Creator's high (Project 365 -- Day 137)

The hill across the street where I take Mollie every afternoon.

Except for a brief jewelry-related visit from my friend Joanne this afternoon, I spent most of the day diving into the creative project I mentioned yesterday. I have just a couple of days to put it together, then I can share it with you. I just don't want the person for whom it's intended to get a sneak-peek first, just in case they stop by the blog.

Anyway, I'm in that phase where things haven't quite gelled yet ... which is both fun and frustrating. Fun because there are so many interesting possibilities floating around in my head, and frustrating because there is really very little time to experiment ... which makes the fun shrivel up for me really fast.  I have a bunch of materials scattered about all the horizontal surfaces in several rooms, and I have to make decisions quickly about which way to use them so I can have this project ready on time.

Unfortunately, the part I like the most is imagining and playing around with the possibilities before committing the materials to their final form ... and that's the phase that usually gets shortchanged in order to complete the creation on time, whatever it is.

Maybe the really frustrating thing is ... I feel like I'm always on deadline ... with everything. Once one thing is behind me, I feel like I'm right up against the next thing, and, well, I don't really love it, I must say. Today, it's really frustrating me, in fact, because this is not a work-related project, so I want it to be all fun and no stress. Not quite there yet. I'm sure once I'm further along and things really take shape (at about halfway through), the next round of excitement and adrenaline will kick in ... it always does. I think of it as the creative equivalent of the runner's high ... or the creator's high. You're tired and ready to throw down your x-acto knife and your glue (or your paint or clay), but you have a sudden euphoric vision of the end goal ( ... or you're a little high on glue), so you sprint to the finish line. And then the challenges are all forgotten ... until the next time.

At least I'm on 'deadline' with projects of my own choosing, and that does help ... a lot. And maybe if I didn't have deadlines, I would never get off the dime ... or get out of the paper aisle at Michaels. I suppose I could look at it that way ... deadlines are my friends.

I just wish I had three brains, six sets of eyes, 10 pairs of hands, and 36 hours in a day.

Comments

[Tia]

I will take the 36 hour days...but really need just ONE SPACE FOR MYSELF. My stuff is in bags, boxes...ugh its a mess..and I move from room to room depending on if im cutting glass, soldering, whatever. When the weather is nice, i can work outside in my "tent" area, as I have electric. This week I was on a tremendous creators high...and got offered TWO STORES, and got three orders. May not sound like alot to you, but its just huge for me....so now my "creators high" is turning into the dreaded "deadline"....I want each piece to be from the heart and actually mean something...i dont want to be turning out cookie cutter pieces because im on a deadline....why are artists either high or low...UGH!