This week’s Weekword is resolution, and it was chosen by Emily over at Ready for an Adventure. If you go and visit her blog you’ll be able to see what she’s written, as well as a list of the other participants.
There are, according to Google, twelve different meanings of the word ‘resolution’ – I decided to go with the first one:
A firm decision to do or not to do something
I don’t think I’ve made a new year’s resolution since I was at school. I don’t see why a resolution made on the 1st January should be any more effective than a resolution made at any other time of the year. I do make resolutions in general though, and if I had to pick three for the coming year this is what they’d be.
1. Be more organised
Fairly straightforward, and applies to all aspects of my life from gardening to domestic chores to working in my studio. I don’t keep a work diary, which is a result of having such regular clients. However I do think I might benefit from having some sort of schedule for outside work hours. I’ll be looking at this over the next couple of days while the idea is still fresh in my mind.
2. Stop procrastinating
I’m a devil for putting things off, and that can make me my own worst enemy. I’m actually quite determined to work on this because I think it would force me to be more productive/creative. I’m forever stashing away bits and pieces because they might come in useful, or I just can’t bear to throw them away… which leads to the most amazing amount of crap littering the house and studio. From now on I’m going to try and use things up as I acquire them. Offcuts of paper? Turn them into a miniature book, a collage, a gift tag, anything, straight away. Leftovers of yarn? Look at them seriously and decide if they’re actually long enough to be worth keeping. If so put them away neatly in a bag rather than leaving them all over the place. Interesting articles? Clip them out of the magazine or print them off from the web and stick them in your scrapbook. Don’t leave umpteen tabs open in Firefox just because you’ll come back to browse them eventually, and don’t leave old magazines piled up all over the house.
3. Start drawing more
I lost my sketch mojo several months ago. No idea where it went, but I suspect it’s still somewhere in Orkney waiting for me to return! I kept a sketch blog a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, and I did find that drawing things on an almost daily basis improved my skills (well it would, wouldn’t it? Practice makes perfect and all that!). I’ve completely fallen out of the habit, and it’s become a vicious circle: I want to draw more, but I lack the confidence so I don’t do it. If I don’t draw then I won’t improve, and nor will my confidence. I’m planning to take part in Illustration Friday next year so I’ve got a couple of weeks to bully myself into drawing more and working the kinks out.
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