December Recap!
Completing art projects was not a priority this month. With extra work, present planning, and travel- I felt so completely scrambled over the holidays it was even hard to get in the mindset of thinking about art projects. But shaking up my routines, work, and life for a bit has been a bit of a reset to make me think goals and ideas I want to keep in mind for the next year. Resolutions have lost their appeal, but the idea of compiling a list of goals, priorities resonates with me.
I think all my goals fit under one major umbrella: Use my attention wisely. This year I have become obsessed with attention and have gobbled up books, blogs and lots of podcasts that delve into the struggles of attention.
Here are some thoughts I really loved:
New York Times columnist and podcaster - Ezra Klein talked on his podcast “The Ezra Klein Show” about how he is convinced your whole life is made up of where you focused your attention saying “And I am so convinced that attention is the most important human faculty. That at the end of your life, what was your experience of your life? It was the experience of the sum total of the things that you paid attention to.”
In the podcast the Grey Area the host Sean Illing interviews John Cabot Zinn who says attention is a tool where “I can actually inhabit this moment and not be terrorized completely by my thoughts. And that's a skill. I mean, that's something that like, is really a, a useful skill to be able to not miss your life.
And Jenny Odell says in Saving Time (I loved and was super inspired by this book) “Maybe "the point" isn't to live more, in the literal sense of a longer or more productive life, but rather, to be more alive in any given moment.”
Some more specific ways I want to do that are:
Set aside creative time - Set aside chunks of time to work on my projects like my stop motion and make an action plan to work on the projects that matter.
Revamp my working relationship. When I am on, try to be on and present, but give myself lots of permission to take walks, yoga breaks and time outside.
Make time for play. I want to learn new things (sewing and handstands), reading for fun, plan social hangs, strengthen friendships near and far, and also make more alone time (which is almost the most fun anymore)!
Work towards creating the world I want to live in. Okay that sounds huge, but I really want to make a world with more community, more creativity and less thinking about money. So make more hangs with parents, volunteer to take the kids friends for a few hours, draw more with the family and share my ideas.
Journaling - I started doing morning pages after reading a the intro to the book “The Artist Way” and think its really important to write down how I am feeling to get those thoughts and ideas out there instead of just going forward with my day.
Recapping all creative things this month
My big creative project:
Because I haven’t done any big projects this month- I want to share one of my main goals for the year - “Alien Influencer.” This is a stop motion puppet I made over the summer. I crafted her out of clay, made a mold of her with plaster and painted latex inside that mold. Here are the steps I followed to create my alien! I am working on a storyboard now!
Some things I liked this month:
The Grey Area- The podcast I mentioned above from Vox hosted by Sean Illing - it describes itself as a philosophical take on culture. I love the deep dives into mindfulness, capitalism and culture. Check out the episode on “seeing ourselves through the darkness.”
I believe in Santa - I love watching a bad Christmas movie while wrapping gifts late at night. And ‘I believe in Santa’ is so unhinged - it’s art. I love it was clearly made for 100k with the green screens and lack of set dec - but the story makes so little sense from her job as a holiday writer to his belief in Santa to his friend saying believing in Santa is religion. Watch it!
Creative Reuse Center - Its like a consignment shop for art supplies! It is amazing for the kids to grab a ton of whatever they want to create with from boxes to gel pens to stickers and stamps. I grabbed a ton of paper, stamps and bows for Christmas wrapping. Austin’s is called the creative reuse center- but I think a lot of cities have a used art supply store.