Keeping a regular written record, or a journal, is the best way I’ve found to keep on track with my various pursuits. I doodle, glue in pictures that interest me, and (gasp!) even write in my journals. They have ranged in size from this small Moleskine shown below to a super large wire bound sketchbooks , but the one thing they have in common is that the only rule is that there are no rules.
Lists help to keep me on track. I started this practice when my youngest son was an infant. Each Sunday I sit down with my journal and make a list of what I’d like to accomplish that week. Sometimes I go back and check off projects as they are completed. Other times I list the projects or actions I took that day or week. This was a real sanity saver when I felt overwhelmed by my duties as a mother. I could look at the page and see that I had accomplished something that week, no matter how small it may have seemed. Little steps added up to bigger work.
Lists can be used to brainstorm ideas. This page was from the year I was going to attempt the “Art by the Inch” challenge. I wrote my options for the time period and listed what supplies I’d need to gather to work on the projects.
This page was done in preparation for a class I was teaching to the Art Quilt Alliance in Columbus Ohio. I wanted to make sure that nothing was forgotten, and I had a little fun drawing the contents of the table I was sitting at while I brainstormed what was needed.
And a goofy collage combining watercolor, colored pencil and a list. So many options for something so mundane helps make the task fun.
How cool :) It seems you had a lot of fun doing these
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes the fun of writing the to do list makes the actually doing the list more bearable. Kind of like what Mary Poppins said :)
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