I doodled and painted a quick little compass mandala in a fresh notebook late last night. I have been jumping between all kinds of journals and notebooks lately, not feeling completely at home in any of the ongoing books…
In Search of a Compass…
Trying to find my way, in art as well as in life. The image is a good metaphor for where I am right now, in search of what to do, how to do it and where to go. After I posted a picture of this mandala on instagram I journaled a bit in my diary. Then I totally went into writing mood, and before opening up my laptop I also wrote all around and on top of my
I have been journaling a lot this month, in yes, a new notebook. A blank notebook with a very pink cover. Love it, and I will post more about it later.
What I really need right now is to clear up my studio space and my desk! I can not think straight when it is this messy, but it will have to wait until later this upcoming week. My recent trip to IKEA didn’t help, because they didn’t have all the parts for the shelf system I wanted (Ivar). And also I am on writing deadline for an article that needs to be finished next week. Wish me luck. I plan to have another day of writing tomorrow – though not as much journaling as today but probably another blog post squeezed in. You know me, I can not keep away!
What my IC is saying right now:
Oh Hanna, you silly silly girl! You don’t need a shelf to pick up your stuff from the floor, and if you can’t pick one journal and stick with it, why do you even bother to journal? One doodle in that new notebook, and then what? Will you just take that pile of notebooks and store them away! Just do your work instead. You’re such a pro procrastinator! All excuses too. Hanna, you know what? I think you should just give it up, all together. Stop trying to create order. Stop trying to clear the clutter, throw all that material away and you’ll be free… The more creative you try to be the more chaos you create!
Yada-yada right? At least I hope so. What does your inner critic tell you about hording material? Or anything? You can enter to win Quinn’s new book in my book review post, she has a lot of ideas on how to find counterparts for your IC’s negativity.
If you too are in need of a compass, maybe pointing you toward inspiration, I think you should check out one of my favorite blogs, it is what inspired my compass mandala. Watch the video Compass Mandala here!
Take care!
I feel what you’re feeling when it comes to hoarding and chaos and the need for Ikea storage and good ideas to tidy the studio and still I know exactly where everything is….well nearly. I admit I get some surprises when I do tidy and instantly I fall in love again with the new found loss and the mess is getting upon me even worse…..”sigh”!
I think a lot of people go from the one extreme of wanting to get rid of it all to simply accepting that the stash is always bigger than what you can use in a year… But I agree with you, tidying up is an activity full of inspiration! :-)
Man, we share the same IC! So often I think, now why do I have all this stuff? What use is it? I never use it, don’t use it the right way, not good enough … well, you know the drill. I love repurposing things (example bubble wrap for stamping, etc). I get such a thrill from it. But opening up the drawers where I stash stuff can really do a number on my attitude. But when I do use something or force myself to just reach in and use whatever comes out? I love it!
The IC is harsh on the stash, huh? I hate that. Leave my stash alone, I neeeeed that stuff, that’s what I want to tell her! :-)
Hanna, I adore your compass mandala! So very happy that you created a compass of your very own. I wish you sweet travels.
hi hanna, i can SO relate. just last night, after moving everything in my art space downstairs-to another space in the house, i looked around at all the chaos i had created and said “why don’t you pack all your art supplies up and just use 1 notebook and a pen?” it’s overwhelming a lot of the time. i currently am “working in” over 2 dozen journals, which might be part of my problem. lol. now i need to re-organize my space-sift thru lots of “stuff” and find my way back to the fun of art. your ic resonates with mine and it helps to know i’m not alone in all of this. thank you for sharing this post-i am in need of a compass! here’s to taking a deep breath and knowing we will come out on the other side of ‘not giving up-clearing clutter-and kicking our IC to the curb!”
Jenny, moving everything is boring but hopefully you’ll find something you’d forgotten about and be all: wow, glad I saved this! :-)