Time to go off and explore
Last year I took the month of August “off work” to give myself the chance to do art things for fun, to not do any art at all, to do things other than art, and generally have a break from running my business. I really enjoyed the chance to get my other materials out and play around, and to stop the constant niggle of “I should be doing more!” regarding finding stockists and pitching prospective clients. Although I don’t go to the fullest expression by adopting an out-of-office autoreply on my email, I do give myself permission to do any admin at my own pace, and when I feel inclined.
My best laid plans last year went a little awry, as I mainly worked on the Birds of the Appalachian Trail logbook, which to be fair, did feel like a break as I was immersing myself in the project rather than just churning out illustrations and text. I have just had the all-clear for one of the posters I have been working on for Mossy Earth so that needs checking and finalising before sending off.
I will also carry on practising my graphic recording as I am too new to those skills to be abandoning them for a month, but that’s fine as I want to become more confident, and I will work on A1 with big pencils or even paints, so that will be fun. There are walks to be done with the dogs, weather-permitting, and I’m kicking off my summer break with my daughter’s wedding, so this coming week counts as my last few days before the hols. I’m expecting a delivery of birdwatching logbooks to fulfil one large order and replenish my other titles but I’m not expecting any orders during August.
To plan or not to plan
Part 1
I always wonder if I should have a structure in place for time off, if for no other reason than to make me think of an alternative activity, as I’m not very good at just dreaming up something to do, but I am very good at thinking I ought to quickly do a necessary task and then getting sucked into other work chores. If I plan my time, it helps me decouple myself from the usual routine that inevitably wins as I’m still at home and surrounded by all the usual prompts and stimuli. I’m not in a position to relocate for any length of time, but I might try some art dates with myself to some of my favourite haunts, or give myself a theme to work on during the break so I have some sort of anchor for my creativity. It would be the perfect opportunity to go to London, but I can’t bring myself to schlep around the city with all the tourists while lugging a rucksack in the heat. Bexhill is a possibility as I love the De La Warr Pavilion, and there’s an old-world charm to the seafront which makes for a nice outlook for sketching.
Part 2
The other sort of planning is having some time and headspace to think about the upcoming season/quarter/year for my business, which is fun and helps keep me positive and focussed when I feel invisible or uninspired. Does that count as work? I listened to a podcast about someone who planned their whole year (albeit loosely) during a week in the summer, and I think if I’m in hibernation mode, and don’t feel as if I’m being expected to immediately act upon any of my bright ideas, I can see how I would find it liberating to be musing about say, Valentine’s Day during August. Having an overarching vision of the upcoming year would be really helpful, and I can use a big sheet of paper and lots of colours.
What are your plans for the summer?
