At some point every single day, I slip into a day dream of what my ideal "bliss-filled" day would look like. I imagine my workouts at the same early morning hour, followed by an immersion in daily Mass at one of my favorite local Catholic churches.
Some days would include some form of teaching art, but not being tied down to the daily full-time schedule of teaching in a public school setting. Other days it would vary between two volunteering opportunities with my daughter. Most definitely it includes spending quality time in my art studio with my pomeranians Princess and Isabella, lavishing them with hugs and kisses all day long.
And as far as "work" goes, it would vary from illustrating a children's book based on bible stories along with colorful animal portraits glorifying God's amazing creatures.
For many years I maintained several written journals for my art. While my children were young, I would steal a few minutes here and there to write down my dreams and aspirations. I would often include snippets of art articles. I would pine over the artists' works that would inspire me to create and when I read their bios I would discover that they had taken a similar journey and now that their children were older, they could pursue their creative bliss.
I now have joined the ranks of those artists whose children are older and the artist is now able to pursue their dreams, their aspirations. I am busier than I've ever been: teaching full-time art to high school students; mother to a 19 year old and a 15 year old; wife to an amazing man I've been happily married to for over 20 years; student in theology (along with my husband) for the next 4 years and I'm still the aspiring children's book illustrator and fine artist.
Time to work on striving for creative bliss. So I've resurrected the art journal. I have reorganized my art studio to provide more room to create along with a desk area for my husband to do his work. My daughter slips in and out, sometimes taking up residence on the love seat along with Isabella while Princess lies at my feet. My son joins us across the way at the family computer, maintaining a safe fighting distance while he pummels dragons and evil creatures in the variety of computer games he plays.
My next step is to set tangible, achievable goals for my art studio. Since I can't increase the number of hours in a day, I will have to eliminate some of the world's busy-ness from my schedule. By setting the goals, it will eliminate those things that are truly time wasters...i.e. too much time on social networks, too much time spent on school work that is unnecessary...you get the picture.
So the journey picks up where I left off. I hope you join me by finding YOUR bliss!
No comments:
Post a Comment