balancing art and writing

Rhubix said:

Do you find one side slips as the other takes over?

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Yes. I have a very difficult time switching modes sometimes. Writing definitely takes more preparation for me to get going than art does. I have to have been contemplating an idea for a while before I can sit down and get going, and if I've had a long break from a story it can be very difficult to get back into it.

Now that my writing has as much potential earning power as my art, I have to balance my time at both very carefully. One benefit of doing both at once: I can at least plot scenes in my head as I work on art.

But I've had to scale back on some pro-bono art projects which I'd otherwise love to do (just for the portfolio value) because they'd eat into writing time.

Currently I have no money to fund working on my art so I have been focusing on my writing. Should I ever have the means to create art again I think that I would balance it out by focusing my attention on one type of project at a time. If I were working on a sculpture I would do all of the building and then during my wait during the drying and firing process I would work on my written work. Once the drying, firing, and glazing process was finished and I felt satisfied with the piece. Then I would finish my written piece before I began a new sculpture.

I've found that I have to do either one or the other in most cases. For highly detailed work, like my Oscar Wilde portrait, I spent all of my energies in finishing the drawing and none on my writing. However, I think back when I drew the portrait I was having somewhat of a writer's block and didn't know exactly how to go about writing the next scene, so drawing took over that time until I was ready to tackle the story again. For my sketch of one of my characters, it wasn't a case of writer's block but I just had to get his image on paper out of my head. It took me only a few hours, after several mini sketches to figure out how to get his look onto paper, and I was back to writing right away. So I think it just depends for me. Art that is more time consuming I put all of my energies into it to get it finished (because if I take a break from it, I won't finish it) and for more simpler drawings I can balance my time between both more easily.

Of course, it does help that lately I have been unemployed, so I have more time to work on both of my crafts. I'm going to have to start finding work, though. I'm running out of money and the other half doesn't and won't support me (though he makes well enough money to, it's just the principal that he's working and I'm not), so then my time will be cut again, and most likely my art will take a back seat to my writing. Such is life.

I've been struggling with this a lot recently. I am foremost a visual artist, and only recently becoming completely enraptured with writing. Before I would come home every day and draw until the night, and now that time is spent writing.
Not only does each one take up the other's time, they both seem to take from similar energy, so even on weekends, if I spend hours on drawing, it's hard for me to switch to writing refreshed, instead I need a break from both.

I used to think one creative pursuit to be passionate about was exhausting. Two is insane.

Sigh. Right now I'm going through a period where I use my writing as an excuse to procrastinate on my visual art and my visual art as an excuse to avoid my writing. Needless to say, nothing is getting done. I have an end-of-February deadline for a visual art project, so hopefully I'll get some steam up for that soon. I find that if I just get rolling, I tend to alternate between a writing and an art project fairly easily. It's the getting started that is a problem at the moment.

I used to work mainly with clothing design and was wanting to make a living doing that. Looking back I can see that it would have taken a really different lifestyle to succeed and in many ways the industry directly opposes some of my fundamental principals.

Writing flows much more organically with my life & enhances my growth as spiritual being, a mother, a partner, a friend... I realize I don't have space in my life to compartmentalize all these things. they really need to work together.

On a daily basis I also try to think about what's going to fit. Collages with the kids, clay sculptures with my women's circle, sewing something for a party... I have a full size tree sculpture planned for my 'studio' space in the attic, but not much time with my hands free from baby, so writing and occasionally playing with some photo art on the computer are more doable now. heaven help me when the kids are out of the house and I'm left to work however I want. I'll probably have 5 or more projects going and be working simultaneously on all of them, skipping around when one train of thought becomes particularly inspiring (or stuck.)

edited to add: I am currently a stay at home mom, so while I don't have the luxury of uninterrupted time or money to invest in expensive art supplies (I'd probably do more visual art if I could afford more supplies,) I do not have to generate income either, which of course is a factor.

My creative endeavors tend to feed off each other, rather than take energy away. But I've been multitasking for a long time. Still can't do anything about that baseline 24 hours in a day though.

I'm pretty scatterbrained, and I tend to focus intensely on one thing at a time. That said, it was art in my high school and college years, and it's been writing ever since.

I think my writing potential is higher than my art potential, which has influenced things. I still paint, mostly when the mood strikes me. I sketch and doodle constantly.

Who knows? Maybe I'll go back the other way in a few years. So I guess I balance over years instead of days.

I'm terrible. My brain has an imaginary switch that determines which I'm more capable of doing at certain times. Art today? Or writing? It feels like I can't focus on both at the same time and now that I actually have a job my time is stretched. So I have to choose. Luckily it's not much of a weight mentally because of the switch. It's weird, I know. I think it's because of how I think of art and writing and how I choose to accomplish each. With both it's almost a competitive thing, only I'm competing against anyone but myself. How much can I improve this month? How much editing can I squeeze in to make that draft that much better...and so on. I'm out to kick my own freaking butt!
lmao.

I was always told to keep the magnifying glass still when burning ants ... no one told me it was relevant to mastering art forms though

I'm constantly shifting mediums, materials and creativity. I love the process of writing for its speed of concept, I can get down ten or more ideas in an hour. My sculpts are usually ongoing for weeks (I'm a stickler for detail) and paintings anything from a day to a week depending on style. 3D designed, animated and put through post process as most will know takes eons!.

I don't ration or balance my time; it never occurred to me that I should, since they are both pleasure activities. When I'm in a writing mood I write, and when I'm in an art mood I do art. I don't see it as a problem to go on an art binge every two or three months and not do anything besides doodle or look at photo books in between those binges.