October 11, 2022

Running out of room

I’m running out of room. Room to store stuff, room to experiment with new materials, room to explore new ideas. I don’t know whether it’s because we’re working from home now? Or having spent many years in a pandemic? But things are feeling… ‘constrained’.

Yet, I say that and think – but we’ve got a 3 br house; one we never thought we could ever afford. We have a separate study/office – one that, when the day’s done, we can close the door and disconnect. We’re not working from a kitchen bench or a desk set up in the lounge room or bedroom like some of my friends.

Maybe it’s not about the physical amount of space, then; maybe it’s about how it’s being used? A fancy new monitor and electronics sit intermingled with my watercolours. I’m finding that I’m using coloured pencils joyously but am less inclined to use wet media like watercolour and ink in the same place as my shiny new 4k monitor or laptop.

Maybe, instead of more room, what I need is a new routine? To rethink the space I inhabit throughout the week and tweak it, cleverly, to unlock my ability to create freely again. I wonder if it’s the same for others, too.

Other observations
March 24, 2026

I have to work today

What if, on the days we don’t feel like making art, we do anyway? In the same way that we show up to our day jobs when we don’t fee like it?

March 17, 2026

Scared of progress

The problem with progress is that we’re likely to learn that we’re either not good enough or not ambitious enough. But maybe there’s no other way?

March 3, 2026

The ancestors are speaking

What might we be able to tell ourselves and listen for in order to provoke more positive energy and action in our art practice?

February 24, 2026

Can I do this?

Where does the motivation for beginning mark making come from? Why would I even try in the first place?

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