And today is the day to organize, vacuum and prepare!

I can safely say that the vacuuming will be the last on the list.

I think I might have been struck by lightning earlier this week or maybe I bumped my head and can’t quite remember it. Finally I seem to be getting my act together, (there’s a long way to go yet) but at least its a start. I feel like I want to take action and lots of it!

I read an inspirational blog post last week by Tara Gentile at Scoutie Girl.com where she talks about learning to sweat again. She talks about the way she used to play hard and sweat buckets as a child. As she got older, she swapped playing games and sweating for band practice and keeping cool. Somewhere along the way she realized that in learning to not sweat she’d forgotten how to achieve. Now she has learned once again how to sweat physically and mentally. She ends the post with the following phrase:

 

“I’m not here to sit on the sidelines. I’m here to play!”

I realized that for the last month I’ve been sitting on the sidelines or should I say, faffing around with the design of my blog, playing around with my Facebook Page and wondering why I’m finding it soooo difficult to come up with anything to write about.

 

And then it hit me, smack bang in the middle of the forehead.

“I’m sitting on the sidelines!” I should be playing!!!

And so I’ve decided, my blog design is fine (for now) my Facebook page is a work in progress and the only way I will be able to find anything to write about is by taking action and giving myself something to write about.

So this week I took Action and enrolled myself on the following Three on-line courses.

#1 Journal Your Dreams

 

The first course begins on Monday the 28th February and it looks fabulous! It’s called Journal Your Dreams On-Line Workshop by Amelia Critchlow. She is an artist, qualified art tutor and blogger and this particular workshop is all about Exploring your goals and dream setting. It’s a week long and I’m really looking forward to it! I’ll be posting more about it once the course starts.

#2 The Art of Action

 

The second course begins on the 7th of March and it’s all about turning your dreams and ideas into actions. It’s called The Art of Action Course by Tara Gentile. It’s a business e-course designed to teach you to take those “how tos” and turn them into actions. This runs for six weeks and I’m really looking forward to this one because it’s very Action based which is what I need. These are some of the topics we’ll be covering:

• approach your creative goals with confidence.
• learn what motivates you and use that motivation to move forward.
• understand the smaller steps that make up the execution of big ideas.
• identify the results you want to achieve & the actions that produce them.
• find strength in community & collaboration.
• appreciate how goals can evolve & iterate without losing their power.
• recognize the abundance of resources at your disposal.
• find your own personal, evolving balance.

 

#3 Experimental Art e-course

 

 

And last but by no means least, a six week Experimental Art e-course starting on the 25th of April. This course is also with Amelia Critchlow and basically as it states, it’s an experimental art course and we’ll be covering the following topics:

• wild sketchbook experiments
• experimental drawing
• painting-without-a-brush techniques
• mixed-media collage
• experimental photograph taking
• and an introduction to contemporary art practice and thinking

Looks like I’m going to be pretty busy for the next few months so I’m sure I’ll have plenty of things to write about!

 

One extra challenge I’ve taken on which will run nicely alongside the above courses is The 2011 ART FIX In-House Residency Challenge by Kesha Bruce from Kesha Bruce Studio She’s come up with an awesome mission for anyone who would like to join her and it goes someething like this:

Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It:

1. Go into your work area and inventory your art supplies. Dust them off and make a commitment to actually using them.

2. Every week from now until April 14th, 2011, you will post images of what you’ve made on your, blog, your website, on Facebook, or on Flickr. Your choice.

3. Report back to Kesha after you’ve published your first post so she can share with everyone what we’re up to.

If you fancy joining Kesha’s mission, head on over to her blog to find out more.

 

Now, over to you….

What’s your Action plan for the next few months? Are you Sitting on the Sidelines or Are you Playing?

Tagged as: dream journal course, experimental art course, the art of taking action