Paris storefronts and the LIFE COST of big projects
I’ve been sketching with a calligraphy marker I found at my local craft emporium. Gosh it’s amazing just how different tools can change how something looks. Paint added:
I created this faster, more loose painting out of spite. Yes, spite is a wonderful fuel. I was watching one of those thrift store videos on YouTube and the “expert” was explaining the art on a teacup. The more loose painting shows that it was done by a professional. A more careful painting would have been done by an amateur.
How very DARE you.
My paintings have been rather careful… despite being a professional. This Shakespeare & Company painting is careful and still lovely… Get it in the shop:
Being “careful” doesn’t make you less of a pro. I was incensed by the YouTube lady.
However, she has a point. The loose flower shop has a nice energy due to the vague lines and imperfection brought by the calligraphy pen, and the speed of sketching my yours truly. Still, being less careful with my art makes me uncomfortable.
I’m working through it.
In other news, I gave myself June. Called it June is for Janice.
Classy. It started off sweet. I went to the library and found books. I went to the bookstore and found books and pens. I bought art supplies at the local emporium. I sat on my porch beside the books and pens, and stared off in the middle distance. I avoided screens. I really tried to give myself permission to do very little since July and August will be devoted to looking after my kid. That will have it’s own sprinkler-in-the-yard magic, but it’s not the quiet that makes me tick.
Plus, I was a little burnt out from my RELENTLESSNESS of Q1 and Q2 2024.
Every month of 2024, I’ve devoted myself to a project:
May was creating A Writer’s Mindset course (Early Bird Sale until June 30th)
April was creating Cut and Collage books on Amazon
March was creating Scrapbook paper books on Amazon
February was pneumonia (unintentional)
January… promoting the 2024 Paris Planner
A bit RELENTLESS. No wonder I needed June to myself. I liked having one major project each month, but they were kind of massive in scale, especially the course… videos, images, course outlines, scripts. Whew!
June got me thinking about the LIFE COST of big projects.
We don’t think of that when we plan a project. We only plan for profit. We don’t plan for burn out.
Back in the ol’ ad agency, my art director partner would sprout new grey hairs whenever we had a new business pitch. In your own life, think about the research and finagling around a major purchase like a new car… or decisions when you renovate a room. Or in my case, the repetitive burn out of big projects. Self is becoming more self aware.
The LIFE COST of all these projects was pretty pricey. I recall my old note cards that I sold on Etsy. They actually sold very well, but they took a long time to whip up. And if I were to outsource it, they would become too expensive to make a profit. The LIFE COST was too high… at least the way I was doing it back then.
But there is a surprising twist here, folks.
Because as I was sitting on my porch with my coffee, determined to stop in June… I came up with an idea. A perfect, wonderful, easy, and obvious idea. I sent the idea off to my agent and she agreed that it was doable. (People don’t realize that the first barrier is an agent… even an agent you have signed on with will reject your ideas if they think they can’t sell it.) But she didn’t reject the idea. So I whipped up a proposal and sent it off.
Turns out I was mighty productive in June anyway.
Without the burn out.
There is something to this laying around. This decision to not scroll life away. To revert back to some lazy pandemic months. To linger on the porch. To wander around bookstores.
A recent commission. Fun! Beachreads BookshopI know it’s a precise and careful painting. Soon to be featured on merch at their store.
We have a few more days of June left and I intend to make the most of it… by doing very little.
Janice
PS Speaking of the end of June, my new course A Writer’s Mindset is still on Early Bird Sale until June 30th.
Learn how to get in the groove for writing something poetic and lovely this summer. Find it and all the writing courses here.
