Tuesday Tips #2 Nurture the Artist

This week's Tuesday tip is simple.  Nurture the artist.

I am not talking here about nurturing your creativity by trying a new medium, or by setting up a scheduled time each week or each day that is set aside JUST for your creativity.  I am speaking instead of nurturing YOU.

Take care of yourself!  Take a little time off!  Make time for some exercise.  Take a walk! Cook yourself a decent healthy meal now and then!

As artists, it is far too easy to fall into the trap of fast food, TV dinners, and too much time sitting in front of our work.  But nothing stifles creativity and confidence more than feeling out of shape and slightly ill.

So, while its important to set aside time to work, and if you are trying to do art as a career it is vital that you spend a lot of time working on your art, it is also important to nurture yourself as a person, your whole person including the physical you!

I am saying this from experience, after being hyper focused on getting three pieces ready for entry in a juried show, and during that time neglecting to nurture myself at all.  Now, naturally I am feeling a little down, not too great physically, and I've gained a couple of pounds which does NOT result in a gain in confidence.

My husband had a wonderful idea to spend yesterday visiting Mount Rainier, and it was a terrific break, and offered many awe inspiring views, but at times, such as hiking over rocks to get to Paradise River, was also a revelation to me at how little I've been caring for my body lately.  The mountain was majestic, and I took many photos, unfortunately I have not yet been able to get them from my camera to my computer, so I won't be showing many of them, however I did take some with my phone, and here is one of them:

Today, I a feel tired, yet refreshed and renewed, ready to begin the next creative work, and inspired to also balance that with some self nurturing, self caring behavior such as visiting the gym, taking a walk, and starting to eat the way I know I should!

So, nurture the artist and you will refuel for your next creative session!

Thank you for reading! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!