Lists

By Lightwerk

I'm a list making kind of person who enjoys the company of the many colorful post-it note reminders that decorate my room and notebooks.
Lists:
-To Do lists for today, yesterday, and tomorrow
-Food Store
-Bucket lists
-Books To Read
-Things I Would Buy If I Had A Million Dollars
-Places To Someday Travel
-Awesome Quotes

and so on.

So my habits when working in the studio, usually start with a list.

1. Make List
I like to doodle and list the ideas I get, as well as the places and things that inspired them so I can reflect on that moment the epiphany came to me and milk it later for more ideas when I might be feeling less inspired to do work. I like putting my lists on post-it notes so I can make military alignments on the wall next to my bed and revisit them before sleeping. However, this summer I acquired a spiral notebook with Wonder Woman on the cover and have been filling its pages with my lists of random things.

2. Find Inspirational Images
After receiving a new project for the studio and listing my own ideas, I like to look-up art images other artists with a similar project may have previously done. I love seeing what other artists have done, and using their work to inspire a new image of my own. But usually when I am out-and-about campus, I search for angles or moments of tension between objects when layered next to each other (like the triangular negative shapes between the computer wires on my desk right now). It's like a game of "I Spy", looking for moments in everyday spaces to inspire the lines in a new sculpture.

3. Procrastinate
So I tend to be a lazy person sometimes. I like the planning, the build up of excitement over a new task, and finding new things. But I'm a reluctant starter, I will avoid starting something until the time I feel greatly motivated to DO it, or lack of time left to complete the project launches me into the studio.

4. Git-R-Done
After rearranging the post-it notes on my wall for the millionth time, there does come a time when something (hopefully) clicks in my head that I should MAYBE get this project finished(like finally sitting down at my laptop and writing this post after putting it off for two days). As lazy and reluctant as I am about starting things(you would think it was some kind of painful task I was being forced to do), once I get through the starting process, I immerse myself completely in the task and actually enjoy the experience. I will then revisit the studio as much as I have to, usually at the end of the day when I have a large block of time, and devote a few hours of work to the project until finished.