inspired everyday

I am finally making a lot of artsy sketches and drawings in the past few days. I just started. After imagining for months how I would begin to make art when everything is ready, I just started in the midst of nothing being ever ready. And I guess that is the whole point. I will never really be perfectly ready because there will always be distractions and obstacles. But if I really want to make art and live a creative life then I should just go ahead and live one instead of imagining a future that somehow never manages to turn that next corner.

I have been having so much fun and the feeling of satisfaction is simply delightful. I have even taken to doing rough sketches in the middle of the night when an idea strikes me.

This has been a creatively productive week. I have also been reading and writing a lot and my sleep has improved from the previous week.

The weather has fully shifted to the rainy season. I hope for the pouring of more inspiration for everyone.

the magic of dressing up

Bulk of my time is spent at home. I work at home 70-80% of the time (the other 20-30% is spent on fieldwork but in a day that only takes about 6-10 hours).

I rarely go out especially in the past few months because I'm managing my spending and I am also overhauling my social life in my quest for a community of true kindred creative spirits.

My most frequent occasions for going out are hardly worth dressing up for. Such as running errands to the bank, shopping in the supermarket, or hanging out at my parents' house. I do go out on weekly Artist Dates and Artist Walks (as recommended by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist's Way) but I often dress comfortably when I do those because I walk a lot and I need to put on my Nike pair. It also sort of doubles as a physical exercise so I'm often in yoga pants, cotton shirt, and a plain ponytail. My Artist Dates also often bring me to places like hardware stores, thrift shops, farmer's markets, and book sales so it's really best to be comfy.

When I am just at home I usually dress in clean but old clothes. Sometimes I wear my PJs. Often my shirt does not really match my shorts.

But in the past few days I have gotten into dressing up at home even if I did not have plans of stepping out. Lately I have been feeling rather lackluster with all the financial puzzles in my life so I needed to make things a bit more festive and energetic. I did it by dressing up - wearing pretty clothes that make me feel real nice inside and out (and abundant) while also being comfortable. I put on a light makeup and I dress up my hair with nice pins or ribbons. I wanted to feel like I am ready to go anywhere and I also wanted to feel like I am going somewhere (and that I could afford to!). And believe me, it works! I felt my energy pick up and my senses sharpen. That was when I started to just paint and draw without too much deliberation on how ready or inspired or motivated I am. I started writing down ideas and plans and setting targets and goals. When I dressed myself up I felt that I simply had to Do and Act, or otherwise I will just be a pretty display in my own home. So I transformed how I looked and felt into something tangible -- a dozen baked cupcakes, a painting, a collage, a poem, an e-book draft, even a good sweep of a shelf for clutter-clearing. (By the way, I was dressed up but I remained barefooted as I moved about the house so it added an aspect of freedom and and openness to the whole mood.)

In the whole process my mind relaxed and had a chance to let the things that have been bothering me to simmer and sort itself out in peace.

Hence, when I finally sat down at either the beginning or end of the day to write in my journal, there were fresh perspectives that poured out because I stopped over-thinking and just started doing what I could. And dressing up helped. It's like putting on a costume and acting the part. I dressed up pretty and happy and abundant and behaved accordingly, boosting my own self-esteem and confidence and sparking my optimism.

How does dressing up change your mood?

my personal geography

"A map provides no answers. It only suggests where to look, Discover this, re-examine that, put one thing in relation to another, orient yourself, begin here … Sometimes a map speaks in terms of physical geography, but just as often it muses on the jagged terrain of the heart, the distant vistas of memory, or the fantastic landscapes of dreams." (Miles Harvey, The Island of Lost Maps)

I read this very inspiring book titled "Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking" by Jill K. Berry. I have always been fascinated by maps so this book caught my attention. It was a worthy purchase.

One of my favorite lines is: In my hands, I hold a ship, for sailing off to great adventures, and a compass rose, so I won't get lost.

One of the first exercises is making a head map and I was inspired by this particular map that was shown in the book.

Here is mine, which deals with my own current subjects of concern and much thought. The interesting part is the fact that as I was putting this together, some things that I have been having difficulty resolving in my head slowly started to make better sense. I did not come to any sudden solutions but certainly the possibilities for solutions became clearer.

I look forward to making more maps and finding more paths!

