Observations

Gee, I’m kind of impressed with myself.

©2014 Patricia Scarborough   First Hard Freeze 9x12 oil  

It’s been 6 ½ years since I started this blog. Six years and six months, over 300 posts.  Several hair styles, dozens of tubes of pigment, a handful of brushes and at least a million words, some of which even made it to the final posting.

As memory serves, the origins of my writing were begun as a response to an Alyson Stanfield coaching directive: An artist must have a blog. And so I did. How’s that for an inspired beginning?

This weekend a lovely afternoon was spent sifting through the thoughts and fears I’ve shared during my foray into this artist’s life. My ramblings and your kind responses were like leafing through my high school annual. Oh, the way we were!

I find I’m a fair writer, and a middling thinker; not so smart that you can’t follow along, not insipid as to cause you to look away and never come back. You’re reading this after all, aren’t you?

But has it helped me in my studio? After all, that was the point of my leaving the comfort of a steady paycheck. How does sifting ideas from piles of disengaged thoughts make it easier to use paint? What do words collected in cob-webby spaces have to do with images squeezed from paint tubes? Has writing to you made it easier to be me?

Y’know, I think it has.

©2014 Patricia Scarborough  Breaking Skies  30x30 oil

This practice has allowed me to take all of the study, the painting, the exhibiting, reading, practicing, success, failure, triumph and dismal disappointment, one week at a time. It’s been easier – not easy, but easier – to identify the frustrations and ironies and hilarities and loneliness and grand celebrations of a creative life by separating myself from them with a certain detached observation for the benefit of the blog. Reading through them now allows an older, more certain me to reconnect more sweetly with those realities.

Who’d a thunk? I’m not writing for you, I’m writing for me.

To prove I can. To show I don’t have to. For the challenge. For the pleasure. For clarity. To reveal – or to veil - a truth.

To accept that I'm impressed with myself, ever so politely. 

It's a Process

 I thought perhaps you'd like to come along with me as I share my blog writing process with you.
As a blogger with over 4 years of experience I have created several surefire exercises to clear the mind and allow fresh ideas to percolate. 

It is with great pleasure that I share them in hopes that perhaps they'll be of some service to you, Dear Reader.

First, the list. Having a list of potential topics is paramount. I find that staring for long periods of time is quite helpful in the early stages.

If, after an hour or two nothing comes to mind, I often go to my favorite chair, where my stack of favorite books are artfully arranged because there is no room on my bookshelf.  Sharing book reviews is a good place to start. Plus it shows how smart you are.

While this may be helpful for many of you, keep in mind that you'd have to actually read the book and not just look at the pictures.

Surfing the web can jump start the process of writing.  Visiting other blogs, artist's sites, recipe pages, and email from strangers keeps me open to all sorts of ideas.

It is also a good place to find art jokes if you feel the need to spice up the post you haven't written quite yet.

Sometimes a break is in order.  I find organizing something that has bothered me for weeks helps generate new theories. If you own pastels, they are a good place to start.

Not having pastels to organize is not a problem. Pencils, socks, and paper clips also serve this purpose.

Solitude is important for my process. I resist being disturbed by strange sounds coming from other parts of the house. It is easy to become distracted when ideas are just beyond your reach, and it's probably just squirrels anyway.

Since squirrels have been know to cause roof damage sometimes you just have to check on those noises to clear your mind. Having a clear mind is key to coming up with great ideas.

When ideas simply will not come, I often meditate.  Not only is this good for idea hatching, the sobbing sounds keep others away from me, thereby interfering with my process. 

Writing blog posts week after week is exhausting. Staying well rested is vital. Sometimes I actually fall asleep while I'm resting from thinking about writing. This is fine, as it's entirely too difficult to write when I'm tired.

Feel free to post any rituals or suggestions that can offer further elucidation. I'm going for a walk.