Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Artists Who Are Writers - Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee

I've been spending rather a lot of time on my art sites, tidying them up, improving them where I can. I'm a bit ashamed to admit to this, but I originally promised you that I would devote myself more or less exclusively to the writing here. Now I find that light-hearted painting imp is trying to oust the more serious writing muse. For the first time in months, I'm thinking about doing a little something in acrylics on a fresh, new canvas...

This made me wonder about all of you out there (and there are many) who suffer from the same sort of split-creativity personality. I'm always impressed when I find others with the same dual-drives, and we seem drawn together, I've noticed. How do you deal with it? From my art blog, I see how you're all either producing art and talking about the writing, or vice-versa, and I wonder how much of a problem it becomes for you at times, this little battle of the Creative Urges.

For me, once I get over the guilt thing, I think I might get down to a bit of painting soon. It's been over six months since I last finished one, and my various online portfolios seem almost archival. But first I have to convince myself that I can do two things at the same time, more or less. My writing takes up about four hours a day - when I'm in-flow, a little longer - but this still leaves plenty of time for painting. I simply have to learn, once and for all, how to switch off one for the other, on a regular basis.

This is not like switching off the 9-5 Business Work Mode button - that's so indelibly ensconced in the other side of the brain, I don't even consider it, and it's a pleasure to stay away from it. But these two are like identical twins, fighting for dominance, trying to share the same brain circuits, I guess. I wonder if anyone has ever put those little electrodes on someone to see if this is valid.

Anyway, I refuse to use my painting again as an avoidance technique for the writing, as I've done in the past. I've been given two life passions (in fact, there are more - but I won't go into that here) and I should appreciate them. Of course, the painting imp is very light-hearted, bright and easy-going, while the writing muse is more conservative, more sensible, and takes life more seriously. I suppose it makes sense that I need them both in my life.

Back in November, when I started this writing blog, I vowed I wouldn't let the art blog spill over into it, and I've tried to do that. But it's hard, because I'm not cleanly divided between the two. So today I present myself as the split-personality I am, and I am unapologetic.

Let me me know how you deal with this. How difficult is it for you?

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

You MUST have something to say! Come on, share..

Quotes to Consider

"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, Either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing." ~Benjamin Franklin

"Well behaved women rarely make history."~Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”~William G.T. Shedd (1820-1894), theologian, teacher, pastor

"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." ~Franklin D Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd U.S. president

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), essayist, poet, philosopher


"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Mark Twain

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
~ Wayne Gretzky