How do you know when your work is done? Or when you are done with a show, or a marketing plan or anything in your life? This episode is about asking the question, “Am I done with this?”
We might lean on instinct or the natural conclusion our material, imagery, or design dictates to determine when a piece is finished but could the work benefit from a conscious questioning of its finished state? We’ll talk about how this can help you avoid overworking as well as underworking your pieces and how these questions apply to how we sell, market, share, and just live as well as our art.
This is also potentially the last podcast of this show. I share my thoughts on why it’s time to at least take a pause and how that might apply to your own questions about things you’ve been doing that might have run their course. We’ll touch on the fear factors and the complications that come with big and possibly necessary changes that could, ultimately, help us grow and find the joy so essential to living a fulfilling and meaningful creative life.
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CREDITS:
Cover design and ICM photo by Sage; Illustration by Olga Kostenko
Music by Playsound
Transcript:
–AI transcribed, unedited. Please excuse the copious errors.–
It’s just, you know, really unfortunate that arts not like baking a cake and you can just stick a toothpick in the middle and see if it comes out dry. Just a lot to consider when it comes to whether a piece of art you’re working on is as done as it needs to be. Hello all my dedicated and questioning creatives out there. You for joining me on? Sage Arts podcast. This is sage and yeah, it’s just me again. I’m going to explain. Little bit about why that’s been. Just me for the last what, two, maybe almost three months. Yeah, there’s a lot to talk about today. And I have some news that I’m mostly going to save to the end. Don’t. Maybe I’ll jump the gun a little bit here, but you might be able to guess a little bit about what I’m going to say about this podcast just by the theme of this particular episode, which is knowing when it’s finished. And although I’m going to talk primarily about. Finishing creative. Work. There’s also things in our lives, things about our creative career, things about our personal lives that we also can apply this to because there are aspects of our creative career aspects of our lives, chapters in our lives, and you have to know when those are finished as. To make a decision about stopping it or starting something new. Let’s start with talking about our artwork. And maybe this is something that you haven’t really spent much time on because. Think, oh, creative work it. Has a natural finish. We get to it and it’s finished. Just know it’s finished, right? But the truth is, artwork is something that always kind of remains incomplete. And I mean that in the sense that there’s almost always more that could be done. But the question is when do you decide that it’s done enough or done as far as you want to take it? Today, we’re. To start with, kind of the the why issue of this particular topic. Why do you even need to question? When your work is done, I mean, don’t you just know? Mean. Sometimes, yeah, we do. Just know. But like most things a little thought and a question or two can be the difference between something being good or good enough and being great. So starting with the importance of finishing at the right place in the right time, it comes down to avoiding basically two things. The over working of your work or the underworking of your artwork. So when you overwork your art, this is usually out of perfectionism or it not feeling quite right, or it’s not as good as you hoped. But it could make it busier when you do too much. Or make it muddier or less focused, and that can be. You can destroy the work by continuously trying to make it perfect or trying to find that elusive magic that you in your head thought it was going to. So that’s one thing that is necessary to know when it’s. So you don’t do too much and ruin the work, because oftentimes with many materials, if you overwork it, you don’t get to go back and start all over, you know, in digital work you have a lot of ways to. Ensure that you can go back, but in many other tangible materials, paints and and what not. You don’t have those choices. You you go in there and you work it too much and it can’t be undone. So it’s important to know when you finish and when you should stop, right? I think we’ve. Had that kind of experience. We’ve done something a little too much. Gone a little too far. And we just wrecked it, right? So that’s fairly common, but the other thing that people do also is they stop too soon. And this often comes out of. One of a being ruined, which is a legitimate concern because overworking is a real thing, or because we’ve lost direction or focus or we aren’t sure what we’re doing anymore. We’re doing it. What? What our theme is or we’ve lost touch with our intention. We could leave it wanting also. Frustration or finding it was increasingly difficult and it’s more than we want to take on. Really took on something a bit beyond our present skill set, or even our patients level to get it done right. But this. The work isn’t probably reaching its potential or the things you want it to convey may not be strong enough to be communicated or it just comes across kind of like watered down like, you know, weak coffee. When work isn’t pushed to its potential, it might have, I think, most commonly less contrast, either visually or even thematically. But it could also suffer from a lack of movement and energy or balance, even unity, if