Beginning The Day:
It's 2 PM and I'm sitting in front of my compose screen in my fuzzy slippers. I've been awake for hours and hours. Reading, mostly. Absorbing and thinking. Drawing a little, too.
Some of my most productive hours are the ones I spend reading and writing in bed, just after waking. All of my "A" papers in college were written this way, and most of the doodles in sketchbooks which worked out the details for paintings, drawings, and fiber constructions. I wondered if it was odd, and I wondered if I was unusual for working this way, but it was too productive for me to waste time with deconstruction and analysis. I had to just do it. Because it worked.
So, Is This Unusual?
Later, I found out that hosts of the most creative writers, people like Iris Murdoch, Paul Bowles, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, all wrote in bed. And many visual artists who create from the imagination, especially da da-ists and surrealists, begin their working days before they're out of bed by reading books, and grabbing their bedside sketchbooks and pencils and putting their ideas and dreams on paper.
Salvidor Dali was up early and in the studio every morning. He never worked past the early afternoon light, spending his late afternoons and evenings seeing as many new things as possible, having as many creative conversations as possible with as many creative people as possible, and eating complex and creatively prepared foods with a variety of wines each night from 8 PM on. But, he began his day in bed, with coffee and a sketchbook, also spending a good part of the morning reading in bed before making his way to the studio.
What Works For Me:
Before I got married and my husband's opposite schedule turned my life topsy-turvy, I was up every morning before sunrise. I'd have coffee or tea in bed, and read, write, and draw before my shower and breakfast. I'd get at least three or four hours in before leaving the house by 8 or 9 AM. I still work this way. It's just that now, my mornings start a bit later in the day.
On days when my work required intense writing, drawing, or other creative work, particularly if I was on a deadline, I'd take it all home, climb into bed, and get to work thinking, writing, and sketching. In a couple of hours, I'd have completed something fresh and creative which would have taken me more than twice as long in the office, and would have resulted in something less than half as good.
What Works for You:
Everyone has their habits. It isn't about what's best from the expert's perspective, it's about what works best for you.
So much has been said about the discipline needed to lead a working, creative life. So many "successful" methods continue to be marketed as books and workshops. I agree that it takes discipline to be an artist. Any kind of artist. But for those of us whose work springs primarily from our imaginations, I've found that we must often be particularly imaginative in the way we get our work done. Talking with other artists and reading about many methods is all well and good. But in the end, the real test of discipline rests with finding and doing it "your" way. And the ultimate test is whether or not you cave-in to criticism when your own way is questioned, or when others feel that it would be "in your best interests" to perhaps work differently.
In the end, there will always be similarites among us. We are even similar in our differences, so finding your own way and being faithful to it really isn't so very threatening, is it? How could discovering and practicing what upholds and supports you uniquely and artistically be a threat? And if others are uncomfortable by your means and methods, perhaps it will help to remember that conformists are by their very nature, uncomfortable with the unique. At least until it becomes popular (and no longer unique). The difference has nothing to do with right and wrong, should and should not. It's about how we're wired. Do you really need to understand and be understood by everyone? Finding your own way and courageously being who you are is the most rewarding and productive way of all to live this life we're given. At least in my opinion.
Just food for thought...
Further reading:
Paul Bowles, A Life by Virginia Spencer Carr
Without Stopping, An Autobiography by Paul Bowles
50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship by Salvador Dali
The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali by Salvador Dali
Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time by Joseph Frank
The truth is always good to read! I wholeheartedly agree with you... Since I started to do my own thing and say "no" to popular workshops, etc., I am far happier and creatively far more productive, in my own way! It's like finding a Prince, I guess - you have kiss a lot of frogs! 'o)
xoxoxo
Posted by: Rosie | December 26, 2011 at 09:20 AM