"To Do is to Be"~Nietzsche
"To Be is to Do"~Kant
"Do Be Do Be Do"~Frank Sinatra
I recently saw these quotes together in a little book by a former Neiman Marcus executive. Yeah, I liked the third one too. It's rolling around in my head at the moment. As little Ninja and I do our best to get rolling this Monday, he's thinking let's get to it. I am thinking, sheesh, last week was tough. It's kind of chilly, couldn't we have cocoa and stay under the covers today? Nothing went as planned this past week. Even my Sunday was not ordinary. Nice, but my usual ducks in a row stuff was hijacked.
Here's the thing about artists. We like routines. Love them. Oh, not in the studio necessarily, but all that other stuff, we like that to go smoothly. That way, chaos in the studio is fun and creative. No worries. But if there is chaos outside, then that is the day I am most likely to want to sharpen pencils, take an inventory of materials, line up my notebooks, get a grip. You get the picture.
Oh, I got significant things accomplished this past week. I like that. That short order art shelf has thinned quite a bit. And I'll take some time today to line up those ducks, get the 3 Most Important Tasks chosen. But when I don't get a chance to even crack open the Sunday paper, or plot out my week, uh, everything feels off. Routines. It may sound dull and boring, but it is actually the key to getting a lot done. And here's another, making sure the ladder is against the right wall. The one you're trying to scale.
So Ninja is rearing to go, he thinks we're pointed in the right direction. ME? I'm thinking that paper and some cocoa, might be just the thing. It won't be leisurely, but it will feel right. Maybe just a section here and there. Yeah, this day needs to be two days packed into one. Hm, definitely feels like Monday, organizing to be done. And we are so not allowing gremlins by any name to come near any art.
Now Brush, one marshmallow or two? No, get out of the covers. We've work to do, but we can have hot cocoa while we're at it.
Routines and ladders? Sure. Don't you work that way?
Monday, October 27, 2008
Ladder on the Right Wall
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12 comments:
Janice, wow you hit the nail on the head for me. I honestly did not make the connection until I read your post. My routine has been off, family illness and people pulling me away from the familiar. Without routine in other areas, I found myself spending the day cleaning up my feed reader, email, cleaning the desk rather than actually working. Yes, I need my routine and a ladder leaning against the right wall. Thank you.
It's perverse, it's unsettling, it's the way it works for me. It just feels off....but my pencils are sharp . Now if you would do something with MY gazillion emails I haven't tackled....
I hope everyone is well now. To get into the zone all that other stuff, needs to be quiet it seems. Sometimes I can shut it out by will, but not always.
Janice,
I hate that feeling—and I live there way more often than I care to admit! I have my Covey planner (ladder on the right wall!), I have to have my Sunday time to plot things out, make my little daily lists, fake balance for at least that time, then the rest of the chaos is okay.
If I don't get time to plan calmly for an ideal week (I don't need to have the ideal week, just have the plan in place), it just doesn't matter how things go, I feel odd.
I think it's partly my nature, and partly my routine. Forgetting or not finding time to organize is like forgetting to brush my teeth. My head feels like it's screwed on backwards until I try again the next Sunday.
Of course with toothbrushing I try again a little sooner than that. :)
Regards,
Kelly
LOL- I know. It's just not right...like I am going clockwise instead of counter clockwise or something...I think I am beginning to get what all those baseball players talk about with their lucky underwear, or hats or how many slaps on the butt before leaving the locker room they do.
Ah ha ha!
That's what I need. A dude to slap me on the butt a few times before I leave for work in the morning.
*ahem* Just as a good luck routine, you understand...
LOL, LOL...
Yeah , A go get 'em champ butt slap, hm..there's a thought....good luck for sure. ;-)
LOL--I'm laughing at those last comments. I say cocoa and papers might be the ticket--that sure sounds good to me. It's freezing here in Missouri, and I actually had to scrape windows this morning--so comfort and warmth would do the trick for me. We do like our routines, don't we? I find that on the road I really like routine--it's reassuring, and it also keeps me from forgetting things I need to keep track of!
Brr !!!! Scraping windows already? I'm passing the cocoa over to you. Yep, we needed this today. LOL
Cocoa...YUM
I only have it in the morning but the power of suggestion is powerful.
Routine...I can't find mine. I need a small, warm, cosy space to work in and I find myself in a large, chilly space, even if it is cosy-esque in style.
I know you're not supposed to complain in Paris...but not working makes me feel defective!
When are you gonna paint these stacks of stuff?
Hey, You can complain in Paris, Parisians do it all the time. I have noticed in Dallas that I am drawn to geometric shapes more, and stacks...I think it is the influence of all this pavement and all those towers of buildings and highways...I suspect it will gel into a series of sorts. ;-)
Sounds just like Morandi being influenced by his Bologna arcades...
Hot cocoa time!
Dallas Morandi Cartiers... are in the works.
Yes, Cocoa for everyone. :-)
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