Saturday, August 1, 2009

Investing in Your Future

I love quotes. They catch my eye, and at times I find something that really speaks to me. This morning, while checking in on Twitter, I found Clint Watson (clintavo) had posted a quote and link, passed along to you here...

"Every hour spent with your artwork is time invested in your future." ~ Lori Woodward Simons, watercolor artist. http://links.fineartstudioonline.com/links/126.

Lori Simons has started a new art blog there, and I plan to check in on it often. I have a couple others, including Ancient Artist, that I enjoy reading. Though I am a weaver, I find a lot of good information and ideas on art sites that I can apply to my work/studio/time. In her post she mentions starting a 20 hours a week in the studio challenge, and how it was re-posted (or re-tweeted) and has become a movement.

It's not that I don't have regular studio time, I do, but I want to be even more deliberate about it. It's too easy to be distracted by family, friends, computer, and so on. There are days/weeks when I spent far more than 20 hours a week in my studio, and occasionally we all need a break. For myself, I want to be more aware of what I am doing, choices I'm making, and work even more toward my goals.

As I write this, I'm thinking, are you crazy, do you know what the next two weeks will be like? Yet this is exactly why this particular quote and post spoke to me. It would be so easy to blow off any time I could make use of. Not the choice I hope to be making.

For those of us who weave and sell some of what we make, studio time really IS an investment in our future. For those who weave because they enjoy weaving and want to learn, the same quote holds true. Time in the studio weaving and learning increases your knowledge giving you more to build on. Wherever you fall, growth is a goal.

1 comment:

Peg in South Carolina said...

I enjoyed your post and thank you for the link. It looks good. 20 hours in the studio? I probably spend something like that if I think of time in the family room where my computer is (weaving software, notes, blogs, etc.), time spent in the sewing room where my warping and winding tools are. I think it is rare that I don't spend 4 hours a day. But not weekends. I need weekends to get away from weaving and stay fresh.