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I have compressed my creative process into a month-long, fully-completed-drawing-a-day challenge. No, challenge is not the word, although this is challenging in every way. No, the word is assignment, because I expect and know I will complete each daily drawing.

'Make it so!' I say to myself each morning, Captain Cat Fink on the bridge of her studio sighting the creative horizon. Warp 10. (Yes, Star Trek fan, total creative fun.)

I'm drawing at warp speed. There is something that begins to happen when I work with this intensity and compression.

Instead of feeling more emotional stress, I feel less. I am moving at such speed that I pass through these emotions into full creation mind much sooner than usual. I know I have experienced this quickening before, but I had forgotten. Such pleasure to reacquaint myself with this phenomenon.

Part of this change is knowing I want this drawing complete by the end of the day. I have no time to be a drama queen. No wasting my time and energy on emotional upset. My time and energy and emotions are here to be used for drawing, not for whining about drawing.

There is more to this. I have set an intention. I am focused on this alone--be here in the gallery's studio in my creative process and nowhere else. The intention sets a boundary for me, even though my drawing itself has no boundaries. It tells me where to put my attention and energy and emotions, all on the sheet of paper in front of me. It makes the choice of what to do with all my creative energy very very easy. Draw.

Part of this change is daily movement through my complete creative process. Trust shows up, based on the tangible proof of the drawing I completed yesterday. My mind says, I did this yesterday, I can do it again today. And I do.

I am reminded here I do better as a daily creator than a stop-and-start creator.

Could I sustain this warp speed creativity for longer than this month?

Possibly not. I have a life outside of my studio that feeds my creative life, and it is lacking some attention right now. This intense activity would eventually drain my creative well, as I am pouring creative energy out onto the page faster than I am replenishing it. I know that my long term creative process requires periods of rest and quiet, letting inspiration arrive and develop a richness that eventually says create me now. Seeds in the ground awaiting the right season to move above the surface and be seen. My warp speed creativity, while fun and crazily productive, lacks true balance.

That said, I am realizing that a month of warp speed creativity, set amidst my more sedate daily creativity, is a very good thing. I am thinking I want this as a new creative habit.

Warp 10. Carry on, Captain.

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The image on today's post is 'What Gives Me Joy Nov 8 2016 (colour)'. The Joy Diary interactive art show is happening at the Station House Gallery, #1 Mackenzie Avenue North, Williams Lake, BC. The show runs to November 26th. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. I am drawing in the gallery studio through to November 24th. Come and join me! https://www.facebook.com/stationhousegallery/

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There are eight new drawings on the gallery walls as of this past Saturday. Big drawings. Thirty inches high and twenty-two inches wide each. My favourite size.

I don't do well with small drawings. I love seeing other people's small drawings or paintings or sculptures or prints. They are lovely, perfect jewels. I covet them.

I know, however, that small does not work for me. When I try to work small, I end up feeling frustrated. I can't get enough of my idea onto that small piece of paper. My marks and colours feel cramped, like I had to bend and break them so they fit.

I was this way all through art school. When the assignment called for small format, I would do many, then butt them together so they could be big. Small felt like whispering to me. I was thirty-eight years old. I had waited twenty years to go to art school and become Artist. There was no way I was going to whisper. And I didn't. My colours and marks and ideas yelled 'I am here. Notice me.'

Mostly what happened is that I noticed myself. Noticed what I loved and did not love in my artwork and creating. Noticed who I was and was not as Cat the Artist. Noticed how what was not authentically me fell away and was left behind for someone else to play with.

I learned I liked to create sideways. I would look an art assignment in the face. But then I'd begin turning it around and upside down and inside out. I would find an interesting side door into the work, and that's where I would begin. My own point of view. My sideways creation.

I still create this way. It is how I see the world.

This past week and a half, I have discovered I am another kind of creator as well. I am an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink creator. I am using everything in the body of work I am creating this month. The Joy Diary is pulling things out of me I did not know I could do. I have discovered a way of marrying word and image that works for me. I have discovered how to mix chaos and order. I am matching up opposites and I like what is happening. This is double FUN, this chaotic order, this ordered chaos!

