End of Week 5: Check-In

OK: The check-in in my handwritten journal ran to 3 pages, so only things not already referred to here will appear, and the main thing emerged when I got to question 2.

Did I do my Artist Date? - No, I didn't. I thought about going to the park, to some art galleries, to sit an hour by the window in the bar of a new main street hotel and see what passes by, and I could have found time, but I just didn't get myself going, somehow. So, I did a bit of ruminating about this, and realised my Artist Child was sulking. She didn't want to go on any of those dates. She's a bit p***ed off with me, in fact, because I pay great lip-service to her, but in fact, don't pay great quality attention to her. I have taken her to shop for art supplies, like a parent that tries to buy a child off with gifts, and she has responded by refusing to play with any of that stuff. It's all still sitting there, unused so far! The card-making ribbons and leaves and paper-cutters, the table-top easel - Even the brand new scanner I've been waiting months for is sitting for a full week still in its box! What does she want? I think she just wants me to play with her, not to pay for stuff. She feels cheated that so many of the dates were shopping expeditions - however they were disguised as Fun Shopping.

But all is not lost. Others have done this for a date already. I may have toyed with the idea, but my 8-year-old friend, Steven, really put it up to me, when I was driving him home from drama class today. We passed by Craic-Pots - a paint your own pottery place - and he asked me had I ever gone there, telling me how much fun it is. Do I need advice from anyone else? So, to make up for missing this week, I'll take myself to see Chicken Little tomorrow afternoon, and during the week, will go paint a plate, a cup, or something...

So, it's been a useful week, in that insights have been gelling and forming into ideas. I'm not giving myself a hard time about it when it's not going perfectly, and I am gaining a huge amount from the blogs - this experience alone makes it all worthwhile.