Weekend Projects and Rest

As an artist, Monday through Friday is mostly focused on creating in one form or another. Whether it’s a tablet or a canvas, I tend to spend a lot of time staring at flat surfaces, filling them with images I see out in the world and in my head.

I sometimes have to remind myself to take breaks and take in the world around me. If you follow my social media accounts, you might have seen that my dog Petra helps with that! But I also try to consistently embark on adventures (this was more difficult for a few years, of course) or creative projects not related specifically to art. My latest weekend project combined both the adventures and the creative projects into one!

Over the last several years, I’ve been slowly building a collection of memorabilia in the form of stickers, pins, and patches from places I’ve been or things that I enjoy. The stickers will either be placed on my electric guitar case (even though there is no electric guitar at the moment) or will remain in a pile on my bookshelf, never to be placed anywhere for fear of regretting the placement of said stickers at some point in the future. The pins and patches, though, have always had a destination - my favorite denim jacket.

Now, deciding on using my favorite denim jacket took a while. Making decisions is far from my greatest strength, and using a favorite piece of clothing to display such things takes commitment. This jacket fits just right and has achieved that softness that only an often-worn denim jacket can achieve. Would I one day regret using it as a walking billboard advertising concerts and road trips and obsessions? Or would I love it all the more because of the added meaning? I’m hoping it’s the latter. 

Either way, this past weekend, I finally made another decision - it was time to iron on the patches. The pins were easy. If I decided I didn’t like how they hung or the extra weight, I could simply remove them and find a different spot to display them. But once you iron on a patch, you forever alter both the patch and the piece of clothing to which it is adhered. 

So, after a few different configurations were eliminated and the final layout was decided, heat was applied (allergies properly agitated from the dust that had inevitably built up) and the patches were attached… mostly. I had to stitch around the edge of a few as the adhesive had lost some of its stickiness. Turns out, waiting upwards of ten years to apply an iron-on patch can make it less effective at ironing on…

Anywho…

Where was I going with this? Ah, yes. No matter who you are or what you do, it is important to take breaks from your day-to-day work and routines to rest and recharge, and maybe even revisit projects you’ve left unfinished for weeks or months or years. 

I know we hear these things a lot, but the reminder never hurts. Get outside if you’re stuck in the office all day. Read a book or paint a picture if you look at a computer screen all the time. Take time to cook your favorite meal if you eat out a lot. Go for a walk or dance around your house to your favorite songs. 

And even more than that, learn how to love who you are and take care of that person. Otherwise, how are you to love your neighbor as yourself if yourself is being neglected?

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