I've been in one of those internal conversational modes where I find my inner critic passing judgment on how much time I spend in the studio each day and how much art I make. Old habits die hard. I always think I should be spending more time at it, trying more, producing more. This is a real hard one to let go of.
On the other hand ~ I've become a voracious reader. I read on average three books a week, about 1000 pages. Last night I realized, holy cow, that's some accomplishment.
At the very end of it all, perhaps the only thing that will matter is whether or not I had a chance to experiment with all the art supplies I purchased. Maybe I will; but maybe I won't. It doesn't matter.
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I bought a new surface design book thinking both "like I need yet one more book on the subject" & "Maybe this will give me all the info I crave in one place." A friend paged through it & commented "Yeah but now look at the supplies you'll have to buy'" To me this is the sad part: I HAVE most of the supplies to try these techniques out and yet they sit unused. I have a great need to do something about that this year. Not necessarily to produce finished work worthy of sharing but just to see how things work, get better at basic design, see what might transfer to my finer work, & maybe make some fun things outside of my usual focus.
Bumping up against this need is, of course, are other loves of mine. Like you, I love to read & spend a good part of my days doing so. It never seems a worthy accomplishment but mere recreation. Yet I know how important it is to feeding my soul & opening my mind. Not a tangible result by most standards but important all the same. You will find the balance for your days that will bring you peace.
If it's any consolation, I bet my yarn stash is bigger than your art supply stash. Not that that's something to be proud of. My critic always says the same thing to me. But I'm getting better at ignoring her and doing what I think needs doing more often.
I could never consider time spent reading anything but time exceptionally well used. Books take you places, teach you things, better your vocabulary. Art and books are my two main pleasures also, and I do whichever I feel like at the time. Books take less effort (usually) but most of the art I do has a deadline, so that keeps me (somewhat) on track.
Art. Reading. I think they're both excellent ways to spend your time.
Really nice post Connie, close to home with me. ;o)
I agree with Leslie. If the books you are reading are nonfiction, then I think that you are engaging in literary works of art. When artists spend time in the pursuit of any of the arts, it can only improve and heighten their own work.
This post is an encouragement to me, Connie. Having a time of low-to-no production at present, mostly due to taking the studio apart... trying to fire my inner judge and take the days as they come, celebrate the process, be gentle with myself... xxoo, sus
Silly me! I meant to say "fiction", not nonfiction. I hope you know what I mean. :-)
Tell your inner critic it's your life and you can do what you want with it! I have always loved reading, but rarely have more than a few moments a day to devote to it. And no, I'm not in the studio the rest of the time... it varies, depending on what else is going on. I try to get back there each day and spend time creating, but not as much as I would like. I did do some stash tidying the other day... always nice. And I have 2 or 3 projects in various stages of completion, but I'm also running around getting thing ordered for some work I am having done in the kitchen. Also trying to get myself psyched up to start seed planting. Sometimes it's all just "too much"! Reading sounds really nice right now...
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