we just stop when all the basics are done. And don’t push it further. So it’s definitely worth asking if the work is actually done when you initially think it’s done. Of course, like I said, it’s better to error on the side of caution and not do more to it if you’re not sure exactly what else might need to be done it. To be under work than overworked. But how exactly? Do you know when it’s? How do you make these judgment calls, right? Most people will say that it’s gut. We sense that it’s done, but we don’t always know why, right? The problem with instinct alone, unless you’re very experienced, is that what you may perceive as an instinct about its being complete may also be. A subconscious or even conscious desire to just find an excuse. Stop the. Thing about getting frustrated or being a little over your head in the project could get you to. You don’t fool yourself, so to speak, into thinking that you are done. Maybe you’re anxious to get something online to share. Maybe you even have a. And you don’t have much of A choice because there’s a show coming up or whatnot. We won’t always be able to finish things. Into that kind of sweet spot of not being overworked but still reaching its potential. But if you’re not even asking the question of whether it’s done, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on that sweet spot more often than really yes. If you’re able to dig around and ensure you’re not feeling frustrated or aimless or fearful or ruining the work. You. Find I do think instinct is the primary way that most experienced artists determine that the work is done, but like any other skill that instinct needs. Be honed. There’s also sometimes some kind of natural conclusion dictated by the material or the technique or the initial design. But just because you come to a natural conclusion, as in, you’ve created all the beats and strung the necklace together, or you’ve you’ve drawn all the mountains in the trees. You’ve done. It doesn’t mean that’s necessarily done. As I said, there’s always more to do in our work, but you have to ask yourself and carefully, would this benefit from additional elements? More tweaking, some olishing, some cropping, maybe even removal of elements just. Is there any further changes that the work might benefit from? Now, although I think that’s an important question to ask, I would caution that you do not ask that question like right away when you get to some instinctual or natural stopping point. I would say when you get to that point where you feel like it might be done. Probably the best thing that you can do if it’s possible. To put it away for a while. Working on a piece for any length of time has us up close looking at detail, pushing and prodding and adding and tweaking and all these little bits and pieces that we work with that make U the work. It’s very hard to distance yourself from that level of examination in order to step back, look at the pieces of hole and analyze what possible changes it might benefit from at that. Oint time away from looking and examining a. Kind of forgetting what you’ve been doing will allow you to see the work as a whole and look at otential changes in regards to the entire composition and the support of the theme and intention in all of those things. With a judgment that isn’t still focused on all the little bits that you’ve previously been very close to right, one of the other things I tried to do with my work when I’m not sure if I’m finished yet is to review. Or to try to determine what my theme is and look back at my original intention. And I’ll tell you, I am not one to say that once you’ve determined your intention in peace, you have to stick to it. It’s. Beneficial in many ways to just have that intention in every decision is based on that particular intention. But as many of you probably know, as you work on things they change as we work, we learn things about our viewpoint, about ourselves, about what we really want to say. The work itself may seem to take on a life of its own, and may seem to. Something quite different than what our original intention was set out for. In. If that’s the case, I would say just lean into it. If you find your intention changing. If you find your ideas metamorphizing. If the imagery you have produced is saying something different than you originally intended, take a beat and examine why you’re seeing what you’re seeing in. Work. You may find out some surprising things about yourself, like the subject matter of a particular. For instance, you’re working on. You know, you thought it was going to be this idyllic, calm and peaceful world plains in the Midwest. But rather, you’re seeing, like, disturbingly dark shadows and storm. And maybe you realize you’re worried about the development in that area and the potential for this type of landscape to be overrun by, I don’t know, commercial development or drilling or suburban expansion or even climate change and and that’s what you want to focus on. Not just showing how beautiful the landscape is, but the potential for it to be ruined or disappear. And sometimes you don’t understand. That’s what you’re that’s what you’re drawn to the imagery for in the 1st place until you worked on it for a bit. And at that point you could realize that the theme and change of intention may call for pushing some of those dark shadows and dark. And maybe have a hint of a commercial development in the distance or any other things that will help save what you think the work has come to really be communicating. Now if you work in. More abstract work, or even functional art. Maybe the themes and stuff seem pretty