Tag: writing

another personal at-home summer art retreat…

With all of the stress and change and difficulty of the past several months (and longer), I decided to have another personal at-home summer art retreat. Last year’s – which you can read about here – was fun and nourishing, and it helped me cope.

So I decided to do it again.

Since starting on June 1, I’ve been spending more time than usual painting and doodling and art journaling. There’s nothing structured. No set schedule. Just doing my best to make more time for creative play.

Sometimes I doodle.

I’ve been drawing some mandalas and using colored markers to color them (which is sooo relaxing and calming).

I’ve returned to some old canvases to make some changes.

Even something as simple as painting watercolor swatches counts as part of my art retreat.

The main thing is to have fun. It’s relaxing for me, it helps reduce my levels of stress and anxiety, and it keeps me connected to my creativity.

And creativity is a joy connection for me.

The months since last summer’s personal at-home art retreat have been difficult ones. My husband has had a stroke, which has brought us changes and challenges. He’s had surgery to get a pacemaker. There have been numerous doctor visits and tests and procedures.

And my days have held a lot of stress, anxiety, and fear of the future.

Creativity has been helping me. Writing, painting, sketching, doodling. All done with no pressure. All done just for the enjoyment of it – just for the doing of it.

That’s why it was an easy decision for me to have another personal at-home summer art retreat this year. It’s something I’m doing for my own self care and soul nourishment.

I hope you have something that brightens your days and lightens your load. It doesn’t have to be a commitment for the whole summer. It doesn’t have to be an at-home art retreat. It doesn’t have to be anything with timelines or guidelines or pressure.

It just needs to be something that connects you to joy and nourishes your soul.

Something that helps you get through your days.

❤

creativity begets creativity…

Something I’ve noticed over the years is that the more I create, the more I create.

It’s true that there are cycles of creativity, and sometimes it seems to flow abundantly and sometimes it slows to a point that makes me wonder if it’ll turn back on. But all the same, it seems to be true that the more often and more consistently I write or paint, the more likely it is that I will continue to write or paint, and the more of it I’ll do. Even with the ebbs and flows, and the stalls and starts, the overall trajectory is that creating leads to more creating.

For me, this is the case with writing as I continue to slowly and gradually work on the sequel to New Life in New Melody.

And it is the case with painting and doodling and art journaling as I continue with my personal at-home summer art retreat.

Big blocks of time aren’t necessary to engage in some creativity – even brief bits of time work really, really well.

The thing is to do it. To create for its own sake…and for our own sake.

And if your experience is similar to mine, you might find that the more you create, the more you create.

♥

old newspapers as calming distraction…

It might seem strange to say that exploring decades-old newspapers brings me a sense of calm, but it does. The history. The tidbits of social information. The photographs and advertisements of stores and restaurants that no longer exist.

I like it all. And it provides a way to occupy my mind and distract me from anxious thoughts – with the added benefit of learning things that can help me with my genealogical and historical explorations. The main site I use is newspapers.com because it has the papers for the locations I’m exploring. But there are other options too.

As I’ve mentioned before, genealogy is one of my hobbies (and is also something that serves as calming distraction for me) and newspapers have provided lots of information about generations of family members. There are the expected wedding announcements and obituaries, but I’ve also discovered things I knew nothing about: unexpected photos and news articles about relatives.

In addition to genealogical research, I also turn to old newspapers for help with my writing, especially when it comes to fiction. My novel, New Life in New Melody (and its earlier version, In New Harmony), takes place in 1943, and I’m currently working on a sequel set in 1944. Exploring newspapers from back then, especially the one published in my novels’ geographic location, has led to lots of helpful information and historically accurate slice-of-life tidbits for my stories.

Since not all news is pleasant or happy, I try to pay attention to my emotional and mental capacity, and I don’t tackle heavier-duty research topics on days I don’t feel up to it. But usually, looking through old papers provides me with interesting distractions that actually help me deal with anxiety. It transports me to another place, a different time, and other lives that aren’t my own.

In recent months, I’ve posted about a few different things that work for me when it comes to providing some calming distraction from life, stress, and anxiety. Exploring old newspapers might be an unexpected one – but sometimes we find help in unexpected places.

❤