Mode Switching
Toggling Between Contemplation, Creation, and Commerce
I’m a self-employed artist working from home. My usual routine features a lot of unstructured, solitary activities (I paint, read, write, take long walks, surf the web) mixed in with a few scheduled things (yoga, workouts) and a bunch of general life and business maintenance (I cook, clean, and shop; photograph, pack and ship artwork). Most days I don’t put on real clothes or makeup, I see more squirrels than people, and I rarely go out for meals.
Given this, taking on a huge event like having a booth at the Society for Neuroscience meeting, as I did last week, requires a massive shift in every aspect of my life. For a week, I was a professional with a badge. I woke up early in a hotel room, got dressed and put on makeup, paid $20 for a mediocre breakfast, and proceeded to talk to hundreds of people all day. My workout routine went out the window, I mainlined carbs and caffeine, and I smiled a lot more than usual. It was exhausting.
This kind of toggling between modes is common to every creative career, reaching its peak in the astonishing act of holing up for a few years to write a book and then going on a speaking tour. My transitions between phases of contemplation, creation and commerce are less extreme, but nonetheless, it takes me a while to work through them.
I’ve been home for almost a week, and I’m still in reentry mode. Because the conference was out of town and I had schlepped everything there in suitcases, there was a lot of unpacking and reorganizing to do, including a massive stock check to make sure that all the paintings in my online shop were present and accounted for.
Yesterday I realized that I hadn’t painted in weeks, so I made a few blobs on paper, just to warm up my hands. I’m pleased to report that I remember how to paint. But I have no idea what to paint next, because I haven’t yet toggled back into creative mode. My brain is still processing the conference.
I wish I had made more time to socialize at the meeting. I wish I had made a point of getting up early so I could hit a talk or two before I opened my booth. I wish I had taken a day to wander around Chicago, because this was the first time in decades I’d been there when the weather was nice. But I’m bad at planning these things, and I too easily slip into the mindset of “set up, sell art, go home.” Or maybe “set up, sell art, go home” was as much as I, a homebody artist, could handle without breaking my brain.
Did I mention that the meeting went well? I sold a lot of paintings. People were especially drawn to my ink paintings with layered text, which made me happy because I consider those my most personal work. I’m looking forward to reading some books, finding some more great words to highlight, and making new paintings with them. That will require another mode switch, back to contemplation. Maybe I’ll start in a few days, after my head stops spinning.
In the meantime, you can find me at the Bladensburg Waterfront Art Festival in Maryland on October 26. I’m waiting to hear about a few holiday events and a gallery group show in December, and I’ll fill you in when I have those details. And as always, you can shop online.
Really beautiful paintings 💕 I paint but don't have capacity to promote and sell, that seems to be the hardest part!!! Congratulations on selling lots!
Michele, your experience mirrors that of so many of us who mode switch and don social personas in order to share our stories and artworks, gratefully receive the positive energy from appreciators -- and then retreat back to our core selves. Keeps life interesting and home welcoming!