Athena Dreams Design

How We Work

This spring and summer my studio has seen a lot of activity - painting for a few different shows, and working on illustrations for a big project, and through all of these deadlines I have found myself pondering my work habits — specifically my lack of cleaning up at the end of a day.

This week though I came to an important realisation: I am not neat when I am in process. In fact, I am the antithisis of neat. All my tools: brushes, paint, rags, pens, paper, xacto knives, and on and on, need to be out and within easy reach. When an idea strikes, or a problem pops up that I need to solve quickly, I work best when everything is right there ready to use.

And so this week, I declare to myself that when I am in full create mode my space is a mess, and truly I like it that way. I know so many people who clean up at the end of every day, and I have always so admired that, but I feel so free declaring that I, in fact, do not work well that way. Oh the freedom that comes with a realisation...

SO, how do you work? DO you pick everything up at the end of a day, or do you leave things out till a project is finished? Do you never clean up your creative work space, and leave it always in flux? I am always so interested to hear about how other people work, so please share . . .

Upcycle .:. It's All the Style

 or how my cat became the newest fashionista, repurposing tree pollen into a set of pretty fab false eyelashes. Or is it false whiskers, I'll leave that to the beholder(s).

So much to say, so much to think, so much happening this busy summer, but I will take a breath, step away from the monitor, and just leave you with herself, The Little Bear (aka our cat), in her latest summer outfit.

July 2010 .:. Biz Goals

  
OK people are we ready for some July? I know I am... watermelon, music festivals, beachtime, maybe some kite flying, and popsicles! oh yes, and some work. I got a fair amount of work done in June on my list. All of these things are SO cerebral, I think I need to move some furniture now... so here they were for June.

JUNE Goals

1. Finish Biz Plan (and Yes, Isa, I could use some help!) - I am about 3/4 the way done... 
2. Work on Marketing Plan - 1/2 of the way in
3. Work ALL the stuff you learned in the Bakery Class - working it, working it...
4. Set up a weekly Calendar that will hang in front of my face with stuff that WILL get done - Amazing, will keep this going on a regular basis, ands saving the sheets in a folder is a great "look back"!
5. Take some minutes everyday to reflect on what has been accomplished and what still needs to get done, it helps with the perspective - Also Amazing, and I'm "scheduling" some moments on my weekly calendar : )

JULY Goals

1. Finish website. First "draft" is due on 5 July back from the programmer, and then hopefully some tweaks, and I launch.
2. Continue and FINISH the Biz Plan and get marketing plan in good shape
3. Paint for 2 MORE shows (yay!)
4. Re-do Etsy Shop & blog to tie into new website
5. Spend some time thinking Big! Take some time to think about all the things I'd love to do with my art, and then bring it into the practical and assess if it's do-able, and when.   

So let's go get us some July! Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far, I know some of you are away even now enjoying some holiday time, hope it's wonderful! Happy July to everyone!

 IF you are new to The Meetup or would like to play along, here's the scoop:

• Post a list of your business related goals for the current month on the 1st of each month on your blog. {If the 1st falls on a weekend, post on the following Monday.}
• Come back over here and leave a link to your goals blog post in the comments of my current month's goals.
• And then {and this is the most important part, since we are a community} visit all the links in the comments, stop in and say hello, have a conversation, meet and greet and etc.