How to be Happy as a Struggling Artist and Achieve your Dreams

I am suffering from an artistic slump.  I have a thousand really great ideas, but it seems that when I put pencil to paper, the idea falls very short.  I haven't stopped trying, but I'm not comfortable sharing what I consider to be "failures" or at the very least "failures to launch"!  I actually get the feeling that with a little focus I could tweak these ideas and change them into the light bulbs of inspiration I think they are.  This being the holiday season, however, I am finding it difficult to focus on artwork, so I've decided to commit my energy to reading and learning for the remainder of the year (likely with some sketching on the side - I could never leave it completely).  I find that the important thing to do when I get into a slump is to find some way to keep moving forward - don't lose momentum and fall behind.  Take a different direction for a while and come back when I'm ready :)

On that note, I wanted to write today about a book I finished reading called "The Artist In the Office: How to Creatively Survive and Thrive Seven Days a Week" by Summer Pierre (2010).  The purpose of this book is to help creative types (artists, musicians, photographers, crafty people, etc), who are unable to commit completely to their art full time, find happiness in working a "day job" and still continue to create as their spirits demand.

I felt a strong connection with this book.  Until recently I was working full-time in a job that I was not very satisfied in.  I was working an off-shift, Monday to Friday, with a husband and 2 small children I almost never saw (except for weekends), I was always way too short on sleep so I could see them in the mornings, and I felt like I had no time for my creative endeavours (and felt guilty when I did find the time).  Does this sound familiar to you too?  I know a lot of artists out there are working full time (non-creative) jobs just to pay the bills.  Jobs they feel under-appreciated in.  "Soul sucking" I believe would be the term used.

Having been laid off, I have decided to take this as an opportunity to improve my life.  My previous job paid well, but I wasn't happy in it.  Time to find out what I can do to make changes so that my next job feels like the positive growth experience I want it to be.  That's what I hoped this book would deliver to me.  Tips and tricks to discover what I actually needed to be happy with a "day" job to help support my family and still keep my sanity as I work toward my dream :)

So, what does Ms Pierre suggest to artists everywhere?  LOTS!!  The book is divided into four parts: Why We Work, Your Artist At Work, Doing Your Work, and Ideas For Change.  Now, she is very firm in stating that no matter what you do at work, you must still DO YOUR WORK!  The work you do is the deal you made with the company in exchange for the money they pay you and it's important that you follow through with that commitment.  However, that doesn't mean that there aren't things you can't do to stay true to yourself too.

One of the first ideas that I resonated with was the idea that an artist (no matter your art) is "always at work".  You go to your day job, work your 7-8 hours, then go home and continue working the remainder of the day doing your "art" work and "home" work.  Many creative types (and a lot of the rest of the world too), consider that when they are working on their art that they are in down time.  This can be even more true for those that must use weekends and vacation days to promote, or work on their art.  But it isn't true.  The time spent on your art is still work and the sooner you recognize that, the happier you will be.  Yes it feeds your soul, but it is still work and should not be considered "down time".  On that note, be sure you take real down time occasionally to prevent burn out.

The second idea that I needed to hear from the author was "The Obstacles Are Your Life!".  How many times have you complained that your life hadn't started yet?  Have you ever looked back at your life and regretted that you didn't start sooner?  I know I have.  Comparing myself to other successful (and frequently younger) artists always made me miserable and I frequently wished I had started sooner so that my real life, my dream, could be realized sooner.  Ms Summer argues that there will always be obstacles in your life, even when you realize your dream.  That's what life is, a stream of obstacles.  But some of the obstacles, like learning a skill, improving a skill, discovering an easier way to do things, are necessary and should be acknowledged!  However, if you want to make a living doing your art you are going to have to take action on what you've learned too.  For me, that's the act of actually making art :P  I love doing it, but I'm sometimes nervous that I don't know enough to do it justice which leads me to more research and less art.

With these 2 ideas in mind, what can be done to feel less like I am in a soul-sucking rutt, depriving myself of being myself and working towards my goal of making a living off my art?  Well, according to the author, there are many things to work with and I'm going to list some of them for you (this is only a few of the ideas she offers).

Keep your creative self at the office, as well as at home:

- find ways to keep a positive attitude: limit gossiping and complaining about work (negativity sucks the soul out of creativity)

- appreciate your job by making a list of things it provides for you (being as specific as possible in the details)

- find ways to make the commute more enjoyable (listen to books on tape, do guerrilla artwork with chalk on the sidewalk, walk some part of the way, take pictures of the trip, etc)

- take lunchtime adventures (visit a nearby store: books, flowers, gallery, etc, go to the park, write in a journal, etc)

- collect all the squiggles and sketches you make while on the phone and paste them into a sketchbook

Get out of the rutt by actively moving towards your goal at home:

- make a list of things that you could do to work toward your goat that would take 10-15 min (sketch, write, research agents/galleries/etc)

- make a list of what you spend your time on in a day - you will likely find that there are items you could remove as being "time wasters" to help give you the time you need (tv and internet are good first sources to limit)

- join a group - there are groups out there for EVERYTHING!  Some require you to pay a membership fee, others are free community groups, both are beneficial.  Joining a group can help to provide motivation to take steps toward your goal as well as provide support and advice to do so.  A quick google search can help you find something suitable.  I am a member of a group that meets once a month, and a group that is only connected online through a forum.