standard or you haven’t really thought of through and you’re just doing something that’s pretty, which is totally fine. Want something that’s beautiful, but there’s certain. Feelings, emotions. Atmosphere. Fun or a sense of seriousness or sophistication or whatever that you are trying to impart in your work, OK. So let’s say you are making a pair of earrings. May not feel there’s any real deep theme or. Particularly strong intention. You just want them to be simple and fun. Of that sort, right? And so the idea that you need to know when it’s finished may not seem like a relevant question for you, because you just do the simple thing and then it’s done, right? But let’s. At it as a specific example, let’s say you’ve designed. The general idea of earrings in Palmer. I’ll use that ’cause I know a lot of you are polymer clay people. And in your mind, you know you want them to be like leaf shaped with maybe a graduation or color from one end to the other. And you’re going to put a little bead at the top and center in there to add focus and interest. That’s simple. And it’s a perfectly legitimate composition and design for a set of earrings. But. But I think it’s a missed opportunity to say, oh, this is just a simple earring and I don’t need to go deep. But how do you know that if you’re not asking the questions, right? How do you know if you haven’t had a conversation with yourself? The idea that it needs to just be simple even came from. Do you find that important? You know is is it just based on the fact that you want to be able to make them quickly or can you take it just a step further to make them more impactful, which means you could be asking for more money? Them you could be selling them better if they just. A little bit more umph, right? I’m not saying you need to be making social or global or whatever commentary with your earrings, but even if you just want something simple, you’re still making choices that should all come together under a cohesive intention. So is that leaf a leaf of spring or summer or fall? It tropical or is it from a mountain forest? Do you want it to be? More. And if so? Why is a great question to ask while you’re designing. Why do I want this? Am I leaning into? Is it because these are the colors of the season and they’re trending and I want to do the trending colors because I think I’ll sell them. Or is it because I’m really drawn to these particular type of plants or or Leafs or or graphical or realistic? And knowing why can really help you in making decisions like you might like fall colors and fall. You know, forest leaves, Maple leaves these kinds of things more so than tropical leaves. And knowing that you can search actions of why am I drawn to those kinds of things? I’m drawn to the serenity of a fall, you know, a hike in a in a fall forest or something like that. Then Serenity might actually become part of the. And then you can make choices based on that. So. Let’s just say if you want it to be, I don’t know a graphical minimalistic set of. So you just want to be light hearted and fun and you choose colors that will just shine through. The simplicity will help help it be more about the colors. OK. Legitimate, but you could still ask if it would help in the interest and composition to maybe just add a simple something else like maybe maybe a single line down the center vein of that leaf in a contrasting color. It meets the bead at the top, giving the bead a strong kind of elevated position on this line versus just kind of Flo. Tethered on the leaf and the line will give the earring a little vertical movement because vertical lines are very strong and they definitely add movement and energy and so you can think on it, test it even and see if it works and still saying what you want it. Say. While making it just a touch boulder. And so the line can, you know, it’ll add energy and interest and a touch of complexity that make the earrings all the more eye-catching. Now, if your intention was to be extremely simplistic. Be like, no, that that’s not really what I want to. Makes it more complex than I want it to be and it wouldn’t fulfill your intention, but if your intention is to make something with fun energy that can remain uncomplicated, a simple line. Will probably get you. It’s all a matter of really looking at your work and deciding what you want it to be and to do and to say. And once you know what you want the piece to be, you can really ask the question is it finished with a lot more confidence and. Able to offer yourself your design. More options. Understanding what it is that you want out of it. The first place. Just again, be careful about doing too much. Pull back if anything. On how much work you do on the piece, I would even say that if you’re questioning whether you need to do more and you’re not just sure, just don’t. Absolutely don’t. As I said, I think it’s better to do less than too much because the work could end up being weaker. Than its potential because you do less again. But you could put aside and come back to it later, and you can probably do more to it if you need to. But if it’s overworked, it’s often times hard to fix those things, especially with less forgiving materials like wood or wood or watercolor or. Ceramics or whatnot, you may not be able to fix them later, right? I also think that a lot of times we feel complexity is better and it’s not always like if you’ve ever taken an art class where you work on canvas or AER or even graphic design, they’ll usually bring U the imortance of white space. And I believe I have. Podcast on. I don’t remember. One it is, but in any case. A lot. People, especially