A couple of weeks ago I took a Creative Retreat. I stayed home for it but I got the idea from Joel Zaslofsky’s site www.valueofsimple.com where he explained his Continuous Creation Challenge. I was needing a mental get away to sort through several things that were running around in my head. My kids were both gone for the weekend and my SO (significant other) was at work. Side Note: My SO is a very private person and my kids have their own lives so I don’t use their names or drag them into my crazy world any more than necessary. I will use initals or nicknames as needed.
My rules for the weekend were no TV, no music, no email or Facebook, no phone calls for long talks, no going out to grocery store, etc. I had a few projects in mind to work on. The first being to paint the chair in the photo above. My dog Kato is the model. He doesn’t care if I use his name. Yes, paint it. Google painting fabric furniture for instructions. This chair has been with me forever, was a hand-me-down and matches absolutely nothing else I own. So, I decided to use it to experiment on.
Below are a few notes that I took the morning after Day One of my retreat:
“My little brain is on overload this morning. After a somewhat disappointing first day to a creativity weekend the quiet and introspection has done its work. My creative juices are flowing and I’m wondering how I’m going to get it all done/out. Did I mention yesterday didn’t go so well? So unwell that I forgot my SO’s birthday. Not good.
My attempt at painting a fabric chair had mixed results. It came out not as good as I hoped, not as bad as I feared. That was sort of my experience for the whole day. I had difficulty focusing on just one thing at a time as I have been a multi-multi-tasker for decades now and am trying to lose that addiction. I kept seeing the piles of filing I need to do and the laundry that needs to be put up. No tv and no music was both helpful and yet frustrating. By the end of the day I had caved in to Pinterest under the guise of “inspiration”. I did manage to make a good homemade pizza for dinner. That may have been my most creative accomplishment for the day.”
I was surprised at how hard Day One turned out to be. I really did have a hard time getting my brain to focus on one thing. For my next post I will let you know how Day Two went.
Go have a great day!
Pencils, Paint & Paper 