Real Time in the Play House

The Casita just had a name change: The Play House.  "Studio" seems pretentious for what I intend to do.  I want to start back with colors and pencils without any grand expectations. As a novice, I give myself more freedom if I call it what it is--play. 

Making things teaches me a lot.  One of the things I've learned is that  I generally prefer playing on single pages instead of pretty journals.  I'm something of a perfectionist and if I don't like a page, I will tear it out or abandon the journal. If it's just one page, it's less precious, more friendly, easier to discard. 

I have been re-organizing my art supplies.  I have enough art supplies to last for the rest of my life.  

Most of the tutorials on You Tube speed up the process, especially when the process gets repetitive. 

What I'm looking for are not videos that turn me into an artist, but those that show me how to use materials to achieve certain effects.  I may not entirely love their finished products, but I gather elements that interest me.  Last night I discovered videos by Suzanne Rose Art.  She chooses to do her lessons, slowly, in real time, not editing out pauses and repetitions.  Her voice is very calming, and her tutorials are relaxing for 2 a.m. people like me. 

Real time also takes me to a different place--to relaxation while learning.  During the pandemic (and especially post-surgery)  I have lost my mojo.  Time seems to have changed since going into virtual isolation.  I'd have expected that a time like this would have stretched out time in a beneficial way, but it hasn't done so for me--maybe because of the recurring nerve pain that sometimes wakes me up at night.  (I will be resuming physical therapy on Monday, hoping that it will help as it did before.)

My days are unpredictable.  Some days are less affected by sciatica than others.  But most often, whatever I'm doing stops around 11:00 in the morning due to the pain, then resumes after a pain pill and a nap.  It takes three days to do what I used to do in one.  

Watching interesting content in "real time" is like a refreshing meditation.  It grounds me and inspires me at the same time.  

Yesterday I ventured into the Play House.  I realized that I had actually forgotten what some pens and markers could do.  So I'm doing an inventory of tools.  Which ones are water-soluble?  Which ones make marks that are re-activated by water?  Which ones are not affected by a top layer of water-color or straight water? 

So as I begin my re-entry into the Play House--and the wealth of papers and colors therein--I've decided to reserve my mornings for play, to avoid or abbreviate phone calls, appointments, texts, and emails on mornings I wake up with a burst of energy.  

I'm also going to try out all the materials at my disposal: markers, crayons, pastels, pens, brushes, stamps, and stencils.  I have no talent for drawing.  But I want to start with making marks and colorful papers and then turn them into collages. 

To play more, to experiment more, every morning--that's  as close as I can get to a New Year's Resolution.