Multi-Tasking in the Studio
“By a Nose” – Collage, 5 x 7″ Mounted on 8 x 10″ Archival Paper
Available in my Etsy shop
My days are all the same most weeks. I frequently have to consult the calendar to figure out what day it is. That’s often how it is when you work at home. Saturday and Sunday were work days in the studio, and then yesterday and today there were new canning projects that couldn’t be avoided. I do love the multi-tasking involved with keeping all those balls in the air though, and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Now both of my Etsy shops are newly stocked with recent work, which took hours and hours. If you want to take a look, they are brushwithimagination and colorpoetry. Those jobs are done sitting at the computer, and I’m finding that to be less and less enjoyable. The more physical jobs are the ones I enjoy more, like picking peas, cucumbers and tomatoes and canning them, and of course painting and making collages.
Big Questions: Do you multi-task, or do you find you need to stay focused on one thing until it’s completed? Do you think this a personality trait or is it driven by necessity? I’ve been wondering about this because it seems to be the way I do things, no matter what’s going on around me and no matter how much I’m in control of my time. Just wondering.
I stay with one project as long as I am motivated. I spoilt more than one by forcing myself to finish it. Now, I change to the next project to keep the spirit alive. Some day I’ll finish the first project. The oldest one had to become 30 years old before I did the last stitches.
Eva, it’s true that forcing ruins creativity. I think that’s why I also move from one to the next. Once my sister started a crocheted bedspread when she was around nineteen, and finally decided to finish it when her kids were grown.
I am good at multi-tasking, and don’t mind having more than one project at a time. Of course I have to juggle a lot of things on a normal basis. Keeping a to do list helps. I really try to accomplish the important things before I go to the less. I did find out that Murphy’s law: If one becomes proficient enought at procrastination, one needn’t become proficient at anything else.” (or about that), is true. So Jobs that I really dislike tend to get put into that category.
I love your comment Caroline. I am very proficient at procrastination! I can multi-task, especially at work when I keep getting interrupted, and at home quite often just do the opposite – non-task!
I’m with Eva! It’s absolutely a processes, a cycle. Work in one area until that’s exhausted and then move to something else and something else and back around again. If you have the luxury to make it part of your lifestyle you are lucky.