Mydwynter:

I usually disregard the “new age for yuppies”- style blogs which tell you about how to increase your effectiveness, or about “hacks” for getting your life organized, or about the life-changing new method of dealing with your email inbox. For the most part, they seem like someone proselytising about some (either obvious or banal) thing which WORKS FOR THEM! and therefore WILL WORK FOR YOU! BUY MY BOOK!

But I was link-hopping this morning to see what the internet world had to show me, and came across a link for this page on a sidebar. Curious what some early-to-bed-early-to-rise nut (as I assumed the author, on spec) had to say about doing nothing, I was pleasantly surprised to read an article about meditation and its helpfulness with being creative.

http://lateralaction.com/articles/getting-nothing-done/

It’s not a new thing, really. Scientists have studied the brain patterns involved with doing specific activities and have found a similarity between those during meditation and those during jogging or ingrained activity, and artists have similar brain patterns when they’re creating.* If you’ve ever “zoned out” while working on a project, and then “came to” to realize that you’d made something awesome without really thinking about it, then you know what I’m talking about.

It seems to me that one of the main ways the author is using meditation in this instance is as a jump-start to creativity; he’s using the meditative state to help him get his brain into that zoned-out state during which great creativity happens. And when you’re in that particular state, the five recommendations he lists at the end of the article come naturally.

I like the idea of using meditation, sure. I myself find that my life is so much better the more I exist in that zoned-out state, and if I’m not creating or dancing, meditation works just as well. But I think there are other ways to achieve that state, and “doing nothing”—which is how he refers to meditation, I think because he’s directing his article at non-Buddhists, non-meditators—is only one of them. I know some people who achieve that state while running, while in the bath, while doing the dishes. People are, as we know, exceedingly different.

So while I enjoy meditating as means for slowing down my brain, getting it into “the zone” and open for potential “ah-HAH!” moments, I know it’s not the only way. It is, however, a nice way to reenforce my continuing efforts to extricate myself from that horrible Yankee mindset of “if you’re not busy doing something every moment of every day, you’re a lazy, worthless, human being.” (I know several of you are also dealing with that particular monkey on your back as well.)

I’ve posted this same write-up over here in the Mydwynter Studios Forum, hoping that you’ll wander over there and talk to me. What ways do you guys have for getting in that frame of mind/being? Have you had particularly good results from something? Are there new things you can do as well? Come on over, and join the conversation!

*Uncited, because I really can’t remember in which science mag I read the article.

Today I’m working on the design for some workout pants (trousers, for you Brits, not underpants) for bellydancers, and whomever else wants them. They–and some other reclaimed t-shirt clothing I’ve been designing–will eventually be put up on etsy. I’ve got a nice cup of chamomile tea, and I’m about to start a pot of chili a-simmering.

Once I finish the current step for these pants (working on ruffles), I think I’m going to work on a current custom tattoo design. I was hoping to get some prelim. graphic design stuff done this week, but since I won’t be getting my other computers from West Virginia for yet another week I have a bit of a reprieve.

ON DECK: Research the hair of Alphonse Mucha’s women
TODAY ON TV: Ep 101 of “Mad Men”; Terry Jones’ “Barbarians”

Ahoy-hoy…

I’m in MD this weekend for the Holiday Sale/Open House at Art of Fire. Va and Darrell and Mary and I have converged upon Va’s parental homestead for the evening, and at the moment are still striving to regain the feeling in our extremities from such a very, very cold day in the Celtic Annex (read: un-insulated garage). We are looking forward to seeing some great people this weekend. Will any of them be you? We’ve got all the usual suspects, and some new ones, including “Crow” cookies jars and “Ceilidh” cassarole dishes. More info is up at the Dancing Pig website.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on on the pottery front. This show was last weekend and this, and it will be followed by two weeks of stock building before Va and I take off for Hamilton, ON, where we are planning to spend the holidays. (Darrell is staying home to make stock and host the indians. No, really.)

