The Artist's Way

[sandytn]

I've recently begun to think I might be an artist. Maybe. Why do you suppose we have such a hard time defining ourselves as such? We create original works, some of mine are anyway. :? Maybe the keyword is "create". We all do that.
Sherry in S MS

[sandytn]

I feel like I just got back from a week long artist date! I got to quilt for 3 days with friends, then our husbands joined us for the weekend, and then I got to spend 2 days with my husband relaxing in the sun on the rocks of the north shore of Lake Superior.(my most favorite place) Was heavenly! I feel relaxed, recharged and ready to go!!
I am also on chapter 7-- the perfectionism really struck a chord!!

[sandytn]

Hi Everyone, What's happening here? Has everyone dropped out? I've been checking the site every day and nothing is posted, so today I decided I should post something. My check in: I have done my morning pages, which I now call my daily pages since they don't always get done in the morning, only a few days this week. I guess I have been slacking off, too. I can use the excuse, "I cain't, I'm busy!" like on one of the TQS t-shirts, but the truth is even though I have been busy, I was reading rather than writing. I have a new resolve now for this coming week. I hope eveyone else gets back on track and continues to share. It really helps to keep me motivated. Have a good week! Mary Anne

[sandytn]

I am still trucking along......I have learned, ha ha, (I already knew) I am NOT a perfectionist.

[Margo]

Me, too, Judy! My first quilt mentor absolutely cringed when she heard me say that "finished is better than perfect!" LOL!!!

I do try to do my best, and sometimes I'll re-do something, but I want to enjoy the process, not worry it to death!

I've given up on my morning pages, but worked through (?) the exercises and most of the tasks for this week. My "artist's date" this week will be the AQS Quilt Expo in Nashville. DH and I will go for 2 nights at the Opryland Hotel to also celebrate our anniversary. Good timing, huh?

[sandytn]

I'm not a perfectionist but I have a tendency to want to point out all the mistakes instead of gracefully accepting a compliment. I haven't been as faithful on the morning pages this week, but did pretty good last week. My problem is life or work gets in the way and if I only have time to check in on TQS or do morning pages guess which one is going to win. And my artist date this week is the quilt show in Nashville but on for the day.

[sandytn]

I am happy to know that I am not the only one who is not a perfectionist. (I take special care when participating in a swap because I don't want to send something that isn't acceptable.) I am not doing morning papers all the time(although I have always enjoyed journaling), but I am still enjoying the book, the tasks, and the comments on this forum.
No artist date yet, this week, I have been cleaning out closets and drawers, but I will slip some type of creative fun in by the end of the week I am sure. Elizabeth

[sandytn]

I have always used my morning hours to do my sewing hand work. The morning pages were taking away my precious alone time. I am still doing the morning pages fairly regularly, however, I am only writing one page. That is what is working best for me.

[sandytn]

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad y'all are still plugging along. I am a perfectionist and have always felt quilting is a great place to be as perfect as I can be, which is not always perfect to my eye. I have spent years trying to let up on the perfectionism in other areas of my life in order to lessen the pressure and stress I put on myself. When I have put in a good effort, my motto is: "It's good enough!" Absolutely perfect is impossible to achieve and I keep reminding myself of that. Besides, one person's perfect may not be another's perfect. So, it is in the eye of the beholder! The quilter's motto of "the ten foot rule" is really a good one for me. Besides, remember, quilt police are always self-appointed! I'm going to go journal now on what's behind my perfectionism. A good topic to explore again. Thanks for all you comments. That's what I love about this forum. Gets me thinking. Have a great day, everyone. Mary Anne

[eileenkny]

I didn't write morning pages while on vacation but I did start right back up the day we got home.
I'm going to start week 7 tomorrow. I've been slacking off too. Too much going on right now.
Eileen

[eileenkny]

I can honestly say that I haven't slacked off .... I have quit completely! :cry:
I've lost all desire to get back to it. Guess I'll put the book aside and wait till we do this again later. I'll be able to start when everyone else does then and hopefully get more out of it. It just seemed like I was way to far behind everyone else to really be able to connect what was being discussed on the forum with what I was reading at the time.
For those of you still hanging on. Way To Go!

[eileenkny]

Glad to see others are still plugging away too! I have just started week 9. I think the book is pretty amazing and am really glad to be doing it. I haven't missed a morning with my morning pages-- but I actually like doing them! I'm thinking that reading them may be a long and rather boring experiece however! we will see :-) I'm not so great with the artist dates however. The best one was the week we were supposed to do an all day one--I pulled out one of my many quilt books with techniques I want to try-- and actually tried it!!! Has anyone had some good artist dates?
Linda

[eileenkny]

Hi Everyone,

I am so glad to see so many people sticking with it! Good Job.

I finally got moved to California, I live in in Larkspur now, right across the bay from San Francisco. Its BEAUTIFUL here. I am SO happy to be out of Memphis! I am only about 7 or 8 miles from the Dharma Trading company (if your not familiar with them check out there website, lots of textiles stuff!). Anyway, now that I am getting settled in you all should be seeing little more of me, the job search is taking up a lot of my time but hopefully that will be resolved soon too!

So did anyone have any major breakthrough while doing the Artist way program?

Drew

[MAMA2TNT]

I haven't been very diligent in the tasks and have given up the morning pages. I think I'm about a week behind in chapters. I always read them and sometimes reread them. I try to do at least one of the tasks, usually more.

I can't claim any great breakthroughs. I'll consider this a success if I just get through the book! Another time, maybe my life won't be so chaotic as it has been this summer and I can devote more time and concentration to this process.

Joyce

[MAMA2TNT]

My mind is so full of ideas for quilts that I wonder how long I am going to live to be able to complete the ones in my head now, let alone all the ones I will dream up while I sleep and imagine.