I am realizing here is the reason I have always loved comic books and graphic novels, have always loved Dr. Seuss books. They tell stories on several levels and in several ways, all at once. They are imagination and creation gone wild, pushed to the point of delight for both the creator and the reader. They are sideways creations that allow in everything and the kitchen sink.

I am so glad I am a sideways-creating, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink Artist and Writer. This, absolutely and perfectly, gives me joy.

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The drawing in today's post is 'What Gives Me Joy Nov 7 2016 (games)'. The Joy Diary interactive art show is happening at the Station House Gallery, #1 Mackenzie Avenue North, Williams Lake, BC. The show runs to November 26th. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. I am drawing in the gallery studio through to November 24th. Come and join me! https://www.facebook.com/stationhousegallery/

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I'm on a break today after three days of drawing. Sort of a break, because while I am doing laundry and other such household chores, I am thinking about my creative process.

I had this idea, when I was an art student, that eventually creating art would be easy. Once I was a well-experience master artist, there would be none of those messy emotional stages of anxiety, fear, and outright panic during my drawing process.

Yes, you who are are constant creators, go ahead and laugh. I'm laughing right along with you.

That naive art-student-me had lots of hope. Hope carried me through the hard scary emotions of creating. I refused to let myself be blocked because I knew making art would get easier the more art I made. Also, I am stubborn.

I was right, sort of. Art making did get easier, the more art I made. Even though the anxiety-fear-panic has not disappeared, as a stage in my creative process these emotions have become smaller, shorter, less intense. I have become used to them. I can keep creating right through them because I know they don't last.

Anxiety-fear-panic have become signposts for me. They are indicators of how important this drawing or piece of writing is to me, and how important being an actively-working artist and writer are is me. They tell me how non-negotiable it is for me to create from my authentic heart. No shortcuts. No faking it. What shows up in my creation has to be the real thing and nothing less. Something I am proud of creating and sharing. Something that speaks to my heart, and connects with the hearts of others.

To reach that kind of authentic creating, I am willing to move through the messy, hard stages of my creative process. I will be moving through messy and hard again tomorrow, and coming out the other side with a new drawing. I would not want to be doing anything else. I was made for this.

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The drawing in today's post is 'What Gives Me Joy Nov 4 2016 (music)'. The Joy Diary interactive art show is happening at the Station House Gallery, #1 Mackenzie Avenue North, Williams Lake, BC. The show runs to November 26th. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. I am drawing in the gallery studio through to November 24th. Come and join me! https://www.facebook.com/stationhousegallery/

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I am artist and writer in equal measure. The past two years, writing has been all. Now, my drawing is centre stage for all of November, and this makes me very happy.

I have missed my art-making. This is not to say I don't love my writing. I am in love with both, switching back and forth depending on the inspiration that comes and the projects that grow.

My drawings for 'The Joy Diary', my solo art show, have writing in them. I get to play, moving between my two loves, marrying them in ways that push me to further inspiration beyond the drawing I am creating. Seeing on the paper before me how my mind connects ideas and information, the leaps it takes, surprising and delighting me. Learning how I balance image with word, each playing off the other and suggesting something more than 1 plus 1 equals 2. More like 2 squared or 2 cubed.

Drawing feeds my writing. Writing feeds my drawing. There are some feelings and knowings that I can only express through images, and others that need words to bring them alive. I am blessed to be Artist and Writer, and to be in love with both.

The drawing in today's post is brand new, created yesterday in the Station House Gallery studio. 'What Gives Me Joy Nov. 3 2016 (stars)'. Inspired by a birthday tea with another artist-writer-friend. (Thank you Lynn!) Drawing number one, with seventeen more to follow throughout November. I am heading over to the gallery thirty minutes from now, to begin drawing number two.

