Art Time for the Busy Person

Whenever I hear about time management I just roll my eyes and think what a waste of time. We’ve heard it all before and it all sounds good in theory but difficult to execute consistently. There are too many variables and life just gets in the way. Let’s face it….art is a luxury for the busy person who skips lunch at work to save time . So art, as a hobby, goes to the bottom of our to-do lists.

Like most busy physicians I had no time. I also realized time was a container into which our task, big and small, would expand. (look up Parkinson’s Law) When I had an lighter schedule at work , I seemed to work slower and less efficient. Conversely , when I was busier, I accomplished more. Now, that I am retired, I enjoy not having a hard schedule and efficiency is less important. My “work” now seems to be what I, at one time, considered to be play. I have the opportunity to look at time spent from a perspective away from the the work battlefield and off the treadmill .

In the past I would paint only occasionally… when I had a long weekend or vacation. It was difficult because everything was packed away haphazardly and it was a process to start and clean up. Because of large time gaps between projects , I’d forget much what I learned. So I made the same mistakes and have to relearn my skills. It was hard to improve.

I have some recommendations to help you find a place for art in a busy life:

1. First consider art as a meditation. It can prevent burnout and relieve stress. This will be reason enough to move it up your to-do list. Here is a link that may help with that: https://www.skillshare.com/en/blog/meditation-and-art-examples-and-how-this-practice-helps-you-creatively/

2. Choose a medium that fits your schedule. Drawing and sketching is the most portable and the quickest. Oil painting requires more time to set up and more clean up. It is not as portable although there are ways to get around some of that. There are water soluble substitutes for oil paint that would improve drying time and clean up. Water color clean up is easy and a hair dryer would shorten drying intervals between layers.

3. Make an art kit. It can be a pencil case or folio or a small carry on that you can pull out of a closet. For oil paint you can get a pochade box (example https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-french-easel-by-jullian/?clickTracking=true&wmcp=pla&wmcid=items&wmckw=51588-1001&gclid=CjwKCAjwue6hBhBVEiwA9YTx8GOQD48D3APxhMFmD9fyOLQkXmNvHp_V_K5TIeO1HidKl5614O92mBoCZ00QAvD_BwE . When you have some time, just take it out of your closet and put it back just as easily.

4. Join local art leagues Very often they have classes that make it easier to provide structure and consistency for your art projects. For example if you have a short work day, look for a weekly art class that’s a good fit. This will give you incentive and make it easier to carve out time away from home and work distractions.

I hope this is helpful to you. Let me know what you think. Subscribe so you can receive future blog post automatically.