when they start out, they’re inclined to fill all the space that they have to work on. But white space is a good thing. It gives the eye a place to rest, so visually it’s very helpful for viewers to have white space. And of course, white space doesn’t mean it has to be white. Just means it has to be like open, uncomplicated, easy on the eye. Thing the white space or simpler, less complicated areas of the work help the viewer find the primary focus. The area where you want them to spend the most time on, because it kind of directs them away from the simple areas to the more complicated areas. And you can. You can direct your viewer to where you want them to be looking. So you want to be careful not to overwork something where the focus will get lost because there’s too much complicated stuff going on and you feel too much of this. Some work can even benefit from being incomplete, so being finished isn’t about did I do all the things that make it make everything complete in the picture like you were doing a portrait? You don’t actually have to, you know, draw out every hair or even the ear. Or I’ve seen paintings where they didn’t, actually. Draw both the eyes you know and the reason you would do that and still call it finish is because those incomplete areas may help you say something. That you’re trying to convey. Brett, I actually talked about that in episode 24, the elusive finish state. Kind of sounds like today’s subject. It’s. Brett and I chatted about the problem, starting something that you don’t finish, and we talked a bit about how to know when it’s done in there as well. But I’m pointing this out because mostly we. Talked about how to complete things that you feel like you didn’t want to finish, but then also to talk about how incompleteness can say something. If you want more information about that, then you’re interested in that subject. Episode 24. Something to go back to. But yeah, the skinny is that we talked about how leaving something’s undone. Is part of what you say. If your intention would benefit from those things being incomplete, like the theme may have to do with incompleteness or questions left unanswered, or something of that sort, you know, incomplete parts would work to support that, or it could again help the view. Concentrate on the area you want them to. On even. Jewelry parts that look more finish. While other elements are rougher, can also help with developping focus and otentially developping. Theme, so the completeness of your work is one thing, and the knowing it’s done is another thing. You see what I’m. So completeness is what people might expect you to fully do, but knowing it’s done because it says what you need to say without having to be complete is. A legitimate way of determining that it’s finished. It’s just, you know, really unfortunate that art’s not like baking a cake and you can just stick a toothpick in the middle and see if it comes out dry. There’s just a lot to consider when it comes to weather a piece of art you’re working on. Is as done as it needs to be. And I like using that phrase that it is done as it needs to be, because I think that emphasizes that our work could always be worked on more and it’s never going to be as perfect as you want it to be in your mind. But it gets to. Point where it’s saying what it needs to say, where its impact or its beauty or whatever visual experience you want people to take away from it. Will most likely be. So that’s where you can put it to bed and move on to the next thing because it’s achieved those things that you’re after. And I think this idea. That you need to examine when something is done can extend to other things in our artistic lives. Actually kind of lives in. Let’s say you’ve been a show artist for the last. I don’t know, 5678, ten years, and you’re finding yourself really exhausted with routine or the market is not providing you with the income that you need anymore. You really want to do different work and your present shows. Will probably not be good venues for. I think there’s times in our lives where we need to examine what we’re doing with our work and recognize when it’s time to move on. If doing the shows aren’t fulfilling all the things that you need enough income, enough work, life balance, or appropriate clientele for the kind of work you want to create, then it’s necessary to know when to move on and not just keep tweaking or pushing for that particular thing. Life to work. Like you could do things to sell more at a show if it’s an income issue, such as changing your price points, maybe making lots of smaller, cheaper things. You may not enjoy that and the whole thing of doing shows will become a chore instead of a joy. Because you’re not creating and selling the kind of work your heart. Soul wants. Be doing or maybe you’ve you’ve developed a successful YouTube channel, but the constant production in trying to keep on top of it can be exhausting. Maybe it’s just not fun anymore. Maybe it’s time to move on to something. You could teach classes or create tutorials and sell those instead of doing videos. Or maybe it’s even the material you’re working with, and I know a lot of artists that have struggled with that because you put a lot of time and investment into your material and it becomes kind of your identity. And then at some point you realize. You either want to move on to something else because something else has gotten you curious and it’s gotten you inspired and jazzed in a way that your present material isn’t, or you want to say something in the materials that you’re working with. Just don’t really have the ability. To say