Hi ya!
In my last newsletter I talked about my hesitation to take a break from my art to do some trips with my husband. The adventures were very fun, I had wonderful, meaningful time with my husband, friends and family, but I am struggling to get back to creating.
A Little Background
I have been retired (the 2nd time) for about a year and half. I find myself in this weird place where I can fully decide what I am going to do with my time. A large part of my decision to retire was so I can spend time traveling with my husband, while we can. Flexibility is key for me. I wanted something to fill in, what I call the “in between time”, I started painting. This is something I LOVE to do. A new challenge, art as a business, was something I got really excited about earlier this year.
The Art
After months of thinking about it, in April I decided to make a commitment to this path of an art business. I started doing things that needed to be done to make it happen. I had a lot of nervous energy, mind spinning, anxious, excited and generally all kinds of thoughts and lists rattling around in my head. My artwork from that time expresses this energy.
I called the series Keyed Up and this painting is called Frenetic.
I feel connected and love this painting because it fully expresses where my head was at the time. This painting is messy! There is not a clear place to rest your eye, there are a lot of colors and a lot of marks. True expression of the messiness that was going on in my mind.
24 x 30 Acrylic on Canvas
There are other smaller pieces that I did in April that are now public in the gallery.
I did three trips with my husband. Had a wonderful time enjoyed great food, beaches, desert and a ton of music in Nashville. If you are interested in learning more about my adventures, I would love to add you to my email list. You can reach out to me at [email protected].
The Struggle
These trips happened when my husband, Randy, was feeling healthy and decided to seize the moment. I was hesitant because I felt like I had this great momentum going with my art. However, looking back, my creative mojo was already off, I was mostly spending time figuring out bookkeeping. I was out of creative mode and back where I lived for 30+ years, business mode. A comfortable familiar mode to be in, easy for me to slip into.
I am still struggling to pull out the paints, I am rethinking how this art situation might flow for me. An important part of my “why” for starting a small art business was to give me some structure and something of my own. My thought in choosing an art business was it would give me those things I was missing along with flexibility. Balancing structure, creative flow and flexibility is something I will need to figure out.
What I am pondering now is how I get back to it. How to I get back the momentum and creative flow. I am curious how others who are creators or have self-directed endeavors of any kind get back to doing your thing after a pause. Would love to hear from you.
This all brings up questions about what success looks like for me.
As a new business I would like to grow my friends & family email list as well as my following in Instagram. Your support is appreciated.
Enjoy!
Karin
[email protected]
Instagram: adventures.treasures
Text: 206.778.1403