Artistic Resolutions for the New Year

Last night I found myself painting at one in the morning and realized that I need to make a New Year's resolution to bring more balance into my life. 

It seems that every year I set goals for what I'd like to accomplish and then push myself to exhaustion trying to meet them. This year I have the same type of artistic goals and have even added more responsibilities on top of it. 

And it's not that these things are unreachable, I just don't seem to know when to stop. 

This doesn't seem to be an issue in the summer as much as it is during the winter months. In the spring I just have to hear the birds singing and I'm ready to go take a break outside and just enjoy the ambience. But during the dark and cold days of winter I have no distractions. I'd love to be able to just sit and relax but I can't just sit there and stare at a wall. But working until the wee hours of the morning is neither good for my health nor my art. So, what to do?

Well, I'm going to take my weekends off and not work on work. Five days a week is plenty of work time, considering I have a home to take care of too. I won't commit myself to not using the time to catch up on computer work, but I will save as much time as I can to just rest up. I'm also going to give myself a curfew. No work after 8 pm. If I want to play, perhaps just experiment with some techniques, then that is a bit different and might be a way to relax without boredom. 

It seems strange to make a resolution to do less, and to have an artistic resolution that really has nothing to do with art goals, but I'm thinking that after a certain point I'm just spinning my wheels or sliding backwards anyways. 

Perhaps by being good to myself, I might actually get more accomplished in the long run, and I think that might work as a worthy New Year's resolution after all!

Sue
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