Passing time looking through the branches

Every fall my son has soccer practice at one of the local schools and I always find myself sitting under the same walnut tree, looking through the same branches. And every game day I would take a photo of the branches and post it on Instagram. It was always the exact same shot. I remember the third year I realized that I was sitting under the same tree yet again, it was a strange realization of time passing. How is it that daily life seems to pass so slowly, but then all of a sudden you realize that several years have gone by?

I have been thinking about this in regards to my art life as well. My youngest is now in 1st grade, which in terms of my art life means that for the past year (minus summer break) I have been able to work in my studio with the most concentrated time since my son was born 10 years ago. I had always worked in 2-3 hours bursts with one full weekend day, and working at night or sometimes early morning. I would meet my deadlines but I always felt so scattered and like I was constantly running around, chasing time. A lot of key business practices that I had been so good at keeping organized fell by the wayside. Things like really tight bookkeeping, timely archiving of images and records and inventory, keeping up with numbers and making solid business decisions based on those numbers, etc. etc. All that stuff would get done when I would need the information but my back would be against the wall and it would be stressful.

Lately I have been trying to get back on track. Looking at where I have “failed” and not looking at them as failures, but as lessons to where I should head next and what better decisions I can make and how I can stay organized. (I have a theory that a lot of artists do this around tax time) I need the quiet time and the focus to make my art, but in order to make my art, I need to stay on top of the paperwork and the business side of things so that I can keep making my art. I have been reading a lot of business books for creative types lately- all stuff I know already as I’ve been at this for a long time now. Ten years and my youngest at school for a full day now, I’m finally getting enough head space to really look at everything again, figure stuff out and get myself back on that track. Feeling scattered all the time is energy draining. I need all the energy and focus to keep doing what I want to do in the studio.

“I don’t focus on what I’m up against. I focus on my goals and try to ignore the rest.” – Venus Williams