It's Saturday -- Time to Play

It's Saturday!!! Now that I have my website updated, it's time to do some fun artwork.

For some awhile, I tried to basically work with no schedule. The problem with this is that I got very little done because I kept pushing things off or leaving things until the last minute. I would work on what I wanted to and avoid the unfun stuff. While this led to me feeling happy at the time, when I would look back over several months and realized that I had done very little, I would get depressed. And when I'm depressed, I don't work.

Then I tried very strict scheduling, such as from 9-11am on Tuesday I would work on a pencil drawing. Anything I didn't do during the weekends, I had to make up on the weekends. And this worked so well -- ya, right. My life is chaotic at times, so I was always behind or missing things. And then I had to deal with ordinary life, such as buying groceries. I live about 10 miles out of town, so buying a loaf of bread takes a minimum of 45 minutes. As does going to the post office, buying cat litter, etc. Even if I scheduled times for going into town, my cats created problems by eating more food that I planned for them or running out of litter on Thursday, and not Friday! Also, because the whole point was to 'do the time', I would find ways to waste time just to finish off the 3 hours I had scheduled. As you can see, this method didn't work well.

The middle road is what I'm trying now. I have certain things, such as updating my website or sending out my newsletter, scheduled. (Saturday is update day and the 15th is newsletter day.) Then on weekdays, I do commissioned work, trying to get in 4 hours a day. On weekends, I do some fun art -- stuff I may sell on eBay or I may throw away -- or I just rest, if that's what I feel I need. I've used this 'schedule' for quite a while and it seems to work.

I mention all this because this is something that no one ever mentions. A full-time artist needs to find a schedule which fits their personal style and life. I know of artists who constantly complain about not getting anything done -- they actually complain in about 5 or 6 different artist groups. And one artist said I must be very disciplined to get so much done. I'm not disciplined -- I've just found a schedule that fits my personality and allows me to get work done.

And now, I think I'll go paint a bunny!