Artists & Crafters Create and Maintain a Personal Daily Creative Practice!
A Manifesto anD Confession
Turning a Dreamer Into a Doer in 2020!! A Manifesto for How Artists & Crafters Can Create and Maintain a Personal Daily Creative Practice! {ahem, ahem} A couple of days ago, I stretched my wild self and published A Creative Slob Comes Clean on the Eve of 2020. As we head into a new year and a new decade, I am determined to reach into my dreams and imagination (oh my ever so grand daydreaming imagination) and create, design, develop…as well as nourish and maintain a Personal Daily Creative Practice.
Sunday Inspirations (Confession) 1
My Artful Self – Personal Daily Creative Practice 2020
Dreamer Into Doer #DID2020 – Confessions of a Creative Slob
OOPS! I have been reflecting and stewing and brewing. I do that a lot. It is part of my DNA as well as my habit of (OKAY, here goes…I am going to admit it) profound procrastination. I am always busy! Busy researching. Busy looking at other artist’s feeds. And, even occasionally, busy feeding my creative soul by actually making something. As a new decade approaches, I fear I didn’t get as much accomplished in this past decade as I would have liked or imagined back on the eve of 2010. SHOOT!! I don’t want to die with my art inside me! SIGH…
Do you relate or even feel the same way?
As we head into a new year and a new decade, I am determined to reach into my dreams and imagination (oh my ever so grand daydreaming imagination) and create, design, develop…as well as nourish and maintain a Personal Daily Creative Practice.
Confession Time
I am really good at the create, design, develop part… not so much the nourish and maintain part. Yep, a Master Dreamer! I make plans, plenty of plans… great plans, plans that might even become an income stream, plans on paper and in notebooks and journals, so many plans I have forgotten them until I find months or years later. A pile of broken dreams? Perhaps! Or could it be the Land of Unfollowed Through Upon Possibilities? That’s much better…
Dreamer Into Doer – #DID2020
I think of myself as a Creative and even call myself a Possibilitarian. If I am to truly walk my talk or live ‘my’ vision of My Artful Self, I need to step up my game. I do not want another decade, or year, or even a day to go by without tapping deeply into my artful creativity. I want to go on an artistic journey as wide as my soul can stretch. I want to dig deep and unearth my creativity in new joyous ways. I need to turn this Dreamer Into a Doer. Pep Talk underway…
Instead of beating myself up for not following through or becoming creatively complacent in the 2010s, I want to somehow make an unbreakable date with myself EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Yep! You heard me – EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
How Can I Possibly DO That?
Well, here’s the scoop. I have been cleaning The Bookery (my nickname for my studio) throughout December. It is part of my clearing journey, but that is another story entirely. Remember I am a Creative Slob here! To actually make this happen, I had to play games with myself like go in there every day and set a timer for 20 minutes. That’s it! Doable, right?
The first time I did this, I actually amazed myself. I cleared the stuff on the floor in front of the closet. I can now reach my paints and mediums and artful supplies stored there. As the timer began to chime, it became one of those fortuitous magical lightbulb moments! Look what I accomplished in 20 minutes!! TWENTY MINUTES!!! HAPPY DANCE TIME!!!
As I was dancing, my non action taking mind kicked into overdrive about 2020. Since this worked for the clearing it could work for the creating. Am I on to something here? There are so many 20s in 2020, I could challenge My Artful Self to walk into the studio every day, set a timer for 20 minutes, and create… not clean or clear, not dwell or stew about perfect, JUST. CREATE SOMETHING… ANYTHING REBECCA!
At the end of 20 minutes, I can:
- Hit the repeat button on the timer and continue
- Walk away knowing I contributed to my Personal Daily Creative Practice
- Vow to come back for another 20 minutes if I can find them later that day
That is the whole plan for Dreamer Into Doer – #DID2020! Wanna come along with me?
What Does 20 Minutes a Day Look Like
I am going to “Did 2020” – one 20 minute chunk at a time. Let’s see what that looks like?
20 minutes a day = 140 minutes each week. That is 2.333333333 hours per week. Just under 2-½ hours per week.
2.333333333 hours per week = 9.33332 hours per month (approximately). Just under 10 hours per month.
20 minutes a day = 7,320 minutes per year (we have 366 days in 2020). That is just 122 hours or 5.083333 days!! 5 DAYS??!!??
Now let’s do the math on screen time per day/week/month/year. I average 5 hours a day on my device!! That is what my phone tells me! 5 HOURS REBECCA!!! ** In my defense as so you don’t think I am a lazy game player, I do an artwork every morning on my phone for my Art as Prayer Morning Meditation ministry. So part of the 5 hours is actually artful!!
5 hours per day = 35 hours per week
35 hours per week = 1820 hours per year
THAT IS 75.8333333 DAYS!!! HOLY MOLY – 75+ DAYS!!!!
THAT IS 2-½ MONTHS!!!! ON MY PHONE!!!!
OKAY – Things just go serious here! I need to ask myself:
- Can I afford 5 days in 2020 to work on my art?
- Can I move some of that 5 hours of screen time to my art?
- Can I afford not to?
My 2020 Promise to YOU and Me
Okay…here goes: I promise to:
- Walk into my studio every day and spend at least 20 minutes creating.
- Create a daily video journal of my journey to share via social media. (this is my accountability step)
- Grow in new ways!
We are free to give thanks for the newness of life given us and free to begin anew with new ways with a renewed spirit. SO come with me and open this new decade by establishing a new habit – A Personal Daily Creative Practice 2020! Establishing a new habit is the hard part. It is not the actual creative activity. That’s the fun part. See you later in the studio for Day 1.
May joy be with you all!
How can I serve YOU? How can I inspire YOUR creativity today? How can I help YOU? Learn about our Dreamer Into Doers 2020 Challenge. 20 minutes per day to develop and nurture a Personal Daily Creative Practice. There is Contagious Creativity awakening all around us. Come join the Contagious Creativity movement at https://www.facebook.com/Cre8Tiva/.
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