- write down what your ideal life looks like.  Who are you with?  Where do you live?  What foods do you eat?  What is it you do full time?  What do you do in your down time?

- look at that list and see if there's anything you could change in your life right now to make that dream life more real

- limit worrying as much as possible.  A lot of energy can be spent worrying on something that may never happen.  It doesn't help move you forward unless it's something you can take action on - in which case do so.

- Give yourself space to work (and think) by removing all the items in your home that make you feel shabby or guilty or in some way make you feel down on yourself.  Donate the items to charity or give them to people you know would enjoy them.

I truly recommend this book.  It's full of original drawings and exercises (I barely scratched the surface), and motivational quotes from famous artists and writers.  I am working through the exercises myself and finding ways to re-think my life and what happiness means for me.  I am working to be more active in the groups I have joined, acknowledge the work I have done as much as the work I haven't to achieve my goals, and I'm trimming away the clutter.  Already I feel much better about my life and where it's going, and I feel that I can be in control of my life again :)

Staying organized

(image curtesy of teachersatrisk.com)

I must start this post off with an apology.  I have been neglecting my blog lately and I am sorry.  If it makes it any better, I have felt increasingly guilty about this over the last several days. :(

Why, you may ask, have I been neglecting my responsibility and commitment?  To be honest, I have to blame multiple factors:  the up-coming holiday season, the various projects that I have planned and initiated (nothing to do with art unfortunately) for the holiday season, the upcoming plans I have been arranging for the girls' holidays since they will be home full-time for 2 weeks!  And oh so much more that my brain feels like it might collapse under all the weight of stuff to do (not unlike that desk up there)!!!

I'm sure I'm not alone in this situation.  There must be an entire planet - maybe even this one - of people feeling overwhelmed with their various commitments this time of year.  So I thought I'd try to help out a bit by presenting some of the tools I use to help keep myself in order.  Of course, these tools work best when you actually use them, which I also sometimes neglect to do.  I admit that lately I haven't been using them as much as would help me either.  Gonna see to that.

So...to my list.  Speaking of lists, I LOVE lists!  I find I am most productive when I can write down all the things I want to get done in a day; the big and the small, the easy and the more difficult, the likely and the "I wish".  But my absolute favourite thing about lists is crossing off items when they are complete :)  What I don't like is all the paper I use and the pieces lying around after.  This brings me to my first tool:  Wunderlist

Wunderlist is a free app that you can download to your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Android, Kindle and the Web.  It's a pretty basic app, but also very versatile.  You can pretty much create lists for anything you want to.  Here's a shot of my copy:

 You can see I have multiple lists ranging from things for my house (like Weekend), and Things to Sell, and of course, projects to work on in my Studio.  There are more features that I haven't played with yet, like a timer option so you can set up WHEN you want to get something done or done by.  

When an item has been completed, you just check the box and the item moves from the top to the bottom and is "greyed" out.  What's neat about this is for things like my Weekend list, where some items are the same every week, like groceries or laundry.  So the next weekend, I unclick the repeat items to return them to the top area and voila!  I'm ready with my list quick and easy!

Speaking of timing and getting things done "on time", my second tool is the good old calendar
function that comes with my OS - either Outlook for PC, or Calendar for Mac (or if you're online a lot, Google has one too).  Appointments are obvious things to put in, but other things I have in there are things I want to be reminded to do.

For example, I like to work my brain with Lumosity daily, but I don't always remember to do it.  I type this item into my calendar and tell it to repeat daily and send me a reminder message 15 min before a time I that have set up.

You could also put things in there like dates bills are due, or reminders to shop for birthday presents/cards.  You can assign priorities to the items as well so that you can stay on track for the most important things (my problem with this specific function is that I feel that if I bothered to put it in the calendar - it's important so prioritizing won't help :P).  There's almost no limit to this tool and you can print it up and put it on the fridge if there's a lot of family items on it to help keep the family on track.

My third tool might be a bit less obvious - Pinterest.  Pinterest is like an online version of a bulletin board.  Just like you could pin up notes and ideas on a bulletin board, you can collect website address links (say blog posts for example) and create multiple boards (or you can think of them as folders if you like) to "pin" or save the link for future reference.

I am a creative person and there are probably about a million things that I want to do, or see, or set up.  I'm not really sure how other people use it, but for me it's a great place to put ideas for recipes I want to try, sewing projects and other DIY things I see on the internet that I think are really cool, or even tips I might find on decorating my house or gifts I think would be perfect for so-and-so.

At the moment I have 16 boards with 617 pins.  That's a lot of ideas that I don't have to go searching around for on the internet in one of my frantic moments when I'm looking for something specific I saw, and oh man, what site was that on again?  What search words did I use to get there?  The boards are organized the way that's most useful for me.  I've actually become a bit addicted to pinterest because I love finding something new and adding it to one of my boards to read in more detail later.  Then, if I don't like it, I just delete the pin!

There are oh so many more tools available in today's advanced technological age - and many of them are free!  You can also find apps that are more specific to a particular niche - for example, try googling "Apps for artists" and you will get 186,000,000 hits!  That's a lot of potential help!

I'd love to know what tools/tricks you use to keep yourself on track!