The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

I wrote a poem on Monday and did an illustration on Tuesday but the illustration was wonky and won’t be going in my book and I won’t share it here. It was a learning experience though. I will take what I learned into the next attempt because I really like the picture I’m using, I want to capture it, but it might take a few tries. It’s a tricky pose. A lot of foreshortening.

I love celebrating holidays during fall. Halloween, Christmas (technically winter but the season starts at the end of fall), and Thanksgiving are really fun to me. The other holidays of the year I don’t really get into very much. I do like spring, and put up a wreath for that, but I don’t decorate for holidays that happen during that time. Summer and Winter are my least favorite times of the year and I don’t really get into anything during those seasons. I just want them to pass.

My habit formation journey is in its 16th day. I followed my new routine 9 of those 16 days. So at least it’s been the majority. Last week I sort of fell off the wagon, but I picked myself up and got back into it this week. It’s not gotten easier so far. My brain hasn’t formed proper pathways to make things second nature, it all feels like a lot of effort and each day when I begin again, I feel overwhelmed by everything I need to do.

One thing that has changed in my brain so far is my feelings towards art making. Perfectionism and anxiety clouded my attempts at making visual art for years, ever since grad school, but with a lot of work using self compassion, that behavior has gone away. I’m actually wanting to do art when I should be doing other things now. My ADHD has been hyper focusing on it and it feels lovely to be able to do that again. Just lose myself entirely in the process and not even notice time passing.