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Compelled to Create? Part II

Rough Drawing for Shed/Garage

If there's anything I've learned about you, it is that you are compelled to create. At one level, that sounds romantic, enviable even. Who doesn't wish for that focus in life! On the other hand, it sounds exhausting. How long do you work in a day? Do you take breaks or are you driven into the wee hours? Since not everyone does, I also need to ask whether you wish to have a substantive life outside the studio. If you do, how do you achieve it? What other commitments call you?  Most important, what other forces nourish you? 

  Sidney Oliver

By now, I'm sure you can tell that I don't stick to the exact question as these questions of Sid's tend to propel me on my own path.  It might frustrate the heck out of her, but I'm getting a kick out of it.

I'm also getting a kick out of my new shed/garage. Last winter I had an idea to build a shed/garage and it was completed this past fall, so, yes, like many others, I am compelled to create regardless of medium. See Compelled to Create Part I.

Itching to paint this building

As for work--my best hours are early in the morning, so I go to bed early and rise very early. I prefer to get to the studio between 7-8 am and I love to put in a full day returning to the house between 5-6, but that doesn't often happen. My juices might run out early in the afternoon. Mistakes are made if I force it. I'm easily distracted like a lot of others and I try to stay focused as long as possible, but sometimes life gets in the way. I can remember my work schedules in the past. In the 70s, I would paint, run a mile, paint, have lunch, paint, run a mile, and paint. At one point in the 80s when my son was very small, I remember I had limited time to paint, but I probably packed more into that limited time than when I had full days of uninterrupted work.

To some, my work schedule might seem austere, odd, what have you, but it's the only way I can work and produce as good a product as I am capable of producing. 

Other painters keep their own schedules, which might seem odd to others. Many do the early morning bit, while others are into painting late at night. I've heard of plein air painters going out early in the morning and late in the afternoon. They nap or cook in the middle of the day when the light isn't as dramatic. Others don't work until a deadline looms and then the creative juices begin flowing and they go full-stop for hours and days. I tend to shut down within about a month of a show. From experience, I know my work would be cruddy if I waited until the end to begin.  

If what you are doing keeps you working, it's a great plan. There is no normal pattern here.

Remember though, recharging is always necessary.

While recharging, I'm usually doing something creative such as some examples pictured below. I want to stress that I'm certainly not trying to say, "Look what I did!" These things are inconsequential and not unusual in someone with the gene. I'm trying to show the difference between someone creative and someone who isn't or even someone who might be artistic without the compulsion to create. I'm also trying to show that the creative spirit continues past one's chosen field.

Those who possess that creative gene will think up any reason to create. 

Digging a trench 1 foot deep, finding out it didn't have to be that deep, filling it, and making a serpentine walkway from my studio to my small shed. 

I wanted it to look imperfect and I succeeded.

I needed some vases. I took some small clear glass vases, textured, & painted them.

I love to punch that trigger on the camera.

The blog might be just one more excuse to mess with photographs.

Shed/garage with sunrise just because

Painting furniture is always fun. 

Refused to buy, helped design, and painted (didn't build) the cupola for the shed/garage

Designed, didn't build, the columns-Note painted cupola on shed/garage.

Because painting is my primary focus, my life revolves around it, thus I do not invite distractions, anxiety, drama, or anything else that will interfere with that goal. Yes, I do have a life, but I purposefully limit it. I learned a while back to keep the news emotionally at bay, so Twitter is my newsfeed. I cannot recommend this enough. Having been a news junkie at some points in my life, I can tell the difference in the stress level and in the amount of time I have to devote to creating. Now, my drama is on the canvas.

Painting and creating things leave me mentally and physically exhausted and being knackered at the end of the day leaves little time for much else.

Enjoy the process!

   Ruthie Windsor-Mann

This post is part of a series of Q & As between Ruthie Windsor-Mann and Sidney Oliver. 

We invite the reader to join in with other questions in the comments section. This needs to be interactive in order to work.

All photographs are by Ruthie Windsor-Mann unless otherwise credited.

Copyright 2019 Ruthie Windsor-Mann All Rights Reserved