social media has wounded me too much that I avoid it as plague.
I would like to have more of a disciplined approach to the business process. I think I need an accountability system or someone to handle the social media aspect because I can go on tangents and lose track of time. As far as my painting process goes, I am more spontaneous and I pretty much paint every day. I don’t really want to change much about that because I need to be in a certain zone and it could be 3am or 1pm when I have to paint. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this topic and enjoy your weekend!👍✌️🍁
I thank you for your comment. I don’t know if it would work for you, but I once opened a separate instagram account to hold myself accountable to do a 15 min sketch each day and post. It worked. Maybe you could do something similar. Maybe not. Wishing you the best as you find that accountability TheoSpirit
Thank you Karl for reading and sharing. What a lot you have going on. I’m glad you have art and all the beauty in this space. I too find it an amazing comfort and interesting in such a priceless way. Welcome to the journey.
Thanks. Very handy checklists. They're on the wall.
You are so welcome!
Much needed advice!
Thanks for reading and commenting Andrea!
1- Showing up every day
YES - First, I have to say that I am not a professional artist. My main and only revenu is from a job as a janitor in a school district here in New-Brunswick, Canada. During Covid, my interest in art has increased not only in quality but also in quantity. At about the same time, I was diagnosed as being in the autistic spectrum. I had started an introduction course in drawing, following advice from my therapsist. From the first course, I knew that my future was sealed into art making. Since then, learning is at warp speed. I cannot feed my brain enough.
Every morning I wake up, brew a cup of coffee, get into my studio, a 9 x 11 feet room, and immerse myself in my artsy universe for a certain amount of time, undetermined, but enough to give me a satisfying enjoyable time.
2-Continuing to learn
YES - For me, since I was at elementary school, I loved to ‘..take a line for a walk..’. At ten years old, I made my first portrait of a family member. Fifty years later, that family member, my uncle, gave me that drawing I made of him, saying that it belonged to to me, in a way, giving me an encouragement, a motivation for the path I had started. There is not a single day since my ‘come back’ to drawing that I haven’t feed that brain of mine of even a single piece of information about art, whether in books or YouTube videos. It is hard to explain how I really feel about acquiring information about a topic that has become exponancial in the learning diagram. The best explaination I came up with, has to do with Dr. Who. If you are familiar with Dr. Who’s surroundings, you must have a knowledge of the tardis. That blue telephone booth, small looking from the outside but once inside, has the space of a small house. My brain is like the tardis. Small in comparison of the space it can withold. Sometimes I believe that the universe could fit inside. I know, impossible right ? But the comparison is the best one I can give. That continuing insatiable need to learn is real. My Kindle library is a proof of that afirmation. Yes, learning for me is at warp speed and my brain is insatiable.
3- Focussing on a consistant body of work
YES and NO - Yes in a sense that I am aware of what I have to do and no, because my every day obligations are in a parallel universe…
4- Staying present on social media
A big NO. I am sometimes present and comment on the YouTube subscribed channels of mine but otherwise, social media has wounded me too much that I avoid it as plague.
lol… I know the feeling on #4! Thanks so much for sharing, and welcome to this art journey.
I would like to have more of a disciplined approach to the business process. I think I need an accountability system or someone to handle the social media aspect because I can go on tangents and lose track of time. As far as my painting process goes, I am more spontaneous and I pretty much paint every day. I don’t really want to change much about that because I need to be in a certain zone and it could be 3am or 1pm when I have to paint. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this topic and enjoy your weekend!👍✌️🍁
I thank you for your comment. I don’t know if it would work for you, but I once opened a separate instagram account to hold myself accountable to do a 15 min sketch each day and post. It worked. Maybe you could do something similar. Maybe not. Wishing you the best as you find that accountability TheoSpirit
Thank you Karl for reading and sharing. What a lot you have going on. I’m glad you have art and all the beauty in this space. I too find it an amazing comfort and interesting in such a priceless way. Welcome to the journey.