joys and challenges, focus, balance, strawberries and terrariums
"Happiness depends on courage and work."
--Honore de Balzac
Some days require more courage and work than others, don't you think?
I think the most important thing is to be aware. To pay attention.
This week I was working on a few projects that had me so engrossed that I could think of nothing else. I was obsessed. At first it was ok. I was having fun. I was painting.
And focus is good. I have been striving to tame my tendency towards distraction, attempting to be single-minded instead of scattered. Going too far in the other direction isn't good either. Even when painting. It's good to get up once in a while to reheat my tea and go to the bathroom (if nothing else). When I switched from painting to computer stuff, that's when everything got thrown out of whack. Some of you have mentioned my new strawberry bits on my blog. I do love them, but I'd be embarrassed to tell you how long it took me. It's fine. I'm not a graphic designer. That sort of thing is difficult for me. Something as simple as choosing a font is baffling. Spending extra time when there's such a learning curve is to be expected. But then I had the brilliant idea to redesign my website. After hours of resizing images to fit in a different portfolio template, I made my site live only to find out that the back-end view of the portfolio pages looks different from the online view. Very different. I was frustrated (an understatement); I was tired and my I immediate reaction was to frantically fix my site, to re-do the whole thing so it would be right. After not finding an easy way to do that, I realized what I really needed was to step away for a bit.
I would love to tell you that I didn't spend any time after that tinkering with my website, that I stepped away and did something wildly creative. But that's not the case (I did make cookies, does that count for something?). For now, though, I've made peace with my portfolio. It's just going to stay the way it is for a bit and I am going to move on to other things.
Possibly painting some more terrariums.
This is a print of a painting I was working on last week (you may have caught a sneak peek on Instagram). It was so much fun to do. And today it was so much fun to spot it on the front of the link for Country Living's Mason Jar Mania collection on Great.ly.
Selling my art on Great.ly is a new thing for me and I created the mason jar piece for that special collection. Challenging myself to paint something a little different from my norm was good. And it's inspired me to do some more. As long as I don't get sidetracked by computers and website tinkering.
Wishing you balance, joy and a lovely weekend.
--Honore de Balzac
Some days require more courage and work than others, don't you think?
I think the most important thing is to be aware. To pay attention.
This week I was working on a few projects that had me so engrossed that I could think of nothing else. I was obsessed. At first it was ok. I was having fun. I was painting.
And focus is good. I have been striving to tame my tendency towards distraction, attempting to be single-minded instead of scattered. Going too far in the other direction isn't good either. Even when painting. It's good to get up once in a while to reheat my tea and go to the bathroom (if nothing else). When I switched from painting to computer stuff, that's when everything got thrown out of whack. Some of you have mentioned my new strawberry bits on my blog. I do love them, but I'd be embarrassed to tell you how long it took me. It's fine. I'm not a graphic designer. That sort of thing is difficult for me. Something as simple as choosing a font is baffling. Spending extra time when there's such a learning curve is to be expected. But then I had the brilliant idea to redesign my website. After hours of resizing images to fit in a different portfolio template, I made my site live only to find out that the back-end view of the portfolio pages looks different from the online view. Very different. I was frustrated (an understatement); I was tired and my I immediate reaction was to frantically fix my site, to re-do the whole thing so it would be right. After not finding an easy way to do that, I realized what I really needed was to step away for a bit.
I would love to tell you that I didn't spend any time after that tinkering with my website, that I stepped away and did something wildly creative. But that's not the case (I did make cookies, does that count for something?). For now, though, I've made peace with my portfolio. It's just going to stay the way it is for a bit and I am going to move on to other things.
Possibly painting some more terrariums.
This is a print of a painting I was working on last week (you may have caught a sneak peek on Instagram). It was so much fun to do. And today it was so much fun to spot it on the front of the link for Country Living's Mason Jar Mania collection on Great.ly.
Selling my art on Great.ly is a new thing for me and I created the mason jar piece for that special collection. Challenging myself to paint something a little different from my norm was good. And it's inspired me to do some more. As long as I don't get sidetracked by computers and website tinkering.
Wishing you balance, joy and a lovely weekend.
I do find that stepping away makes a difficult task much easier when you return to it. But tinkering with website changes is definitely frustrating. I feel scattered when there's too much to be done. But focusing on one thing, like crochet, and forgetting that the house needs to be cleaned, seems like a good compromise most days. :) Best wishes, Tammy
ReplyDeleteForgetting that the house needs to be cleaned sounds good to me. :)
DeleteBut I totally know what you mean about feeling scattered. I feel that way, too. Flitting from task to task and not getting anything really accomplished.
Your artwork is so beautiful Anne especially the butterflies with the terrariums - oh and I have just spotted the little snail! How delightful! Your website is lovely Anne. I am computer challenged so rarely update the look of my blog even though I would love to make it different and not have to use generic templates. I hope you have a lovely weekend. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Simone. I had a fun time with the terrariums and had to sort through my photos for a photo I took of a tiny snail so I could paint that little guy. I don't like slugs in the garden, but for some reason I don't mind snails so much. Maybe because I rarely see them.
DeleteI think if you like the look of your blog it doesn't really matter if it doesn't change very often. I just wanted to integrate my blog and website and I guess I'm a bit computer challenged, too. At least there's google. Type in my question or problem and for the most part I can find an answer.
Hope your weekend was lovely, too, Simone!
Well look at your work linked over at Great.ly! It's wonderful to see you balancing creativity and marketing so nicely Anne. It seems quite the daunting challenge to me. Continued success to you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karen. And I'm glad it looks like I'm balancing them nicely. Boy is it a challenge!
DeleteYou are so talented and so good with words. You help me feel better when I struggle.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Carla
Thanks so much, Carla. You help me to feel better, too, when you leave comments like this on my posts!
DeleteThose mason jar illustrations are so charming, Anne. They make me feel spring when I look at them! Congratulations on the feature, too. Your hard work is paying off! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Laurie. Spring... I guess we're both constantly looking for tastes of spring, no? Can't get enough of the promise that it will be here eventually.
DeleteOh Anne, I feel your pain! If I could count the hours I've spent tinkering on the computer😭
ReplyDeleteI can imagine you do! Your site always looks so good, but I guess that's true from the outside!
DeleteI really dislike making blog design changes, Anne. So, unfortunately, my blog stays pretty static. Your terrariums are delightful. Congratulations on the feature. Very exciting! xxx ~ Nancy
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nancy. I think that if you like the look of your blog then, by all means keep it the same. A blog where you post regularly is never static! And content is the important part!
Delete