Thank you thank you thank you that I get to be Artist AND Writer.

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The Joy Diary is happening at the Station House Gallery, #1 Mackenzie Avenue North, Williams Lake, BC. The show opened November 3rd, 2016, and runs to November 26th. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. I am drawing in the gallery studio through to November 24th. https://www.facebook.com/stationhousegallery/

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THIS IS AN INVITATION. COME AND PLAY!

I have a solo art show happening, and I am inviting to you come and create along with me. For real. See the end of this post for the when-and-where details.

Drawing, writing, folding origami animals, composing music, planning next year’s garden. Whatever gives you joy, come and play.

What gives me joy? I ask myself this question every day.

My upcoming show The Joy Diary is about joy, creativity, and sharing. It’s about inviting people into the studio. Showing the work behind the work. (I stole that line from Austin Kleon, awesome creator that he is.) I’m sharing creativity and process—what happened before that drawing was hung on the gallery wall, what made it become what it is. Sharing the path my creations take, mess and masterpiece alike.

My favourite advice on creating art (and life) comes from Canadian artist Norman Yates. ‘’Disorder opens a space.’’ Last year I asked myself, ‘’What if I bring some of Norman’s disorder into the gallery? What happens if the gallery becomes a place of sharing creative process, including the messes?’’ We all expect the art gallery to be a place of completed creation. The artwork is polished, the product of a year-long (or more) artist’s process. Our experience is passive.

I am making The Joy Diary interactive.

Imagine opening day, walking into a gallery show that begins at the beginning of creating the art. One drawing, dated today, and blank sheets of paper on the walls. Anticipation. The gallery expanding into artist studio.

In the gallery space an invitation is posted. ‘Artist At Play. Join me upstairs. See what is happening on today’s drawing. Chat, ask questions.’

For the run of the show, I am drawing onsite at the Station House Gallery in their upstairs studio. I’ll come in at opening time, remove a blank sheet of paper from the wall, create a drawing ‘What Gives Me Joy’, and re-hang the completed artwork. Eighteen large, narrative drawings over twenty-four days. Whew!

Imagine music playing. Imagine art materials and paper scattered across table tops, a cooling grande decaf mocha-with-whip sitting where it can’t get spilled onto the developing drawing (I’m getting wiser as I get older). This is my version of heaven.

Back downstairs in the gallery space, there is a second invitation asking, ‘What gives you joy?’ On a table are paper and art materials. I am inviting you to create your own piece of joy, give it to the gallery attendant, and have it hung as part of the show. You might create a drawing, a piece of writing, whatever gives you joy.

You, my Awesome Viewer, are invited to become immersed in the energy and activity of creation. Question and reply, viewers becoming participants, joining me, our artwork added to the gallery walls until at show’s end, this space is filled with a community’s conversation about joy.

HERE ARE THE DETAILS. The Joy Diary is happening at the Station House Gallery, #1 Mackenzie Avenue North, Williams Lake, BC. The show opens November 3rd, 2016, and runs to November 26th. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. https://www.facebook.com/stationhousegallery/

Come and play. I invite you!

Mentioned in this post:

Austin Kleon’s awesome books, Show Your Work! and Steal Like An Artist. Both published by WORKMAN, in 2014 and 2012 respectively. He does a weekly eletter that I love as well. http://austinkleon.com/

Norman Yates’ quote is from his artist talk, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC, February 2010. I was blessed to have met and talked with this generous artist twice in my career. http://www.timescolonist.com/obituary-artist-norman-yates-brought-big-spaces-to-the-canvas-1.874307

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The Crow Girls (Fran Baskerville, Wren Katzalay, Yvonka Jager, and I) have been in cahoots the last few months. We've been creating a single artwork on paper, 22'' by 30'', for a group show at the Slide Room Gallery in Victoria, BC.

Three of us are used to working BIGGER than this, so can you imagine crowding four artists' work onto this tiny surface? 'Challenge' is not enough of a description. And yes, we did it. Think layers, and cutting the sheet in quarters, and sewing it back together again. This is basically what we did.

