So as I wrote in my previous blog post, I have allocated 7am to 9am in the morning to work on this book – some days shorter, some days longer. So far I have been going to Unknown Chapter and seated at the table having ordered coffee by 6:30am and that has been good. But I need a space to call my work space. And I am thinking of setting my room up to be that place.
I bought a cheap $12 table lamp that can shine line on the drawing board. Bought a 16W LED bulb and it now works.
I had also bought a drawing box, that opens up and can be used as a stand to draw on. About $110 but Mya got me the student discount so I ended up spending about $95 or something like that. The box is a wooden set and contains all my drawing pens, ink pots, nibs, erasers, sharpener, pencils, ruler, sticker tape, paper, notebook, everything that I may need for drawing. Very happy with that simple setup. And the best thing is that it is portable.
Not that I want to be portable. Anymore. I have come to realise the value of places. A space that is dedicated to a craft. My room is not ideal because it is also my bedroom where I sleep but it is the next best thing to a dedicated studio, for now anyway.
This morning I attempted being portable and brought my drawing box into church, set up a desk in the auditorium and did the drawing. It was not bad. But the whole time I felt like I was intruding, or worse still, that someone would intrude into that space and ask me what I was doing, or have something smart and clever to say about what I was doing – and though there's nothing wrong in that, when you're in a creative space, to feel protected from intrusion and distraction is a very high priority. I got a page done this morning but there was no sense of calm and ease. I remember feeling disjointed.
I remember thinking it was smart to get as much hours as possible into Deep Blue when I would watch movies and be on my iPad drawing away. Or just sitting in cafes and "chipping away" at it. Though the intentions were commendable, I see how disruptive and unwise that creative experience and process is. There was no respect shown to the symbolism of creating. No love given to the moment. No attention. No focus committed to that struggle, the dance, the tension and friction between intention, the medium and the result that emerged from that.
So here is hoping that my room becomes a shrine for creativity. Not to a god or any gods of creativity or to any muse – but to Reality, to a devotion to the Artist, to giver of creativity, to a pursuit of meaning and pursuit of excellence – and through it all, a "carrying the cross daily" that I have been called to do. The struggle of creativity is real. But it is God's work and it is what we see God doing from page one of the scriptures, and it is what I see God doing every single day through newborn babies, infinite amounts of books written, people's dreams, our wonderings, mountains, rivers, trees and leaves – it is who God is and who God is inviting me to become.
And the process of creation can be considered meditation. It really is a form of meditation. Finding oneself. Discovering the image of God in me, the image of God, the creator. Tapping into God the source of life, creativity and worlds.