It’s January 31st, and I think we can well and truly say that 2024 has been properly launched. The end of January is a good moment to stop and look back at all those brave resolutions and goals and decide which ones are still worth pursuing. To quote Douglas Adams:
“I love deadlines. I love that whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
—Douglas Adams
This year, I really want to make some progress in the studio, which means I need to work on two habits: putting in the hours; and showing up ready to go. While I didn’t “make my numbers” this month, I did put some concentrated time in and got over a big hurdle on one of my UFO’s.
Still only about 1/3 done, but I feel like I’ve really built up dimensionality & detail, while working over the image as a whole.
But what does “showing up ready to go” mean? And how does that get tracked? In 2022, I joined a co-working group through Meetup, and joined the facilitator’s three days per week subscription (founded by Hadley Seymore at creative coworking.club Really worthwhile, and excellent value!) Last year, I was really noticing (with great self-annoyance), that I was consistently tuning into the group at the appointed hour, and then spending at least half that time getting my gear set up, and putting my art-thinking hat on straight, not actually getting stuff done.
The habit I’d like to build this year can be summed up by the phrase, mise-en-place. It’s French for “everything in its place,” and is taught to apprentice chefs as the first and most important habit they need to be successful in the kitchen. Basically, it’s the set up of knife, chopping block, ingredients and other gear that the cook needs to prepare a dish. It is also an apropos concept for an artist’s studio—setting out all the kit you need to work on a piece with every tool in easy reach.
My current mise-en-place for the Tulips project.
Of course, the really important mise-en-place is inside your head. It’s no good showing up to a nicely laid-out palette and clean brushes if your mind is still pre-occupied with the daily blah-blah-blahs, is it? Well, I can only say: That’s a work in progress. 🙃
Of course, that has resulted in less writing here. If I don’t actually make things, I won’t have anything to write about! This month, it meant we didn’t go to the Soup-er Bowl here in Santa Fe. The Soup-er Bowl is an annual fundraiser for The Food Depot, a local food pantry for the needy. Each year, local chefs compete to create the best gourmet bowl of soup for bragging rights and to highlight the need for food security here in one of the poorest states in the Union.
Chef Ahmed Obo receiving the trophy for best soup at The Food Depot’s annual Soup-er Bowl. This photo was in the newsletter I received from The Food Depot announcing the chef’s win.
This year’s winner was Chef Ahmed Obo, owner of Jambo Cafe, with his Roasted Beet and Ginger Coconut Bisque. Chef Obo has won the competition many times before; in fact, he formally self-retired from the event for several years because he won so many times in a row that he felt it wasn’t fair to the other chefs in town! I kinda wish now that we had gone instead of making a donation by buying tickets, but 1600 people packed into Santa Fe’s undersized convention hall sounded like a madhouse, so avoiding the crowd was the wiser choice for us. The Food Depot raised over $100,000–a major success!
What are you focusing on this year? What habits or actions are going to be key in helping you reach your goal? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!
PS—I’ll be publishing two days in a row this week, so don’t freak out when you receive another email tomorrow from New Mexico Wildflowers. I promise I haven’t become a newsletter spammer! 😳 I just plan to start a special series of posts for February and wanted to end this month and kick off the next properly. 😉👍
So many times I can find myself organizing or cleaning my studio instead of painting and getting to work. Yet sometimes the process of clearing physical space clears the way in my head for creative flow. I often find that I work / create more when I’ve a sketchbook and pencil just randomly in the living room so that when I sit, I grab it and just begin. Then I can’t wait to get into my studio and do more 💕 Thanks for sharing Wren!
I've tried not to think too hard about all the things that are not getting attention because of the all-consuming writing of the newsletter! It's a conundrum!