Be Patient During the Chaos

Are you in a position of comfort and routine?  What a dream!?  I bet you're tempted to stay there right?  Yet, have you considered what a little chaos might add to your life?  Let me explain...

My house is in complete and utter disarray.  That's right, "The Artists' House" looks more like the inside of a storage unit than anything else these days...

The reason being that we are currently remodeling three rooms in our small six room home: refinishing original wood floors, creating a studio slash office space for me, and repainting 2/3 of the house's interior.  And while this project was my idea, chaos like this goes against every bone in my body.  My personality demands control, order, and routine; unfortunately my life could not be further from that right now.

Yet, in a couple days when this "little" project is all said and done, the results will absolutely be worth the chaos it took to achieve what I know will be a beautiful space.  

This really got me thinking beyond my home, and instead about the things I create everyday.  Often when I step out of the daily routine of what's comfortable, both me and my work grow and evolve.  And even though it's more comfortable to keep creating things that are familiar, I think it's important to step out and try new techniques, ideas, and inspirations within the realm of one's work. 

Are you too comfortable?  Where do you need to step out of your comfort zone to achieve something beautiful?  The results might surprise you, as long as you can be patient during the chaos. 

Well, its back to work for me.  The bucket of paint and brush are screaming my name....

You Just Need to Change the Lightbulb

This awesome photo came from Etsy artist Lense Cat

Have you ever had a light-bulb experience?  You know the kind; where you come up with this amazing idea and you can visualize it perfectly in your head.  Your excitement and energy soars and you spend hours, maybe even days, creating this "light-bulb idea" just to have the final finished product be, well not exactly a masterpiece?

This has happened to every creative soul out there, don't be discouraged.  And while in all honesty I too have found this terribly discouraging, I now realize this is called "the creative process".  Most artists never create a masterpiece on their first try.  Often this "light-bulb idea", if fostered, continues down a path, taking turns here and there.  It took me a while to learn this, and once I did I noticed that my work grew over time and got better.

Let's think about this light-bulb analogy again.  Have you ever had a room where when you go to turn on the light, your anticipating something, maybe a bright glow.  You flip the switch only to be disappointed; instead the room is too dull and maybe a bit dreary.  If you have the wrong wattage bulb the light is not going to do it's job; it's going to make the room either too bright and florescent, or too dark.  The room might be fine, really beautiful actually, but if the light is wrong, the feel of the whole room suffers.

And so in this example, should we throw out the entire room?  No, that's absurd.  The same might be said for your "light-bulb idea".  Don't scrap the idea.  Rather, play with the wattage.  Maybe you just need to change a light-bulb and soon your idea will shine!