Consistency without misery
I’ve never completed a 30-day painting challenge or even a 7-day one, but I’ve been making art steadily for eight years.
Before I started painting, I thought that if I did not force myself to do things (if I did not create a sense of emergency, and make deadlines with six alarms set, and blast myself over and over, ‘do it, or else!’) that I would just never do anything.
Then, the summer I turned 30 I got a sketchbook. I had just finished my doctorate and was disoriented by the realization that I might be too sick to actually work full time. For the first time in ages, I embarked on something without urgency. My creative practice became a No Self-Discipline Zone. I sketched when I wanted to, I made marks that felt good in my hand, I wrote sentences that felt like exhales. I took a ton of breaks, and returned when it sparked. It was a flicker of curiosity and I let myself follow it in the easiest ways possible. My goals became: staying connected to my self, gently and confidently following my interests, resting and beginning again and again.
Now I’m here, making art about how this kind of uneven, now and then not-now, different-every-time kind of presence has been a perfectly effective sort of consistency, without the misery.
“Consistency” is available here as a print, and will go out as a sticker to all Patreon members who are on a tier that includes a sticker reward.
ps. We’re updating prices and retiring prints! Shop the full collection at the old prices for just a little longer. Just for newsletter-friends: use GOODCHANGE20 for 20% off prints as we prep for the update.
🎉 and - it’s Free Art Day
a happy update: after several days of being sick, Miko is on the mend and eating again! thanks for the well wishes.