But wait, there’s more:

-In addition to making stock these next two weeks, we are working pretty steadily on renovating my apartment above the pottery studio. The decorating scheme so far is a melange of Celtic, Roman, and Halloween chic. Kinda. Hell, it’ll be eclectic but tasteful. Not unlike myself.

-Over the past few weeks, I’ve started work on the leather jacket back piece. It’s a Hanuman design, with Buddhist art influences and some crows thrown in. (Would you honestly expect me not to involve a crow or two in this project? Really, with me you can almost count on it.)

-Also, I’ve been researching representations of both Hermes and dogs on Archaic Greek pottery for two new tattoo designs, but I’ve post more on the subject when I have some more research under my belt.

-In DC just before Thanksgiving, I was inspired to start tap dancing again. “To what end?” you (probably didn’t) ask quizzically. My answer? To try to revive the tradition of tap dancing as an integral part of burlesque performance, in the DC area. I find it almost impossible to believe that no one has done it yet; it seems like such an obvious thing. Am I wrong?

-Does anyone out there have any books to spare related to Buddhist art and iconography? I find that there’s a disturbing hole in my collection.

Hope all is well with you, and in these crazy December weeks, please try to find some time to enjoy the way winter can bring a little clarity along with the cold. I continually find it…useful, even what I see wasn’t what I was expecting.

Cheers, all.

Happy Halloween, all.

I’m spending this turn of the season in Seattle, WA, where I have the pleasure of visiting a small group of friends who, through one reason or another, all ended up out here after we graduated from UCONN.

It’s a great opportunity, being out here; I can take some time for myself, thinking and planning, without the additional need to get into the pottery studio. And that in itself is a boon, because I find that I need variation in my life to keep things fresh.

So I’m spending time sketching. I had planned on going to the Seattle Library for research more than I have this time around, but instead I’ve sketched new ideas from the ether and refined existing ones.

Best of all, I’ve had time to spend with my fantastic friends out here, who have indulged my need for the amenities a funky city like this offers: vintage clothes shopping, tasty microbrew beer, and a dance club for tomorrow night. I’m going to see a show on Sunday, and we might celebrate Guy Fawkes Night on Monday.

What does this mean for Mydwynter Studios? It means a renewed sense of perspective going in to the pottery studio, some new tattoo designs (flash) can be added to the portfolio, and a gorgeous old leather motorcycle jacket, freshly acquired, will get its back panel painted.

Fantastic.

In the intervening time in which I have been very busy not updating, Va and I have been prepping and trying to keep up with the stock for the Maryland Renaissance Festival. The new Ceilidh pots are a hit, as are the Crow pots. Be sure to check out www.dancingpig.com if you are interested in seeing some pics and what Va has to say…

On the “personal artwork” front, I had an idea recently for some craft-style crows which will hang from the ceiling and have poseable wings. The materials are mostly assembled, bar the one main ingredient (of course) which I mistakenly thought I had plenty of.

I am designing a new tattoo for my forearm as well, which will be the New Thing at the next appointment. See, < begin artfully-blurred-lens flashback here > I noticed when I was a little kid that the patter of freckles on my forearm looked like Orion, bar one or two “stars”. So I always promised myself that even if I never got any other tattoos, I would get the last few finishing freckles tattooed in so I could have the complete constellation. < /end flashback >

Well, now that I’m a tattoo addict it seems like I could do a whole lot better than a few tattooed freckles, so the plan is to design an Ancient Greek/Celtic fusion figure to represent Orion, and incorporate the existing “stars” as well as the new ones. It has to blend well with the spiral work which will be surrounding it on my forearm, so that should be…er…fun. I got out a bunch of books from the library to help with the research, so that step is done. Now I just have to sit down with the data and sketch, a step with is always fun but sometimes made difficult by the necessity to arrange the studio time so that I don’t have something else that desperately needs doing.

Anyway that’s all from me…
my job’s a weird job…
speak to you soon…
love from Kenny
(PS My thumb hurts)

(* Tonight’s post has been brought to you by Eddie Izzard, a Giant Squid, and the number 3. As in, 3 o’clock in the morning, which it is, and which might excuse a tad the writing style and contents of this post.)