Recently I posted an Instagram story about how as artists we need to be our own curator, PR and marketing team, admin, technician, studio manager, art handler, social media manager, web designer, application writer, archivist and photographer (Source | Twitter). That’s a lot before maybe even finding some time to nurture your creativity.

I like to think of practice as 3 elements: creativity, productivity and sharing. All of which rely on you as a fully resourced and healthy human being. When all our energies get pulled into the productivity and marketing (and those things can be so very urgent and demanding) it’s easy to neglect the creative play that underpins it all. The tumble of meeting deadlines and pinging messages here and there can feel super-busy and productive. But there will always be more to do than will comfortably fit in, and almost everything we say YES to will inevitably take more time and energy than we anticipated. There’s a lot to gain from knowing what to say NO to. For a start, it makes space for new possibilities to emerge, and builds a sense of selectivity about the things you do decide to say YES to.

So I hope you’re having some time off over Easter. We’re still living in extraordinary times, and your body and brain need time to rest and recover. There will always be stuff (and people) making demands on your time, but you need you too.

Clearing

 

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself to this world
so worthy of rescue.

Martha Postlethwaite