Day on

Yes I realise I've been rather slack in keeping y'all updated on the 'day off for working in the studio' sitch. Well, as I think I mentioned, I officially altered my weekly working hours down by a mere 3, which when I also trimmed all the unpaid overtime I was doing has meant that I can do my hours over 4 days, and not even work particularly late on those 4. I've picked Thursdays as my studio day, so that it still feels like a 'working day' rather than a day off, extra long weekend etc. Which is not to say that an extra long weekend wouldn't also be nice / worthwhile/ a good reason to cut down working hours, it's just not what I had in mind.

So this is the fourth week. Today has been the least successful in terms of getting in there (evidenced by me sitting here typing and waiting while my laminating gets done at the copy shop rather than being in the studio) but it was ever so hot today, plus I had a backlog of organic vegies which were threatening to take over the house and needed some inventive cooking (cabbage????? again???). And I'm going in now.

And how has it been? Interesting. Exciting. Scary. One challenge has been balance - when I'm in there and focused I just want to stay for the forseeable future. I have once or twice forgotten to eat or to drink enough water, or to go home early enough to get an early night; at these moments I realise that I probably need some 'good work practice' rules for myself, to temper the enthusiasm with common sense. Some parameters to make sure I don't overdo it.

The other interesting thing has been 'what will I work on?'. This hasn't really been an issue, in terms of once I start the first thing leads to the next thing and the time has finished before I know it. I try to start each session with some open drawing - unstructured time to just doodle and sketch and daydream. Easier said then done when people walk past and you're in full view doodling (I am the self-conscious type, though you might not guess from this public blathering.. but you can't see me so that makes it ok). After about half an hour of this I launch into whatever project I have ha;f done from the week before, or whatever idea seems most pressing. Broadly, I've been finishing off some printmaking that I started last year, and want to get a set of prints and t-shirt range printed; then (actually kind of concurrently) I want to do some fabric designs and print some of those, playing with colour and layering, then I want to leave all that and start painting. That might involve some classes. Also I probably need to brush up my drawing, so maybe find a lifedrawing class or do a general drawing class. To what end? Plugh, who the hell knows. But meanwhile it's keeping my hands happy, my brain fertile, and my drawing books full of ideas. It's also keeping printmaking ink out of my kitchen sink, and the extra room is meaning I loose less through smudges and oopses. Yah.

Working 4 days has been great, especially in the wake of my slightly burnt out state at the end of last year. I think being there 5 days during slow January would have been more than I could handle. It is a bit tricky getting teh hang of the feel of the week, with a little blip of not being there mid-way. It kind of feels like 2 weeks each week, and I am yet to get the hang of remembering when things happened, because everything feels like a long time ago, even if it was just a week ago. (Kind of like the work-connection gets broken, my brain covers lots of other grouond, exists in a different time zone for a day, and then has to trail back in).

I do think it's also been good for my day-job work funnily enough (not my primary objective, but a nice surprise). I'm feeling a bit more free with my ideas, a bit more confident to share my suggestions, and a bit less engaged with all the details there. To be honest (and this probably aint so great, but it's great for me) I also care less about getting every t-crossed and i-dotted. If I miss a few emails or forget to do things I figure people will remind me if it's important, and anyway, everyone else does stuff like that, so hey, I'm just joining in. Learning to perform only averagely - how liberating!

I think my 4-days has prompted a couple of other people to rethink their hours too - especially in light of the fact that my change hasn't been for one of those more widely accepted reasons such as parenting, being a carer, or studying. 'JustcozIwanna ' - a good reason too. Lucky for me that I work somewhere flexible enough to let me do this, and that I earn enough that a few hours less doesn't mean any real change to my lifestyle.

Yah.