Promises to Keep

I don't know if any of you are promise keepers. When I was a child Mama would tell me she wanted me to be sure to remember such and such and I would always assure her I would.

Then she would ask? "Promise?" "Oh yes, momma, I promise" This promise had the same solemness to it as a sacred oath.

I don't find that a promise carries the same weight in today's world as it did when I was a child. It is now akin to a new year's resolution. Something said, often with sincerity, but seldom kept. Life is busy and people fill their days with all sorts of activities and thoughts and the promise falls by the wayside in the flurry. Heaven forbid that you remind anyone of their "promise".

The look we get is: If I forgot,you have no right to remember, much less remind me!"



But I am finding I am not as good a promise keeper as I have thought. Oh don't get me wrong, if I promise a friend, family member or even a total stranger something I make sure it is done.

But I have come to realize that I don't do well when it comes to the promises I make to myself.



I promise I will make more time for my creative side. I promise I will get enough rest. I promise that I will not make "paper messies" with the mail that comes into the house, I promise....... But then something comes up and I forget the promises in the blink of an eye.

And it isn't until I feel I will scream, if I don't get some time to myself, or I see a stack of papers tumble to the floor from my desk, that I remember the promise.



But somehow I still think a promise is a wonderful thing. I think a big part of promise keeping is taking the time to sit down and really look at my life and decide what has priority vs what really NEEDS to be my priority in order for me to have a happy, more balanced life.

But the more times I have to pick of the pieces of a broken promise to myself, the more determined I become to say no to things lower on my priority list.

After I finished cleaning and reorganizing the art studio, it became quite apparent to me that my tiny home office in its horrible condition was going to niggle at my brain until I dealt with it.

I realize that I am so blessed to have two separate rooms. So many creative people do not have that luxury. Their artistic space has to share with the computer, bill paying and sometimes even the eating area.

So I spent the better part of this week cleaning, sorting, filing and pitching clutter in my office. During that time, I realized that cleaning is a very creative act. It can take something that is of little use because of the clutter and mess and turn it into a thing of beauty that can be used to make even more creative things. Something wonderful and unheard of has happened. Both the art studio and the office are clean at the same time!

Having said all that it brings me back to promises. First of all I am promising myself that I will take the time it takes to maintain these rooms so they can continue to be "creative" places.
And I promise in the next couple of days I will take pictures of the art room for those of you that wanted to see it. I don't expect raves of approval. But perhaps the lady that said she has too much stuff and can't even conceive how she can make it work at all, will get a little bit of help.
I know that I wish the space I have was larger and I wish I did not have times when I have to move one thing to get to another. But I am thankful for all my "toys" and wonderful tools and most of all I am so thankful for more than a 6inch square space to work on.

So, I will get the pictures up sometime this coming week.
Hoping all of you are enjoying this season, and making time to create whether is is art or cooking or decorating.
Enjoy
S.

Moving into Creativity.

Nothing succeeds like success!!
I finished the major cleaning and reorganization of my art studio last evening. I can't express the joy I felt as I took a last look around before turning off the light. Nor the excitement I felt when I went to the art studio this morning, pulled out my moleskine journal and allowed my creative spirit creep out of hiding.
It felt somewhat akin to the first day of school with brand new pencils, crayons and notebook. I have the knowledge now that making my "space" workable for me is as important as the right pencils or paints. I am sure to make some clutter as I work on something but now when I am finished the things have a place to be If I am diligent in clearing my work space after each session I will have the guarantee of always having a place to be creative.

I thought about taking some pictures of the art studio and posting here. But I realize everyone's place to work is different and there supplies vary widely and what works for me is unlikely to work for anyone else.
And then too there is the fact that what is one man's organization may make no sense to another.
My room is small, my supplies are huge. But this works for me until something better comes along.
So... Having said all that I believe the time for words will be shorter in the future and the time for pictures will hopefully be increased greatly.

Hope you all have a creative day.
S