things the way you want to say them. So it can be. An issue of. Outgrowing your material or your life? Moving on in a way that doesn’t allow you to work with that material the way you have been. This can be a really tough thing for a lot of people because of the identity that we tend to kind of emesh ourselves in with our materials, you know, like I call myself a polymer artist for a long time. And other people call themselves a watercolorist or a. Or a sculptor, or, you know by former, by material, whatever. If you decide to move on to something else. That can be hard. It can be hard because of the community that you’re entrenched in because of the knowledge that you have and to start, you know, start new and being novice in something after you’ve been a master in something can be really. Difficult, but there are times when that is really a. I actually had a couple of artists that I interviewed. Kathleen Destin and Joe Barbaccia. They chose to work in polymer clay instead of bigger, more complex materials that required more equipment and more space because they were moving into smaller spaces. They were moving a lot. And even though they had years invested in these other materials, moving to polymer let them continue to be wildly creative even through all these great changes. In their lives, and yet they necessitated some logistical. But they were able to keep doing creative work that they loved and actually found something new and inspiring for them in the process. I also have artist friends who have moved from like sculpture materials to two-dimensional materials because of arthritis or because they were doing like abstract work in their sculpture materials and they wanted. Realistic imagery and felt that they could better express that with paint or pencil. I know all. These things, whether it’s selling at shows or gorgeous social media channel or just working with a particular material. All of these things will have involved a lengthy time investment, usually monetary investment and sometimes a lot of networking or building up of your name in certain circles in order to grow a career or market. And it can just seem like such a waste to set aside that kind of investment that we made. It can be really hard to walk away from those things that took so much time and money and effort to grow and establish. They’re also familiar, and they’re things that you know you can do and that you can do well. Even if it’s not fulfilling for you and. More some of us will stay because of this familiarity and because of this investment feeling like we’ve put so much into it that we have to stick it out and also because doing something else involves some level of risk. And there’s unknown aspects and all this stuff can be scary. And not only that, starting in like, say, a new material, especially or new markets or whatever, you can feel like a bumbling novice in these new things. It’s not the best feeling in the world, but mastering a new material and discovering new things about your skills and your talents. Finding new people, finding new connections, finding new markets. They can help you develop yourself as an artist and with new material that childlike wonder that curiosity, that thing, that really motivates and drives us can be just notched up tremendously. And then once you’ve gotten it down, what you’re no longer the novice? This huge and amazing payoff. Showing yourself that, yeah, you can start over again and be successful and it’s just it’s it’s worth it, right? But all that said, you still have to come to a point where you know it’s time to be done with those things. Now, in the case of shifting the way you sell or shutting down a social media channel that you’ve been doing well at, or actually even moving to another material, you may feel like you know it’s some kind of giving up that you’re failing because. You’re basically just switching gears or looking in your new direction, and these things aren’t failing. But we may have a sense like we’ve given up on it, right? But you got to think of it as a type of growth, you know. It’s one of the hardest things for us to be able to recognize when a certain aspect of what we do or certain parts of our lives is over or done or ready to be put on ause it can be a hard thing to accept and. Away from. But I don’t think we should look at anything that we do. As being the thing that we’re going to do for the rest of our lives, because we’re constantly changing, the world is constantly changing and we should change as needed. So that change should be really. Or think of it as something potential and embrace it when it does come along. Now I know change is not the most comfortable thing for I’d I’d say the majority of people now I like change. Actually seek it. I’m constantly wrecking my routines on purpose. When I see them forming in my life, which isn’t, you know, doesn’t make things very efficient sometimes, but you know just. But it doesn’t mean that even if you like change, that change isn’t scary, or that you question walking away from things that you’ve done well at. I think it would be weird if you didn’t question big changes in your life. It’s necessary to examine whether you are truly done with something, just as it is when you are creating work to know that you’re truly done with it, and I think in the case of life changes. More likely to do. Overworked kind of thing than the underworked kind of thing. So you will probably hang onto things longer than you should. Then leave too soon. So if you’re, if you’ve been questioning what you’re doing for a while, you’re probably beyond the point of when you should have