Simply..tempting....

8/8/2018

..to stop at this point.

The studio feels like a nice place to be again, I know where everything is. it's clean and organised and I'm a bit tired!

But...i know I haven't done the real work. The work that will move me on.

I am pausing to celebrate the happy things I've found, the good memories I have unearthed.

Every sale a little thrill and a little pang goodbye.

A lot of solo shows and some great supportive and enthusiastic gallery owners.

Photocopy of a very early flower painting bought by the framer before he even framed it.

I took four more collages to a local gallery yesterday as they had sold the previous four.

So back to it Freda!

Here are some of the inspirational quotes that keep me going.....

Outer order contributes to inner calm. Gretchen Rubin. I believe she is writing a book with this title.

The following are from Marie Kondo -

When you tidy you get your affairs and past in order too

Tidying is conversing with myself through the medium of my possessions

The whole point in both discarding and in keeping things is to be happy

when your room is clean and uncluttered you have no choice but to examine your inner state

clean up your psychological space

the moment you start you reset your life

the true goal is to establish what you want

Do any of these motivate you? Or do you have any to add that might motivate me?

16 Comments

Viv link

8/8/2018 02:50:07 am

I am so pleased you feel able to make a start again on your painting - your painting is the first thing I see in the morning and it reminds me of you and Barry and our trip up to Dunoon and your garden. You have undoubtedly made a lot of people very happy through your paintings - it is such a special gift.
Now you have your studio tidy - I hope we might visit again in September!
As to the quotes I always feel in a muddle in my head if my outside world is also in a muddle.

Freda

9/8/2018 01:19:06 am

I look forward to seeing you!

Mary

8/8/2018 03:08:02 am

With a room as full of rich content and memories as the studio, it would seem a slow, meditative clearing process is entirely appropriate.

Freda

9/8/2018 01:21:31 am

I get impatient with myself when I go slow! But it does seem the right way at this juncture.

Susan

8/8/2018 04:12:49 am

Oh Freda, you have done and achieved so much ! - creating many paintings, exhibiting solo & with others, releasing your artwork into others' lives!

The quote 'no choice but to examine your inner state' speaks to me: all the acquiring that we (and I mean, I) do, maybe to avoid sitting face to face with our real selves.

Freda

9/8/2018 01:24:50 am

I do get wonderful feedback from people who have bought my work and think of the paintings all out there = sparking joy perhaps! And the studio was the place I felt most myself...thanks Susan.

cath

8/8/2018 08:19:26 am

I think you are being a bit harsh on yourself with: 'I know I haven't done the real work'. I also think you maybe underestimate the 'moving on' you have already achieved by the work done in your studio.
To me cleaning and organising is very important preparation. It requires to hold things, which were part of indistinct stuff before, in your hands and sense them coming to life (or not), becoming distinctive. It is part of a memory evoking/building process that enables you to let go of things if necessary and move on as you say.

I've often found when sitting and enjoying work well done, that parts of my house, after cleaning and organising, still held what I call 'islands of unrest'. Those were the parts were cleaning and organising changed into clearing and letting go.

It is not so much a quote that inspires me but an image. A house I long ago visited. Albeit my house is very different it is the quality of stillness I found there to be my motivation again and again.

cath

8/8/2018 08:23:00 am

forgot an 'h' : those were the parts where...etc. Sigh..

Freda

9/8/2018 06:51:43 am

:-)

Freda

9/8/2018 06:51:08 am

Thank you so much Cath - there is a lot to think about here. Patience with my progress is something I will try to cultivate....

Gail

8/8/2018 08:52:40 am

The Kondo quot about conversing with oneself really hit home with me. Thus, with your inspiration, I’m conversing with my craft supplies today

Freda

9/8/2018 06:54:05 am

I hope it is an interesting and memorable and good conversation Gail!.

Lotta

8/8/2018 01:33:16 pm

When I saw your red dots I remembered the thrill of my first one! A photograph in an exhibition many years ago... I bet you remember your first too... :-)
I think it's good to take a break if you're feeling tired. Maybe your body needs to catch up and reconfigure a bit too... I don't think external change only affects our state of mind, everything is connected and our physical selves need a moment to adjust as well. And then you will have the energy and motivation for phase two, which may not make so much visual difference, but wow it will FEEL amazing... When I've got a newly empty drawer or have released all that old stagnant energy of stuff I no longer need I can feel the difference as I walk into the house - that wonderful aliveness in the space... buzzing with potential. Remembering that feeling is what motivates me. Keep going... gently...

Freda

9/8/2018 07:12:00 am

At the moment it feels like endless plodding! Oh dear. I look forward to the feelings you describe Lotta!!

Damsonlily

10/8/2018 01:20:28 pm

Whilst getting everything packed for the house move, I felt a sense of being ‘ready’ to let go of some things I had held onto for a long time. I work with textiles (I am able to indulge in this in retirement, so it is not paid work, as yet) and I realised that I was keeping things just because I had made them. I didn’t particularly like them any more and a lot of them now looked amateurish to me. I suppose they represented the journey I had taken and it was that past I was clinging to, the known and comfortable, in the face of major change.

However, with a much smaller work space ahead of me, I knew I would have to part with things and, surprisingly, having this reason to do so made it easy and pretty painless.

I mentioned this to my son, who tends to have an affinity with what I call ‘smart thinking’ and he commented that there is a lot of misery in the world caused by people’s inability to make a decision. He (perhaps surprisingly) has read Marie Kondo too and thought she had it right.
He felt that moving out the old work would clear both mind and space for the new.

While I agree very much with Cath’s comment about time to get on with the real work; that we all need to be kind to ourselves in this situation, I think feel is also a sense that the moment may be now and I need to grasp it.

I am still in limbo (being in a rental house for a few months) but I have a sense now of wanting to tackle my work-related demons, step up, be more professional in my approach and identifing my goals.

Freda

10/8/2018 02:27:36 pm

You sound as if you are in a very positive place Damsonlily, confidently making good decisions. Keep sharing - you are inspiring some of us to keep going!

Simply..tempting....

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