The Owl Who Knows How

He just kept hooting around in my head, flapping his wings, and pecking at my thoughts. He says I should not fuss about how things will happen and I should just do what I need to do. He says he knows how it's all going to unfold, and that I have nothing to worry about.

watercolor, poster color, beads

time for some cupcakes

It's a bit costly to bake. The bulk of the cost comes from the butter and eggs. I would love do it more often but the side effects of inflated hips and deflated wallet temper my enthusiasm.

Last week I decided to bake so I could bring cupcakes for my mom who was in the hospital at that time. They would also serve as snack foods for my dad and sister for whom I have been temporarily playing the role of home cook since my mom was sick.

As always, the joy of creating something delicious and pretty from a bunch of raw ingredients never fails to lift my spirits.

catching up with the 30-day drawing challenge

Day 7 : Favorite Movie

My favorite movie is an adaptation of a favorite book, Stardust by Neil Gaiman. My drawing shows the fallen star looking up at the sky, looking at the space where she used to be.

Day 8 : Favorite Animated Character

Calcifer, the lovable grumpy powerful ex-star (yes, I seem to have a fondness for stars, particularly fallen ones), who lives with and serves Howl in his Moving Castle.

Day 9 : Favorite TV Show

I have a strong fondness for crime-solving drama, especially those with geeks in them and women who are not just decoration and who are convincingly tough smart ass-kickers. I also suspect that my own affinity for information processing comes into play as I relate to the roles of the team in the show. I have even once compared my job to that of a CSI, providing useful and valid evidence that would support a business strategy.

Vying for my most favorite are Criminal Minds and CSI Las Vegas. And here I drew a crime scene so both will be represented.

Day 10 : Favorite Candy

Since childhood I have loved cotton candy and even now I still buy it when I encounter a stall selling it. I even give in to the pre-packaged condensed un-fluffy versions sold in the supermarkets. And given another chance I would love to buy the cotton candy maker I once saw at a bazaar where you can drop a hard candy and it will be spun into cotton. My favorite flavor : strawberry.

Day 11 : Turning Point In My Life

No argument here. It was the moment I decided to try it out solo and give up a fat paycheck. Still working at it and still not giving up, although I will admit missing the fat paycheck when the bills come knocking.

I still owe days 12-15 for me to truly catch up. Watch out for those!

my very own creative retreat

More than a month ago I grabbed up a plane ticket on sale (only Php2,500, roundtrip) so I could go on vacation next month to a bee farm by the beach with its own organic cafe. Since it is the post-summer low season, the bee farm's rates are also pretty good and I was set on spending a week there. I had planned on doing a lot of reading, writing, photography, drawing, meditating, and simply being free from the usual demands of daily life. No chores, no work, no distractions. Just me and my creative muse.

But then my mom got sick and the small budget I had allocated for the trip (scraped from various savings here and there) went to paying the hospital bills instead.

There are, so far, no new work projects in the horizon so I have to hold on to the funds I have right now. And I also have to make adjustments given the big bite which the hospital bills took. Thus, there will be no more trip next month. I'll just have to write off the plane ticket as a loss.

But what to do in that suddenly empty calendar week? I do not think it will be good for my own overall well-being to write that off as a loss too, that time allotted for myself and my creativity.

So I thought, can I still take some kind of trip out of the everyday?

And the answer was, yes.

I designed myself a week-long creative retreat in place of the bee farm trip. A week spent at home and without spending any money. There will be no chores (I would have pre-frozen cooked meals for re-heating and I would use paper plates so there would be no dishes) and no work (I would declare a vacation week to my clients) and no routines (I would spend the bulk of my waking time to very specific creative activities). I would also be offline from my social networks except for occasional blog posts. I will probably step out once or twice though to do my walking meditation exercise around the neighborhood.

I made myself a little brochure to add a sense of occasion and to emphasize the fact that this could even turn out to be a much better thing than the trip itself.

How do you turn plans-gone-awry to plans-turned-amazing?

life in square boxes

I have "launched" a photo album in my Facebook titled "Life In Square Boxes". It's a collection of daily life photography showcasing the simple and mundane details of everyday life but also hinting on the joys and little magics beneath each one.

It's a venue for my photography practice as well as my affirmation practice because in each image I make myself see the seeds of hope that I string together to lead me forward in my creative journeys. Like Ariadne's thread, this string of hope will keep me from getting lost despite seeming dead-ends and collapsed pathways, and even ambush attacks.

It is also an exercise in discovery as the ordinary takes on the perspective of the extraordinary, how little things can lead to big inspirations. It's an enjoyable way to feed the Muse.

How do you find inspiration everyday?