The cons of working from home

Let me first say that I had a great time at my first art show! Lots of my friends and family came out to see me and the art, there were some crazy performances, heaps of food, and a gallery full of interesting art. Although my piece didn’t sell I did get a lot of compliments and a lot more confidence in my work. All in all it was a great experience. Below is a picture my mom took of me by my piece in the show (it was right next to a Chuck Bloom piece! Squee!!)Although the show inspired me to make more work it’s still hard for me to get motivated on a daily basis. Here’s my dirty little secret: I’m kinda lazy and make a terrible boss for myself. When I first started to seriously consider this art adventure I had visions of myself waking up at dawn to run five miles or do yoga, reading serious news stories while drinking coffee, then working for hours in my studio on groundbreaking paintings, stopping only for a quick salad until dinner. The reality is more like I would wake up at dawn to turn off my alarm before it even went off and go back to sleep until about 10am when I would guiltily crawl out of bed and putter on Facebook and I Can Has a Cheeseburger. I’d surf the internet until I was so hungry I either had to go running or give up and just have breakfast/lunch, which I would usually eat while watching episodes of Intervention which assured me that even though it was 2pm and I hadn’t brushed my teeth things were still good because at least I wasn’t addicted to meth. If I got down to my studio during the day it was only for a couple hours and I never got much done, but still congratulated myself for even entering the basement.Seriously if I was working for a real company I would have been fired long ago. The thing is that when I’m working in the schools or have a real job to leave the house for I’m pretty motivated and hard working, but I’m just not strict enough with myself. I think that part of it is that it I don’t have to leave the house to work and thus get distracted by the A and E’s awesome shows full of dysfunctional people and giant piles of dishes in the sink. If I want to have a shot at being a successful artist I have to treat this more like a regular job with set hours and a schedule, even if I am in my muffin pants and pink slippers. During a rare fit of motivation I made myself a strict schedule that made time for things that were most important to me: painting, running/working out, reading, and some quality time for dinner with my husband. Today is day one of following my schedule because last week I was sick and mainly lay around watching Hoarders and eating Lipton’s noodle soup from a box. So far so good…I’ve run for the first time since my race, showered, had breakfast, and even remembered to take my vitamins. I’m running 15 minutes behind schedule but am all ready to go down into my studio before noon. I’m feeling so productive I might even get around to brushing my teeth before Mike comes home.If you want to see the anal retentive schedule I’m created for myself I’ve posted it below. Lets see how long this productive feeling lasts for…