"Reading deprivation is a very powerful tool - and a very frightening one. Even thinking about it can bring up enormous rage. For most blocked creatives, reading is an addiction. We gobble the words of others rather than digest our own thoughts and feelings, rather than cook up something of our own."

~ Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

The past few weeks have been rich in information gathering, it's time to give my brain a bit of unstructured time to let things gel and percolate.

I was toying with a full one-week media deprivation exercise à la Julia Cameron (Week 4, The Artist's Way and one of the later weeks in The Prosperous Heart), but I'm not sure I'm ready for that so I'm testing the waters with just two days.

I therefore declare publicly to thee:

This weekend there will be no Facebook or Twitter. No blogs. No magazines or work/creativity/productivity-related books. No motivational quotes or affirmations. No email. I'm still on the fence about a documentary or leisure TV (read: an episode of Downton Abbey or a classic movie) and fiction before going to bed. I think it would be interesting to go without, but I'll play that by ear.

Frankly I'm curious to see how this will pan out. What will I do with the time freed up by not having my nose pointed to the PC or in a book?

I'll catch you on the flip side and let you know.

~~~

What do you think would happen if you paused your information consumption for a few days? Think you could do it? Join me in my weekend experiment and see...

It was such a fun experience and he did a fabulous job! Here's the finished product describing a bit of how & why I make art. I hope he got a good mark.

NOTE: I am in no way related or linked to the muscle fitness lady in the peripheral videos that show up on Youtube when you search for my first and last names. That's just an unfortunate - and funny - coincidence.

If ever you're in the area, do check it out...

the sign says it all

isn't that the coolest bar?

and check out the vintage suitcase tabletops!

another view of the bar, corner chair waiting

chrome reflections

swingin' chandelier

Sunday morning pastries

blurry picture, cute piggy

hanging clean laundry on the clothesline to dry

is the epitome of puttering for me

"You've given me the puttering spirit", he said. "I think I'm going to cut the lawn."

I'm not sure if my husband realized just how much I loved those words, puttering spirit.

~~~

I often struggle with reconciling intention and planned action with intuitive action and letting things unfold.

Sometimes I'm all about goals and to-do lists, working in fast and furious bursts of energy. This gives me momentum and confidence in my ability to set a goal and do what needs to be done to meet it. Knowing I can do it is extremely empowering for me.

Other times I try something different: I putter.

I slow down, ask my Higher Power "What's next?" and I do it. This usually leads to stuff like doing the dishes, folding the laundry, weeding the garden... but it might also lead to writing a blog post, drafting a service description or filing receipts. No matter where it leads it's gentle and spacious and this too is extremely empowering - not to mention often very productive.

It's a dance I'm learning. Sometimes I push, sometimes I let the puttering spirit take over.

The puttering spirit. I love that, don't you? Thank you D.

~~~

Might you allow yourself to putter a little bit today? What would that look like? How would it feel?

A job aid is a quick-reference tool you can use to help you with tasks you do regularly, but not quite often enough that you could do them in your sleep.

It's an easily accessible "how-to" that saves you from wasting time trying to remember how you did something the last time. Whether it's in the form of a diagram, a checklist or a single word jotted down on an index card it can make your life a heck of a lot easier.

~~~

Tonight I was getting ready to prep another print for the online shop and couldn't remember the convoluted 5-filename printing system* I'd come up with the last time. I knew the system worked and I knew I'd scribbled it on the back of one of my daily planning cards.

When I found it I created the following job aid so I wouldn't have to flip through all of my cards again:

my friendly guide and reminders to help me not lose any changes

when manipulating images for prints

Now the next time I create prints for the shop all I'll have to do is bring up my checklist and work through the steps. No scratching my head, no re-thinking through the process, no trying to remember where I put my notes.

Easy peasy.

* I came up with this 5-filename system when more than once I had to redo some work after having saved over something I shouldn't have saved over. I am open to suggestions for simplifying it if you have any!

~~~

Is there a task you do regularly, but not often enough to do it in your sleep?

Instead of wasting time trying to remember how you did it the last time each time it comes up, would it be useful to create an easily accessible quick-reference go-to guide?

If this type of thing interests you I invite you to join in. I'd love to have you with us!

The mailout below, titled Powerful Tools: 5-Day Challenge and the 15-Minute Sprint, was sent out a few months ago.

~~~

songbird, 2009, Mud Lake, Ottawa

When I'm feeling blah, angry or frustrated I need only to sit in the sun and listen to birdsong. It's balm for the soul this weekend.

Find your birdsong and be with it.

a new month, a new opportunity to get my work planning geek on!

It's been six months since I left my 9-5 job, a good round number for a work transition checkpoint don't you think?

In no particular order, here are some bits & bobs on where I'm at - headspace, insights, projects and more...