stopped. That’s just my. May not always be true, but it’s something to examine in yourself. The other thing that can be a problem with making life changes in particular is that there’s an exectation from other people. You know, they have expectations of us, and that may even be true of the type of material that you have. Have a a certain market that you’ve been selling to for a long time and dedic. Customers and and fans and whatnot. And if you change up, they can be really disappointed in you and that can be really hard to face. I remember when I was working on the Polymer Arts magazine this from the other side. Me changing but someone else changing 0. There were a couple times I wrote some well known artists about contributing, only to find out that they had walked away from polymer clay. I remember at the time thinking that was so sad. ‘Cause I I was still in love with the material and obsessed with it. It was hard to see that somebody else would had some version of my experience with this. Would have lost that fascination with it. And yet here I am not really working with polymer. Ever anymore. It’s not say I’ve given it up because I haven’t because I still have a fascination with it. Still, love it and all the amazing things that it can do. It’s just I want to do different. I want to do bigger pieces that the material isn’t really suitable for. At least not as the primary material. So my time and energy has been going into other materials that I think will be able to produce what I want to produce and then from the other side, like for me doing this podcast, it’s been hard for me to grow my circle of influence beyond the PO. And I have a polymer artist or polymer or people who have found me through polymer still make up the majority of listeners as best as I can tell. And I I love how many people have followed me from a very bonded community. That polymer has been there’s a serious polymer identity because it was such a new material. It felt very different as a community. The other art art. Forms. But yeah, a lot of polymer people have followed me from that kind of enclosed community to something more generalized this this thing that I’m doing, which really shows some serious growth for those people that they’re looking beyond just the technique and the possibilities of polymer into the. Of understanding art and design and living a creative life so. You know who you are out there, and kudos to you, but there is still I think I I get from emails and conversations that we’ve had an expectation that I am going to speak to or speak for at least some of the polymer community. In polar I mean, it’s really spreading to so many different areas now. It’s not quite as concentrated a community that it once was, which is part of its growth and it’s wonderful to see that. But I feel the pressure to continue to be a source for the poll. And I still regularly get people writing me with questions about the materials or where to get things or. Or, you know, certain contacts for artists or to write articles. All these kinds of. So I’m still entrenched to some degree, so it can be very hard to, you know, step away from that and not be focused in every. Every business person and marketing person will tell you to focus and to be niche. But it’s not that big a community and of that community, there’s only a percentage that wants to be serious artists and want to hear the kinds of things that this podcast has to say. I had to spread out, right? The truth is, I’ve actually always been doing. Even the polymer Arts magazine was really more about being an artist than just how to work with polymer. But The funny thing is the identity I have had has actually limited my own creative work. Doing the magazine was literally an every waking hour of roduction and a big reason I stepped away from it after nine years was because my work life balance was poor. The podcast. Has given me a much better work life balance than the magazines, but. I’m not very good at doing things **** *****, so like last year’s podcast was my priority and it got out every week and it was the quality that I wanted and I was getting the listenership that I wanted. And there were. Donations to keep it afloat. This year. Been another story, as many of you know, if you’ve been following me through this chaotic year, it’s been really hard for me to be able to give this the focus that I think this project deserves the kind of focus that I had in the 1st. And as of this week. I’ve been doing this podcast for two years. I have loved every minute of doing this and I don’t want to stop doing it, but for months now I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this in such a way that it doesn’t take up the majority of my free time. I have more time to do my own creative work. You might have noticed that the last few months that I’ve done all solo episodes, with the exception of Brett joining me for some of them, and that was in large part because doing interviews or even Co hosting episodes, they almost double the amount of time that I need. Do them and people are asking when I’ll get back to interviews and the fact is. I don’t know if I can do that with the present setup and process that I have while also continuing to do my own creative work and make some progress with my art. I’ve been doing a lot more. This year in particular, but I’ve not been able to give it the time and focus it needs for me to make any real progress. I’m not feeling very good about the progress that I’m making, so I’ve had some ideas on how this could work in the future. Being able to do either the podcast or some other similar thing