I have a very strange approach to making art. If I find something that I really enjoy doing, and I feel I can manage it fairly successful without much obsessing, I will make multiples of that item for a LONG TIME until I get burned out. It can go on for weeks or months or years. Sometimes what I make will evolve (which happened with polymer clay and bead making) and sometimes it will just be the same thing until I stop doing it. I’m much more comfortable when I know exactly what I’m focused on every day. Like when I’m making jewelry, or making beads, or working on a series of specific drawings for class. I like having a map to follow. Creative experimenting is not something I’m god it- it overwhelms me to just “go with the flow”.

I feel myself slipping into the “map” mode with my latest drawings (which I have to photograph and post). I’m obsessed with doing them and every day I spend a few hours working on them. They are tedious and take a while, but I *really* love the process. It just works.

I haven’t felt that way about art in a while, so despite the fact the drawings are “useless” (meaning, they serve no purpose and are not used by anyone for anything), I keep wanting to do more of them.

I have a weird relationship with art. I love the idea of creating for the sake of personal expression and because I love the process so much, but I feel incredibly guilty about making art if it’s not for a *reason*- meaning, not for a gift or for a class or for a particular spot in my house or to sell or whatever. So just the idea of creating something FOR THE SAKE OF CREATING IT is very hard for me. I’d love to know why this is… I’ll have to do some digging in my past for that, I guess.