[Warning: it's a bit long.]

~~~

I don't think I've ever worked so hard. When I work it's intense because I love what I'm doing, work is often what I did for play when I was at my 9-5 job. I can easily put in a 10-hour day and go through days without taking a full day off.

That being said my body still gets tired and my mind does too. I need to listen. I need to build in breaks, days off, and find new ways to unplug completely.

It's a bit of a head-scratcher right now. I'm learning.

~~~

I'd summarize each of the first six months of my leave as follows:

NOVEMBER - Chill. All about Art Every Day Month. Wonderful!

DECEMBER - A mixed bag. Holidays, Solstice Reflections, disillusionment, raring to go, but not really a good time to start anything. A little frustrating.

JANUARY - Go, go, go. Lots of action, to-dos and insights.

FEBRUARY - Go, go, go. Lots of action, to-dos and insights.

MARCH - Crash. Sink into fear of never again making enough money to buy a tent-trailer or replace my 10-year old Honda. Savings are running out and income is minimal. Help. Some action, but at a much slower pace than the previous months. Brought intuition and painting back to the forefront. Good move.

APRIL - More painting, focus on art and updating the online shop. Letting go of my money fears - or sticking my head in the sand, still not sure which one. A little quicker pace than March, but not quite as crazy as January & February. All good.

~~~

I'm confused around my financial expectations.

Sis says that when she asked about it six months ago I didn't expect to have a salary equivalent to that of my 9-5 job at the end of the year, I told her it wasn't realistic. Now that the savings have run out I'm getting a little antsy about revenue. But I still have to be realistic. It just feels slow sometimes, that's all.

Patience, patience. And trust.

~~~

I love the projects and products I'm working on. I can't wait to start working on them in the morning.

Isn't that flippin' amazing?

~~~

My March money fears showed me that going down the what-if route and trying to control every scenario was not sustainable to my body, soul, nor to my marriage. This led me to let go a little and trust that things are unfolding as they are meant to.

My role is to take the next right action, let go and move on.

This feels a lot lighter.

~~~

I feel alive.

I am blessed.

Period.

~~~

Till the next checkpoint...

~~~

"Poetry... is ear candy. It's a blind date with enchantment. It's the first refuge against indifference."

~ J. Patrick Lewis

It's the last week! Where oh where did the month go?

I didn't quite write as much poetry as I would have liked to nor did I read as much, but I did read some and I even tried my hand at a few superficial haikus (read: I only followed the 5-7-5 rule, none of the others and I'm now just learning that I counted syllables and not necessarily ons, soooo looks like I just wrote a few really short poems, but I digress...). All of this is more than I'd done in the past several years - plus I posted about it all here.

I'm happy.

I thought I'd leave you with one of the haiku-like poems I wrote following the haiku-based 5-7-5 syllable guideline and a beautiful true haiku by Issa.*

Mine was inspired by a child's reaction to, from an adult's perspective, rather unfortunate circumstances:

Toddler stomps with glee

Father sighs and brushes car

April snow falls white

~ SG

And I leave you with this one by Issa:

Live in simple faith

Just as the trusting cherry

Flowers, fades, and falls

~ Issa

I hope you enjoyed our weekend poetry dates. I know I did.

* I discovered the poem by Issa thanks to a lovely application I purchased for the iPad called Chasing Fireflies. Combining haiku with soothing sounds and visuals, it's a delight to the senses.

setting up for the interview, view from the interviewee's chair

"My name is Stephanie Guimond. I'm a painter, I'm an ar... I'm an artist, I'm an all-around creative person."

The first words I spoke for our interview.

~~~

During the past week I've been the subject of an artist profile, working with a local film student on his mini-documentary assignment. Last Friday was the interview portion.

Going in I was more nervous about my physical appearance during the interview than my answers. The last time I saw myself on film was at a community event and I cringed at the spastic-looking facial expressions that happened when I spoke (y'all are so polite, nobody's ever told me!).

To make a long story short, the interview went well and I responded to the filmmaker's questions calmly and with ease.

I saw some rough footage this morning and even the facial expressions aren't too bad, though mental note: looking straight into the camera is a more flattering angle for me than looking up - which I tend to do often when I'm thinking and answering questions on the fly.

What dawned on me after the interview was how irrevocable my words and thoughts were now that they were captured on film and witnessed by another in such an intimate one-on-one fashion, how I could no longer disown them.

Scary and power-full.

I decided then & there to start owning my words whether captured on film or not. It's time to live them, believe them and acknowledge their validity.

I guess I better choose and use them wisely.

"The more she spoke her words, the more she grew into them."

post-interview piece, prints available in the shop

~~~

What kind of words do you use daily? Are they mostly positive? Negative?

What if the more you spoke them the more you grew into them, would you choose them differently?