In the UK things appear to be easing. People are meeting up, going out and making tentative plans. Time now seems relevant again. We have had over a year of time being a commodity that has been readily available, now we need to consider how we use it, where it goes, how we want to spend it and with whom.

As you know I have had a busy year. Launching into teaching online has been a marvelous distraction from the pandemic, I have ‘met’ so many new friends from all over the world. It has given my life a focus and purpose in what has been a very difficult year. I made a conscious decision to put my heart, soul and time into creating courses to help artists in many aspects of their creating, and to not aim to carve out chunks of time for my own making until I had sufficiently ‘uploaded my head’.  Despite that I have managed (just!) to complete my final MA project and dissertation but I’m now itching to get back to some playing, exploring and making.

This has led me to reflect on where and how we find the time to create. I meet so many people who say they would love to be creative but don’t have the time, and that saddens me as we all have 24 hours in a day and can choose how we spend it in the same way as we chose how to spend our money. As with money there are hours we need to spend on the essentials, but that still leaves us with some choices, even if it’s a few minutes a day, as with money there are times when we have to make sacrifices and other times when we can afford to be generous.  

A creative life requires habits. Doing something, no matter how small each day can build into something that is meaningful. A number of my students on my recent Approaches to Abstraction course were finishing off the 100 Day Challenge. For many committing to just a few minutes a day can reap benefits, but it’s hard to make that commitment. “I’m too busy” “what’s the point” and worse “I’m not worth it” are all thoughts that creep in and take over. Life, family and work get in the way and before we know it we no longer feel we are artists. My Approaches to Abstraction is a challenging course, its about how to develop and resource ideas and subjects. Many students got behind with the tasks but creating cannot always be scheduled, what matters is that we don’t stop….. even if we can’t keep up, we show up!

I taught for many years and whilst I loved it, it’s very easy to lose sight of your own work. It’s a demanding job, and you give away all your best ideas! I used to make sure I had a desk set up in the corner and would go in an hour early or find a lunchtime to work on anything that was NOT part of my teaching schedule. This daily activity would build into an ongoing ‘line of enquiry’ that meant once I hit the summer vacation I had the resources and ideas ready to be explored in depth.  I call this ‘filling my creative fridge’; it provides what I need to create. A self -imposed ‘residency’ throughout August would result in a body of work. Those small daily tasks were crucial, not just for what I produced but to re-enforce my own sense of identity as an artist. I knew from experience that if I let it slip I would find it hard to get back on the saddle, I needed to show up.

When I left teaching my schedule reversed. I would spend my time over the Autumn and Winter months at my studio in Spain and the rest of the year in the UK teaching adults. Spain was where I had the time and space to dig deep without distractions. However, through a disastrous mix of politics and pandemic that schedule is no longer possible, and I need to find a new pattern to my life, a new way to spend the time I have.

I am now 100% based in the UK and I have taken the lease on a new studio in the city. I am so excited! I move in soon and will have separate spaces to create and film. Even with my online teaching I have continued to  ‘fill my creative fridge’ with ideas, resources and reflections so I will be able to spend August making again! I have carved out time…. That most valuable of resources.

Whilst I will not be running any in-person workshops this year, I will be taking part in Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios in September so if you are around do pay me a visit!

WHATS ON MY SCHEDULE NOW?

Confident Composition runs from 12 June

PUSHING PAINT launches on 29th June