Back in August last year
I wrote this post, sharing the thought that maybe my passions were changing. And that was okay. But now I'm wondering if they weren't necessarily changing, but I was taking on too many projects, or just focusing on one passion at the expense of others.
Since January 1st, I've read five books. That's three more books than I read in a six month period last year. It probably helps that they've been really good books (The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins; Ape House by Sara Gruen; Room by Emma Donoghue for any bibliophiles who are interested). Since January 1st, I have created 10 layouts, including two double layouts. What do these two things have in common? I keep doing them.
Can you hear Dory singing? There was a reason she was such a great character in the movie Finding Nemo, it's because her character had so many great one liners that just made sense. If memory serves, she told Nemo's dad to "just keep swimming" in response to his constant worrying about what would happen if such and such happened. But I forgot to just keep swimming.
I've learnt a lot more about time zones in the last week. The LOAD email is sent just after midnight USA EST, and you have until midnight USA PST to complete - effectively a 27hr day, that is 17 hours behind me in Queensland. Midnight USA EST on February 1st was equal to 3pm on February 1st, giving me until 6pm AEST on February 2nd to upload my layout.
I've had to learn this, because when I upload my layout to Flickr, it shows me the date and time I uploaded as AEST, even though I've changed my profile data to USA EST for the duration, and everyone else who looks at my exif data is seeing it as USA EST, if that makes any sense to anyone.
I create best in the morning. So, when the email arrives each afternoon, I read it, and think about what I'm going to do. After dinner each night I plan my photos, and layout inspiration. Then the next morning, once kids are sorted, I get stuck into creating my layout.
I love the stark white background, letting the papers pop, but I'm enjoying the subtleness of kraft, supporting the photos. I have a big stack of each, although I will probably run out of white before the end of the month.
For two weeks now I've been creating upstairs, at the kitchen table and freezer. It's not working for me, or the family. The last two nights we ate dinner in our laps, because I was fed up with shuffling all my stuff backwards and forwards. I need to get it all back downstairs, and get my craft room sorted and workable again.
I have forgotten how to embellish my layouts. This will change with time, but at the moment, everything I try feels clunky and added-just-for-the-sake-of-embellishing.
I bought the Echo Park Little Boy paper kit recently, and that's most of what I've been using for my layouts. But this morning I really struggled to use the papers. So this evening I'm going to go through my papers, and see what I've got that makes my heart sing the same way. And at the end of the month, when I have no paper left, I can go and buy all the October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket and My Minds Eye that I keep leaving at the scrapbook store.
What do you learn during your creative process?
That was a cool read. I have learnt I need my own creative space (no the dinning room table does not work all the time).... I have learnt I like my LO's best when I push it closer and there is negative space left on them. I love your Dory reference.
ReplyDeleteThis was interesting. I like to immerse myself in one thing or another -- for awhile -- and then it's time to do something else. I tend to get on a reading jag and when it's over, I won't pick up a book for quite a while. I also was immersing myself with scrapbook inspiration on the Internet, and now I've backed off that (will even more after LOAD ends). Scrapping is the only thing I like to do on a relatively consistent basis. (But I do have to wonder, are you really going to be out of paper by the end of the month?)
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