while being able to get some of my creative projects done, and I started seriously brainstorming what kind of changes would have to be made. Just probably over the last month. But I realized that. Even my my brain storming needs some time to focus, and with the amount of time that I put into the production of this. It’s really nothing’s going to happen until I give myself space to work through it. In other words. I’ve been asking myself is it time to be done with the podcast? I’ve actually been asking myself this. I I would say since the summer break. And I don’t want to be done with. I love teaching and sharing and connecting with you all, and I think that it’s really important to me to be able to teach and share. So I do it for myself as well as being able to share and help you all out. But I do feel like I need to fill my own creative well first. At least for a little. And maybe find some help or more efficient ways of producing. So I do have a better balance between doing this kind of work and then doing my own creative work. So here I am asking the question of am I done? I done with podcast. 16 I don’t think so. Or AM. Done with this podcast in the kind of subject I’m. Or the way it’s being produced and that’s possible. I may have to change what I’m doing. My greatest hope would be to make progress in my. Art. For a little while and my writing as well. I know. Even that sounds like a lot, but my actual end goal with my artwork is is to actually combine a lot of my various creative stuff. Photography my. My pencil and my poetry, and putting these all into. These mixed media pieces that I’m envisioning. But yeah, if I can make progress in my artwork in my writing and establish a structure in my life that allows those things to get done with time enough to get back to teaching and sharing in a way that keeps my life in balance. That’s what I hope to do. I’m not sure what form that will be though. Podcasting has been so much more my thing than I ever imagined it would be. But we’ll. Sometimes you have to tear something completely down and start over to get it. Right. And that’s actually my usual method of doing things. I don’t like to patch and tweak and Band-Aid things to get them to work. I find it much easier to start from Ground Zero and build things anew. I’m having conversations with a couple of people about what my future sharing and teaching will look like. I’m going to keep the mailing list and I’m going to keep all the websites up. Of that’s going to change. When I come to the point where I’ve decided what my sharing is going to look like, I will be reaching out to all of you. O if you’d like to be kept updated on my. Please do ensure that you’re signed up for the news and notices newsletter. It’s on the homepage of the. Just go there and look for the news and notices button. If you’ve been writing to me or thought about writing to me because you have questions about what you’re doing about something that I’ve mentioned in a podcaster, just want to say hi, I would still. Love to hear from you how? Ever. And the best way to reach me would be actually. Respond to that newsletter. Just really simple. Get. You can. Say whatever or to any and it could be anything that you received in the past doesn’t have to be a present newsletter. And you can also go to the contact page of the sagearts.com and write to me there. Can also reach out on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube under the Sage Arts podcast pages. Not going to go away. For a very long time, regardless of what I do, I’m still here. If you want to chat, and I do. Really, really hope that you will reach out because I will. I will miss these conversations and I will miss the emails and I will miss sharing the way I’ve been able to on this podcast. So to clarify, yes, I’ve decided, at least for now, I’m putting a pause on the podcasting until I’ve got the stuff figured out. Think it’s the right choice for now, but I don’t know how long. Be. I’m going to be able to stay away. But just like with your artwork, I’m going to put this away for a little while so I can come back and look at it with fresh eyes. I want to really understand what I’m trying to do with this an what you all have been getting out of it and what aspects to continue to offer and share. And getting a little distance timewise from it. With those thoughts in mind, I think will be helpful. I wish I could put some kind of time frame on it, like when I took the summer break I said I would be back in September, whatever it was. And I could do. But right now I don’t know what it’s going to take to get that balance in my life with my creative work. So it’s going to be an open-ended pause and there is, I’ve got to admit, there’s a possibility I might not be able to come back to it. I really don’t in my heart feel that that’s true, but we’ll we’ll have to see. I. I am not going to say Goodby. I’m going to say so long for now, and I hope all of you have the most wonderful 2024 holiday season. I hope you look to 2025 with an eye on finding joy for yourself. Prioritizing yourself, saying yes to the things that make you happy, that make your life better for you and your family, and step away from the things and the people even. Dream you or get you down. There’s too many wonderful and precious things we can do with our time to have it be eaten up by things that aren’t feeding our our essential selves. Creative selves, right? So until I pop back up again, do go out and have wonderful new experiences. Don’t forget to keep feeding that muse be true to your weirdness always and will connect again in the not too distant future.
