In Pandemic Times: Living in a Creative little Bubble

None of us know what will happen. Don’t spend time worrying about it. Make the most beautiful thing you can. Try to do that every day. That’s it.
Laurie Anderson

When I sit down to write this blog post the last sun of the day is looking in through my dirty windows, making my little corner of the world a little brighter. I’m in my little bubble, at home, as I have been for most of the past months…

Today I had an appointment at the hospital regarding the state of my own mental health, and as I left I heard two older ladies, out walking in the beautiful spring weather, greeting each-other with happy squeels. I turned around to look, but they didn’t shake hands or hug each other, they stayed about two meters apart as they kept talking for a while with the empty street in between them, happy to see each other but well aware of the newly learnt term of “social distancing”. They were both in the risk group (over 65 years old) and it made me smile to see their heartwarming but still safe interaction.

This Sucks but u don’t graphic by Sara M Lyons (used with permission in this blog post, thank you Sara!).

It is indeed strange times right now, for all of us around the globe. I don’t feel that I personally am adapting quick enough. How are you doing?

As an introvert I never liked the trend of hugging everyone you meet for example, it is definitely something I could do without. I love staying in my own creative bubble, but of course I prefer to do it on my own terms… Freedom is awesome! I think a lot of this will be harder on others not used to being alone – I feel for all extroverts in quarantine! Right now everyone is trying to adjust to new rules and regulations, and coping with their personal fears, anxiety and health precautions. Myself included.

I have been pondering what to share and do for days now, hesitating. Trying to find words to share that would mean something, that could help, make someone feel less worried or sad – but I too struggle at this time. And I have been struggling for years, with myself and a lot of things that right now don’t seam that relevant to our shared situation (saving it for another blog post – perhaps). So I reach for others to comfort me, to hold me, to guide me right now. Thank God I never signed the dotted line to become an Influencer! I couldn’t ever do that job anyway, to be that perky, self-sufficient stay-at-home-person – and especially not this month.

All I ever want to do was to come here to inspire us, you and me, to keep on keeping on. I want to be encouraging and inspirational, and when I feel I can’t I don’t post anything to my own dismay.

I don’t think there is a one right way to act right now. No matter what you do or post online it feels clumsy and wrong when there is a pandemic spreading fear in the world. My own biggest fear is not the corona-virus itself, but how we are acting towards fellow human beings when we are all scared. How selfishness is rearing its ugly head everywhere… I think that the same guidelines as always should be kept in place, the simple rules of being a human being on this very planet:

So today, here’s what I’m sharing, inspiration from all around:

Keep on Creating

There are a lot of art challenges started every day on instagram right now, that you could join to make time move quicker. Or something like this, things to do to “celebrate” the isolation:

Another art challenge by Danielle Krysa, known online as the jealous curator. She wrote on instagram:

One month of avoiding crowds? I’m in! In fact, that sounds like the perfect amount of time for a self-imposed art project, no? How about a 30 DAY ART CHALLENGE… I challenge you to use this time inside to make one piece every day from now until mid April. Paint, draw, photograph, sculpt, collage… whatever you like. I’m going to play around with some collage ideas that’ve been rollin’ around in my head but haven’t found their way onto paper yet. Set some rules, and then play within them.

Creativity From (Almost) Nothing

I just finished editing an old vlog thing for my YouTube channel, but I also follow a lot of other creators there. One of them is called Agosia Arts. She creates awesome tutorials for creating your own art toys in her style, and yesterday she started a series called Creativity From (Almost) Nothing, that I’m going to try to follow along with. Her goal is to help people get their minds into a different place and foster those creative skills:

And Alisa Burke, who is one of my all time favorite blogger women, is sharing tips on how to entertain yourself right now. For example, on YouTube she shared Seven Expressive Art Journaling Techniques:

Isn’t it magic what wonderful things we have access to for free online? Magic indeed. If you want to check out Lynda Barry’s book it’s called Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor. I think she too, is awesome!

Links: The Fun and the Not so Light Reading

• Survival Guide to Quarentine – by The Lazy Genius, a blog and a podcast that I just found and will start listening to next time I’m painting
• Yoga for Uncertain Times – a YouTube Playlist by Adriane, created for this very moment
• How Bad Is the Coronavirus? – don’t read if you’re a worrier. I found it interesting but scary, since this article is about how the virus has been spreading (and curbed) in the different countries and how we might expect it to exponentially grow if we do “nothing”.
• By the same writer, Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now
• 5 tips for working from home by Alisa Burke – great tips (I should’ve learned to implement these myself by now, but maybe I never will)…
• Download free journaling cards – about current events and the virus
• It’s okay that you’re not okay – comfort reading
• What if we all birthed some art babies right now – hunker down and keep on making stuff
• Coronavirus Sticker Rewards – Download Gemma Correll’s Coloring Page here (found via her instagram). Printing these too now
• Comforting coloring page – free download from Flow Magazine
• Daily Distractions from Artsyville – activities and coloring pages for kids and grown-ups alike
• Adobe Coloring Book – full pages published in themed chapters that you can download in PDF-format, to print all the pages at once, from well-loved artist as Lisa Congdon and others.

Downloading Gemma Correll’s Coronavirus Reward Stickers to print and color in, for my little traveler’s notebook of documenting life.

I thought these would be great to print for my Randomosity notebook, and I thought maybe you too might want to document your own life right now, whether or not your’re in full lock-down or just told to be careful and stay in as much as possible (like we are in Sweden still).

I am printing these right now:

I don’t know if you noticed, but I was on such a roll of wrangling out blog posts in January and February that even I was surprised by it, but then March came around everything halted once again. I try to never apologize for not being here, or for not posting, because this is not a subscription service you’re paying for, but most of all I make no promises. I was here today, might be back tomorrow.

I have been checking in on instagram stories, but mostly reading what a lot of other artists are doing. They say that: We as artists need to keep creating, keep sharing and be the light in a worried world. Everything doesn’t have to be about “this issue” either, it can just be normal life, because that’s what we also have. So I guess that what I will (try to) share after I got this out of me. I will keep sharing fun stuff. When I can.

xo

I wish you all the best!

All conditioned things are impermanent’ — when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.
The Buddha

[tweet “Be kind, stay safe, take care of each other, try not to judge others for their choices & get your facts from reliable sources. And as always I need to add: keep creating! Keep writing in your journal, painting, sewing and DIYing. #pandemic”]

FYI: All quotes, advice, and encouragement on this blog, on instagram and in this specific post are also for myself, because I need it.