It has been a strange several weeks here in the studio! On occasion I get into a manic idea phase and rather than just writing down all of my ideas and filing them in my “future projects to do” list I obsess about how I am going to carry them out and try to schedule them. This is always a mistake and I know it while I am doing it but have a difficult time stopping my mania once it gets going. The only thing I even end up accomplishing is giving myself a raging case of creative block, which is exactly what happened this time.
This often occurs when I am feeling a bit stuck on a project and I don’t get myself out of this strange phase wherein I make far too much for myself to do and end up feeling overwhelmed until I either stumble upon a solution to the problem or I just buckle down and work through it. The latter of the two is where I am at right now. Sometimes you just can’t make the logistics work in your head and have to wing it a bit… I have been staring at this canvas for three weeks now.
Having decided to just power through that little issue (I will post updates or the finished piece soon depending on how much momentum I get going) I am trying to work at my list one item at a time. I have a bulletin board in my office/studio that serves as a place to keep important things, hold inspiration for projects (including little baggies of items that I will use in pieces I have planned), photos, and the dreaded list.
List making is one of the obsessions to my many compulsions. I would be lost without them yet they still vex me at all turns. I try to view them as suggestions rather than concrete plans but even when I am in the place I have been creatively I avoid my lists and revert to making new things to do that have nothing to do with the existing lists in my life (I have many more; the household chore list alone is two pages long!). A good example of this habit of mine would be the creative writing group I started at the beginning of the month. Now I am running three blogs (well, I am trying to) and have given myself a weekly writing assignment! I am also planning the podcast that I am going to produce (which will give me a fourth blog to keep track of) so the outlines for the first 25 episodes are pretty much finished but that projects list above my desk still gives me the finger every morning.
In the name of pulling my boots out of the mud and trudging my silly ass out of the swamp I have once again created for myself I am going to jump back at this list. I will be spending the afternoon elbow deep in epoxy resin clay so that I can get more on that canvas than those poor lonely trees but because I need to force myself to get over myself I am moving forward with a project that has been chipping away at my self confidence for some time.
I announced at drawing in the fall for my skull cameos but am now realizing that the parameters I set for that were a bit unrealistic. The original plan was to choose a winner for my blog when I reached 50 subscribers here and another winner for Facebook when Katie Cahill Art got 100 followers/ “likes”. Rather than allowing myself to get all wrapped up in the imaginary rejection of not attaining this goal, I am going to move forward with the drawing.
Since I finally located the proper findings to finish the cameos and they are ordered and on the way I am going to check that project off my list this week by getting at least 10 make up and listed in my Etsy shop. To kick off this event and to celebrate Halloween I will be doing the drawings on Monday, October 31st. I will still be choosing two winners, one from the list of people who are subscribed to my blog and one from FB so there is still time to make sure you are in the running by subscribing to this blog or “liking” Katie Cahill Art on FB.
Just to refresh your memories here is a photo of the first cameo I made. They are all handmade and painted so each will be a little different in color and texture. I can’t wait to find out who wins and I am very excited to finally get my store up and running! Watch for upcoming official announcements here!
