Artwork, Free Time, and Priorities

I struggle to balance my life. The things I have to do versus the things I want to do. I have identified a very addictive streak in my personality, which becomes almost obsessive when awakened. Take this puzzle I recently completed for example: 

It's a Norman Rockwell painting that was printed into a puzzle, and I just love the subject matter--it's so humorous. But it. was. hard!! So hard, in fact, that I hope I never have to take this puzzle apart. It may just have to live in our schoolroom because I can't bear the thought of all that effort going back in its box in fragments. I don't know how long it took me to do this puzzle, but I do know that for the last several days I have spent almost every spare second poring over its 1,000 pieces. My eyes ached in their sockets and I repeatedly lost track of the time--a rarity for me.  All that blue and green! All those skin tones! All that car trim! And in this puzzle, the pieces are not evenly-shaped and patterned in a nice neat grid, stoic in their starched lines. No, they are all oddly-shaped, of different sizes, and laid out in a pattern that fairly undulates, like unruly children. There are pieces that have straight edges but are not edge pieces at all, and there are pieces that have such a tiny edge on them that you would  completely overlook them as edge pieces. It's a dizzying puzzle, and I was obsessed. There's something about fitting a puzzle together that is so satisfying to me that I just can't help but look for "one more" piece. Sink full of dishes? Laundry piling up? Scuzz in the bathrooms? Yeah, yeah, okay. Be there in a second! Just one more piece!

Also completed during our days of quarantine, was this puzzle:

You'll have to turn your head, because I can't turn the photo! This puzzle, in comparison, was child's play. Three hundred grid-like, predictable pieces, and very easy to tell which parts were reflection and which were not. And yet I was equally preoccupied.

Artwork has the same effect on me. Take this recent Prismacolor portrait:

It's difficult for me once I begin something like this to put it away and stop working on it until it is finished. I eat, sleep, and breathe it from the first sketchy strokes of tentative layout to the final signature in confident black.

I guess so far I'm just making observations and haven't really solved any problems at all, but it's something I've been trying to piece together in my mind, much like a puzzle. I've been talking to the Lord about these questions the last couple of days: How much time is too much to spend on such things? Am I even in the right stage of life to justify such an outlet? (When I'm drawing and my kids come around, my battle cry is "Don't Bump the Table!" It's one of the things I like least about myself, but there it is.) If I were to start another project, is it reasonable for me to ignore all the housework for the next several days and devote all my free time to it? Or would the Lord be better pleased with say, 30 minutes a day on such projects? Should I just wait until I'm 55 and all the kids are out of the house? 

I'm just leaving these questions here to record that I do think about this. I wonder if other people wrestle with the same thoughts? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Resolving Everyday Conflict

Image
If you've ever been asked to lead a discussion or teach about a certain spiritual discipline, you can be sure that the Lord will lovingly bring just that exact topic to the forefront in your own life. He'll graciously put your ugly sinful tendencies "right on Front Street," as my good friend Dara likes to say. This is grace! This is God's kindness to reveal sinful tendencies in our own hearts so that we can repent, seek renewed relationship with God and others, and be used of Him. Here is a story about one such evidence of God's grace to me. Josh and I were late to our small group last night. Oh, we were there . We had technically arrived on time, but we remained in the parking lot of the neighborhood's clubhouse for over 45 minutes before we were able to walk in holding hands. Much later in the evening, on our way home from Grace Group, Eden begged to be the one to fill the boys in on why we were late (the boys had driven separately from a soccer practice
Read more

The Hand of God

Image
 I am in Scotland. S C O T L A N D. This is me; Joanna, the one whose comfort zone is within about one square mile, who said she never wanted to leave the USA, who hates to travel on anything public, who nearly hyperventilates at the mere mention of airplanes. How is this possible that I am here? Only by God's grace. Every step in front of the other, every long line, every minute on those airplanes was enabled by God's grace. On my end, it wasn't always pretty--usually it was very ugly--and I may have said, "I can't do this" more times than we could count (Josh had to tell me to quit saying that), but God was faithful to me and I have a really great story about one such miracle to share with you, but for perspective and contrast I have to share a really ugly story first. Here goes:  We dropped off our rental car in Dublin about 11am, and had to ride a shuttle bus back to the Dublin airport to catch our 1:10pm "quick" flight over to Edinburgh, Scotlan
Read more

The Whole Truth

Image
Our cat, Willow, has kittens periodically. By periodically I mean about 2-3 times a year, and we don't hate it. We actually enjoy guessing when her due date is, how many kittens there will be, what they will look like, etc. Then when she has them, well, is there anything cuter than kittens? But sooner or later, 8 weeks later to be exact, it's time for those kittens to go. At that time we will put an ad on Craigslist and find homes for each and every one. This brings the fun hassle of sending people additional pictures, telling them again how much we are charging (that was in the ad!), setting up potential meetings with people who will ghost at the last minute, after we've already given them our address. Everyone should put an ad on Craigslist at least once just for the experience. Should you finally get someone who likes the look of a kitten, wants to pay the price, can meet at an agreeable time, successfully finds your house, is okay with the fact that the kittens haven&#
Read more