Disorientation (detail)
Disorientation seems an apt painting to launch Update #4 on my 1008 Painting Project which finds me:
- Up at midnight when I really want to be/should be sleeping
- Very happy about how day #1 of the How to be a Gorgeous Genius retreat is going (I’m absolutely in awe of the people who trekked down to Mexico to do this with me)
- Stressing out about how to keep up with project updates
- Mentally blocked about the last strategic planner post to be completed
- Wondering how other busy people manage to work and blog (and also sleep)
paintings in progress...
In terms of actual painting progress, January got off to a slow start due to a major injury to my foot on the 1st, (reported in Update #3) which had me lying in bed for two whole days. Which was kind of nice once I stopped cursing. I read magazines, iced my foot, took a lot of Ibuprofin and tried not to think too much.
paintings underway
I took on this project because I needed a creative challenge. Some people who like to run, for example, decide to do marathons as a challenge. Doing 1008 Paintings about the Human Condition is my marathon equivalent.
My boyfriend reminded me of this when I was really cranking in December, to the tune of about 200 paintings in two weeks.
“Remember, you’re doing a marathon. Not a sprint,” he offered, as I gave him my stats. Yeah. Yeah. I thought. It felt so good to be unblocked. I was on a roll and I sort of blew off taking a break. It’s funny the kind of lessons we learn when we take on a challenge. I need to learn about balance. Pacing.
Disorientation
Challenges:
Photographing the individual pieces is something I am not good at and don’t want to do. Well, I might want to take the photos if they were turning out better. The images here are so washed out. It’s hard to see detail. The colors are off. Ick. I’m not a photographer.
Since I want to document as I go, need to get some pointers on shooting better images. But that’s something that is slowing down the process. Don’t want to take time away from working to learn this.
I’m facilitating a retreat all this week, and then on Monday migrating from Puerto Vallarta to Oaxaca, Mexico. I don’t yet have my studio space (or apartment) there yet. There isn’t really a good way to rent a place sight unseen in Oaxaca. So the paintings are all packed up for a couple of weeks. My challenge will be starting up again after an absense of two-three weeks.
Blessings:
My foot is healing nicely. I can walk around again.
I love teaching and am having a blast on this retreat.
Even moving slowly, I managed to get about 150 boards cut and prepped with various stages of layering. So I’ll have a running start (so to speak) when I am set up in Oaxaca.
project tracking—right on my work table
Project tracking is something I’ll be exploring in this project. How do we stay on track with a big goal? How to we start again when we’ve gotten sidelined? What supports constructive action and creating? And what undermines?
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Howdy! I’m Lisa Sonora Beam, author of The Creative Entrepreneur. I teach people how to get unstuck and use their creativity to make a living doing what they love. 
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Hello Lisa,
I really enjoy reading about your process. Thanks so much for sharing. Any way you can scan your images if they’re small enough? I’ve found that to be helpful with my smaller images. Also, shooting under natural light outside in the earlier morning works for me too.
Hi Lisa,
Great update! I really enjoy reading your blog. When you find the answer about managing work, blogging, and then getting a full night sleep, let me know! Personally, I think the key is getting organized and focus, this requires discipline (ugh) and it is a learning process for me. Goals are important too, but to get from A to B baby steps are needed so we can feel that we accomplish something. I will be following your progress. Keep going!
Patricia
P.S.: Love your book, I’m working on it too
Lisa:
My experience is that when I get an injury it means that the pace in which I am moving is entirely too fast. It is the universe’s way of saying “slow down, sweetie…look around…enjoy life”. Hard to do when you have deadlines to meet…I know…and understand. I injured my back [again] last week.
I was reminded today of my fav artist, Frida Kahlo. She became my favorite artist when I saw the painting “The Broken Column”. She is my “mentor” in my Creative Entrepreneur journal. She inspires me to continue to work on my art even when I am in mind-numbing pain.
Years ago – almost similtaneously, a friend gave me an oddly shaped elogated rectangular frame and my daughter gave me a black and white print of Frida Kahlo. I found both today while cleaning clutter in the studio. She now is smirking at me from the wall next to my work-table. I really felt a connection.
The point of all of this is to encourage you to find an image of YOUR mentor and place it on the wall opposite of where you are working. You have set an AWESOME goal.
Donna
@Donna Thanks for sharing your insights about injury. Definitely resonates. I love Frida’s work, too. Right now, my strategic planner is filled with images from painters I admire. I think it’s a good idea to hang some of their photos up in the workspace.
Scanning! Yes! I think that’s going to be the best solution. Just need to pick up a scanner here in Mexico to do the job.