Lessons Learned

This is ATC #92 in my year-long daily art project. 

I'm relieved to get back to the true reasons for creating these daily trading cards (marking time in a creative way).  Although I am excited about the donation we'll be making to the phone card program, it was very difficult to do these cards over the last 30 days.  Some came very easily, but most did not.  I was stressed out - anytime I tie commerce to art, there is always pressure (self-induced, mostly) to create something "worthy".  I struggled with corralling my creativity, cracking a whip and asking it do things on a schedule with a particular result in mind.

As much as I wish my creative process would do my bidding, I continually re-learn that my process involves letting go and keeping an open mind about result.  Most of my best work comes from experimenting, playing, and forgetting about result, thus my favorite pieces are always happy accidents in the truest sense.  My ego doesn't always like this.  (ahem).

All in all, I'm glad I decided to do the phone card thing.  For one, we will be able to make a nice donation (more on this in a few days).  For another, I learned soooo much about etsy.  Hee hee - I've made pretty much every blunder one can make, but I did get a shop critique the other day and have learned so much.  If you have any etsy questions, ask me - I'm happy to help!  Finally, I learned (once again) that sometimes it pays to give a good idea some time to marinate.  I was so excited about the idea and it held a lot of personal meaning to me, but with a little more thought, I could've executed it differently.

It feels good to get back to my "regularly scheduled programming".