We started by collaging a ground onto a piece of Rising Stonehenge paper. Layers of torn sewing pattern tissue. Images and used postage stamps and newspaper. Ink and coloured pencil and graphite and acrylic paint pens. Glitter (yes, we love shiny things!). Glued together with matte medium. All in our chosen palette of black, red, sepia, buff titan, and white. Then we gave ourselves even more of a challenge. We cut the sheet in quarters, closed our eyes, and chose a quarter to work on.

A precious 11'' by 15'' piece went home with each of us. We had a title to guide us--Lost in the Ghostlands--and a theme of childhood, memory, and maps.

We met again. Pieced our artwork back into a single sheet, and worked on linking imagery and marks from one quarter to another until it flowed as a cohesive whole. I don't have a photo of the entire piece, just my quarter titled Where the Wild Wind Is. That's it there, to the right.......

The group show 'In Cahoots (Synergy)' opened last night, November 6th, and will be open through November 30th, 2015. Every piece in the show has been created through collaboration by a group of two or more artists The Slide Room Gallery is located at the Vancouver Island of Art, 2549 Quadra Street. phone 250-380-3500. Enjoy!

The writing has taken me over, so if you'd like to know what is happening with me, my blog site is the place to go look. The short story of my life lately--second revision of my book 'Know Trust Choose Create', blogging, creativity coaching, putting together a new workshop. Whew! and enjoying it all!

Come visit at http://catfinkKnowTrustChooseCreate.com and see what's up. xo

Yes, just what the title says. My blog site is up and running. The writing is all about healing through using memory, story, and love. And of course creativity comes into it. I am posting midweek every week, and possibly more often depending on what is coming through in my writing. Come take a read and talk with me!

The address is catfinkknowtrustchoosecreate.com.

So where have I been since the summer started?

Writing and writing and writing and writing.

It all started innocently enough. Had an idea. Started playing with it. Turned it into a book title - Know Trust Choose Create. Then the words started coming in, a trickle, then a stream, then a river. By September it was a lake, a deep one, and I am still happily swimming in it. Have 3/4 of the first draft written, will have it finished by the end of December. Then I will give it a 6 week rest, the minimum resting time according to Stephen King and he should know, before tackling draft number 2.

The writing I have been doing all my art career is taking centre stage right now. It is being rather pushy about it, so I am letting it have its way with me. What else can you do when creating takes over?

What am I writing? A memoir that teaches healing through memory, story, and love. I had fibromyalgia for 34 years, but not any more. I healed it. I used my creativity, my Buddhist practice, and my imagination.

Keep watching this space because I am now building a blog with book excerpts and more on my creative process. I'll be linking this website to it so you can find me. See you soon!

Oh I have been having FUN! Soaking myself in creation energy, swimming in it, and have I been learning and creating! I did a comic course with Jazmyn Douillard during March to May in Williams Lake, BC, through the Station House Gallery. I love comics and graphic novels/works, always have. Doing this course, working with Jazmyn and five other particpants in the class, as a group creating a comic from start to finish, has given me a whole new awed appreciation for the artists who do this all the time.

This is a sample of what I was doing, no dialogue on the page yet as you see it here. No, I am not a brilliant comic book artist, but it was so interesting to try another way of creating art, and to create something with a group of people. I am so used to working alone in my studio.

For a very first try, not so bad. I can see the drawings are stiff and not terribly imaginative. I am curious to see how this new learning and different way of thinking will affect my future drawings and writing.

Am I going to become a comic book artist? No. But this has sent me back to reading the comics I read as a kid, 'Archie' and 'Donald Duck', just for fun and laughs.

In case you are wondering, that's Bob the Eagle from the Elf Eagle Network, and Page who is fourteen and a total wiz at research and connecting odd bits of information to create the whole picture. They are, with their other friends, trying to save the world from an apocalypse of course. And do they manage to save the world--well YEAH!