“Stop Making Art” is the message trickling daily like a babbling brook through my brain. Once in a while it will scream it. I don’t really blame bipolar or medication, I think it’s more of a passive aggressive response to the fact that when I make art, I spread out and make a mess, and I live in a small but comforting space that I don’t want to make a mess in. So I turn to writing as a mode of creativity. It feels like a choice, and a reasonable choice that I made because I have obstacles to making visual art that are multifaceted.

I make assemblage art, so I need to surround myself with finds from flea markets and antique stores, which I think would be possible if I just think differently about my space. Maybe put some of my books in storage and display my flea market finds so they are readily available to inspire me. So that will be a goal for the week.

I also make another type of art that I do need to shelve due to the crazy mess I make, and that is working with oil sticks. It’s like thick goopy oil paint in stick form and I manage to get it everywhere when I work, and clean up is with turpentine, so that is a no go. I don’t want to use chemicals in my work anymore. I do love watercolor, so a new challenge would be to combine my assemblage with watercolor instead of oil stick. So that is another goal for next week: Make the watercolors accessible.

So by next Saturday I will have some books put away and my flea market finds and watercolors will fill my desk area. We’ll see if that has an impact on my ability to think creatively.