Wednesday, August 11, 2010

When Multi-Tasking Goes Wrong















Why do I avoid that which I love?

Why do I feel I must do those things considered 'work' before I can do the thing I don't consider 'work'?

It is a woman's curse, I think.

The kitchen must be cleaned. The laundry must be done. The household wheels must be set into motion and while they're spinning, I am freed to work in my studio with no pangs.

Logically, I know this is rubbish. Housework will never be done. There will always be other things to do.

I must say to myself, "Let it all go hang. My work is what feeds me and that alone makes it a priority."

It's easy to get muddled with the myriad of things that demand attention. Multi-tasking might be viewed as a gift, but for concentrating on your art, it's an enemy.

I need time. Time to think. Time to dream. Time to just take care of my clay.

The wonderful James Christensen work, "The Responsible Woman" comes to mind. (Unfortunately this is out of print, but a copy might be found on the web through dealers or Ebay.)

2 comments:

Tracey Broome said...

I HEAR ya girl!! Great thoughts! Thanks :)

Clay and Fiber Artist said...

Linda,

Get yourself some off-cuts of plaster board/gypson board/dry wall. Scrounging from a contractor at building sites is a good way to find it. Or see if your local building materials store has some scrap.

Anyway, tape it all around the edges with duct tape (to keep the plaster away from your clay).

Be sure you handle your tiles at a minimum-clay will remember if you turned up the corner, etc.

Lay the tiles out with a little space between pieces then lay another piece of board on top. Weigh it down with gallon water bottles/ bricks/ bags of clay/ anything to put a bit of weight on the whole board.

Let it sit for a day, then unload the weight, flip the board/tile sandwich over and put the weight on top again.

That's the way to keep them from warping.

And don't let the clay fool you. It can warp when you SWEAR it has dried almost completely. It's a lot of work, flipping the boards and being a tile-Nazi, but it will work.