Monday Post ~ January 9, 2012
“This is what I learned:
that everybody is talented, original
and has something important to say.”
~Brenda Ueland
It’s a brand-new year, which makes for a wonderful reason to pick NOW as the moment to develop your regular creativity practice. Regularity — a daily practice, if at all possible — is key.
So what are your plans for creative practice this week? Given the specifics of your schedule, decide on a realistic goal or a milestone to reach for — and plan that time in your calendar. A goal as simple as “I will be creative for 10 minutes every day” or “I will gesso three canvases on Wednesday” is what it’s all about.
Share your goal(s) as a comment to this post, and let us know how things went with your creative plans for last week, if you posted to last week’s Monday Post.
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Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
Oh…Monday again. Here is last week’s plan:
Treadmill time, 4x this week {3x this week]
A “kids are back in school, I’m taking some time for myself” trip to the museum and a yarn shop on Tuesday [DONE, and enjoyed!]
Work on the torch, at least 2x this week [no]
Stay calm and carry on, daily [pretty much, yes]
Write a blog post for Studio Mothers and Medieval Glassworker by Saturday [no 😦 ]
And for this week:
Treadmill 4x this week
Write a short paper for my Art History class
Torch time at least once this week
Blogging (Studio Mothers, Medieval Glassworker)
Artist date with self = major success!
ah …
i shall exercise four times this week….
i shall manage to make my studio table top a work space instead of a dump…. (far lower standard than the “clean the studio” i want to say) …
i shall find/start/plan at least ten small canvases or boards …. (next week i’ll say i’m finishing those ten small pieces)
ah ….
i can do this …
Yes you can, e! Love the “i shall…” phrasing. Lends a certain weight, doesn’t it!
bring some order to this workspace of mine!
I’m knitting a pair of socks with a particularly fine yarn so my goal this week is to finish this one sock! (next week, I’ll tackle the second :-))
Complete the two articles I began before the weekend!
Knitting fine-gauge socks? I bow to you….
How’s it going, Amelia? Would love to see you back at the Monday Page! 😀
last week: … burnt from road trip, more hours at new job, appts for 2 kids and me, and i don’t even know what else at the moment. oh yeah, my birthday on fri, for which i am working until 8pm. i hope i can find a little quiet to knock out a few more pages and some blog posts.
got a blog post out, i think. but i put things into work for my musical son to have his senior mentorship next year with an award winning musician who is excited to work on k’s songwriting skills and while recording his songs, he can learn the basics of music production. very exciting! k’s creative and practical dreams covered in one, and 2 steps closer to berklee college of music for the following year!
this week: writing group tomorrow, will see how much i can pump out of the end of this draft. so close. try to blog, still have managerial fluctuations at my new job, hours stlll piled up strangely, so once we have a new manager in place, hopefully, i can have a more reasonable schedule and be able to settle down into a good pattern to free my mind up for better writing.
Great, Cathy — I hope we can hang together at Berklee parents’ weekends!!
that would be great!
It’s going to take me at least another week to get through the mammoth task list involved with opening our new brick-and-mortar, Open Studio. It’s something of a tidal wave of tasks — but most of them are really, really fun. While I’m still in hyperproductive mode, I didn’t make it through most of the things on my Monday Post list for last week — try, try again!
I did have a fabulous first meeting with my new nonfiction writers’ group. We’ll be meeting monthly. I need to complete edits to the personal essay I’m working on in order to send to the group by late next week.
Last week’s goals:
* Multiple project launches for Open Studio [yes — ongoing]
* Draft piece for CCA newsletter [no]
* Draft piece for guest blogger post [no]
* Draft newsletter [no]
* Blog post(s) [no]
* Journaling [daily] [yes]
* Yoga x4 [T, W, Th, Sat] [yes, x 4]
This week’s goals:
* Multiple project launches for Open Studio
* Draft piece for CCA newsletter
* Draft piece for guest blogger post
* Draft newsletter
* Blog post(s)
* Work on essay
* Journaling [daily]
* Yoga x4 [T, W, Th, Sat]
yay brick and mortar studio!
Last week: I drew every day. Actually, the goal is to spend 15 minutes a day on finances/ paperwork and 15 minutes a day or more drawing. I post the drawings or stages of drawings on my blog:
http://www.deborahsantoro.blogspot.com
So I did that last week and this week so far so good. I’m thinking a lot about the role of drawing in my artistic practice. I’m also thinking about a Summer Drawing Exhibit at the library and already have a few artists in mind. Meanwhile, I found out about a new yoga studio opening up in West Acton and my heart just sings out. I want to teach more. I may be called to open up my own yoga studio. I really need to work with the Right Brain Business Plan to figure out where I’m going with the yoga and art careers thing. For now it’s just tiny steps, but I’d like to be well positioned for next year when my youngest starts kindergarten. I once thought I wanted to be a studio art professor for college students, and that dream still lives, but I don’t see going to graduate school this year or next. And even if I do, and if I did land an exceedingly rare tenure track position, I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t want to do it. I’ve seen what it takes to succeed there and it’s not terribly family oriented. Who knew I’d be the woman to put family ahead of career? It certainly wasn’t the plan in my 20s, I’ll tell you that much.
Sorry for the ramble. That yoga studio opening got me all excited and thinking about the future. I’m so damn ambitious for a family minded mama- it hurts!
Oops! That’s my old blog address. The new blog is on wordpress:
http://www.deborahsantoro.wordpress.com. Sorry!
So many wonderful possibilities, Deborah!
Delighted to have found this wonderful website!
After a difficult divorce and a descent into timidity for years and years, I’m beginning by taking some rather shaky, but determined steps towards releasing my creativity. So thanks for the opportunity to read and share creative goals on this page!
I haven’t yet stepped into the realm of the ‘high-achiever’, so i’m starting small and who knows what will follow..
In order to do anything creative I need to start with a little stillness, and listening- in. So this week I will ..
Create a space for meditation and use it daily. (cushion, rug, some beautiful pictures, a candle and a hand-written sign for the door.)
Write out by hand a selection of inspiring quotations and use these during my meditations.
Learn a new song to sing with the children.
So lovely to have you here, Ellie! Your intentions are a beautiful starting place. Please come back and let us know how it’s going!