Tag: diyartschool

A First Attempt at Visual Note Taking

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Recently, I have started seeing examples of visual note taking all over. As someone who likes to take notes and loves to learn new things, I was immediately interested. With conference weekend last weekend, I finally had a great chance to practice.

Conference weekend was ideal, because there was lots to take notes on (ten hours of broadcasts), and I won’t really need my notes to remember the material. All of the talks will be available soon in multiple formats. Perfect!

I still took my regular notes alongside my visual notes. This was nice as I was able to look back at them for points I missed. This was not nice, because by the end of the weekend, my hand really, really hurt.

I learned a lot in this first attempt. First, visual notes are wonderful for review. They are fun to look back at, and really condense the talk into a few key points. In that respect, they are a bit like a comic journal versus a regular journal. I may never reread my conference notes once I have the written copy of the talks in hand. I will most likely look at my visual notes, if only to remember quickly who said what.

Second, it’s easy to take note of something just because it makes a great visual image and miss the main point of the talk. Also, some things that you want to emphasize aren’t easy to make visually appealing. I will have to study this some more and see what other people do.

Third, I watched the women’s session at the church where the lights were dim, so I took regular notes and completed the visual notes later instead of at the same time. I think those notes are probably the best representation of the talks. Creating visual notes that are really useful might best be done after hearing the entire talk, so that it is a good representation of the main points of the talk and what I really want to remember.

I will definitely repeat this experiment. I think that visual notes are a great way to focus on the main points of a talk or lecture and have the information available for easy reference later. It’s also a good method to review what I’ve learned and think about it carefully.

Have you ever taken visual notes? Do you have any advice? Do you have any recommendations of great examples of visual notes for me to study? Please let me know!

When It Isn’t Fun

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Somebody recently made the comment that “if people aren’t having fun, they’ll stop showing up.” They were talking about Toastmasters, but I’ve been thinking about it in other contexts. What should I do when things aren’t fun?

Obviously, there’s a lot of life that isn’t going to be fun. Dishes, laundry, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning toilets aren’t fun jobs. No matter what Mary Poppins says, some days there just isn’t a game to make the job fun, and I still need to get it done anyway.

But what about the the things I do in the time when I’m not doing the have-to jobs? Learning a new skill can often be un-fun. Training my fingers to play scales on the piano was frustrating. Just five minutes of meditation seemed impossible at first (and still does on some days). It took me weeks to mix up a skin tone that looked like it belonged on a human and not a tree frog.

And now, after years of piano lessons and meditation and painting, I still am very much a beginner. I have a lot of bad days where things seem to be more mistakes than anything else. Mistakes aren’t really fun. So, why do I keep showing up?

I think that it’s a matter of expectations and intentions. If I was watching a television show for entertainment, and I was completely bored, I’d turn it off or watch something else. If I was watching a painting workshop to learn more about painting and the presenter was talking about mixing paints and it wasn’t really interesting to me, I’d continue to watch hoping to learn something new anyway.

I’m not painting or playing piano to entertain myself. I’m still learning, and I’m expecting mistakes as part of the learning process. I have hope that as I improve, there will be less mistakes and more times when things go well.

When things go well, or I get lost in the practice and lose track of time, that’s fun. Seeing improvement, that’s fun too. Finishing my practice for the day, knowing I didn’t skip a day, can be fun in its own way too, regardless of how well I did during practice.

In the past, when I had less time and more stress, I wasn’t consistent with what I did when I had time for not-have-to things. Not doing any art at all felt a lot worse than doing art poorly. Entertainment didn’t fill the need to create something.

There are sometimes days when I ask myself, “Why am I even doing this? I’ll never be as good as this or that professional artist. Why even try? I’m not having fun.”

And then I remember how it felt to not do any art. And I remember that I’m not doing art to have fun or to be famous or amazing or better than other artists. I’m doing art because I’m an artist and that’s what I do. I’m improving, I’m creating, and that is good enough.

Is art sometimes not fun for you? Why do you continue when something isn’t fun? Have you ever stopped showing up for your art? How did you feel?

Back to the Past

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This is a time of year where I really feel aware of the passing of time. Back to school (where did the summer go?), the approaching holidays, and the shorter days all leave me feeling like time is moving too fast. I get nostalgic for time when days seemed simpler and longer.

So, here is a list of 15 things you can do when you miss your childhood. Please feel free to add to it.

  1. Watch a childhood favorite movie. If you happen to choose Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, then your childhood was especially awesome.
  2. Eat finger food for lunch. I like cheese cut into squares with crackers and grapes. Get crumbs all over.
  3. Read your favorite fairy tale. Act it out. You get bonus points if you wear a costume. Scarves and bathrobes count.
  4. Draw a picture of your imaginary friend. No one will know how accurate it looks except you. Make sure to give them a treat for holding so still for you while you were drawing. If they let you eat it, so much the better.
  5. Buy your own school supplies. You can get the fancy notebook and pencil case if you want. I won’t tell.
  6. Blanket fort. That is all.
  7. Read comic strips. Calvin and Hobbes is an excellent choice. Laugh out loud at the funny parts. Show someone else and make them read it too.
  8. Listen to the songs you used to dance to. Dance! If you feel like you look a little silly, then you’re doing it right.
  9. Call your mom, or someone else that makes you happy. Tell them all your favorite memories with them.
  10. Make a homemade card for someone. Construction paper and crayons would be my materials of choice for this one.
  11. Draw a picture of the food you hated in childhood. Crumple up the picture and stomp on it. If you want to burn it or tear it to bits, that’s good too.
  12. Go outside and blow bubbles. Chase them and try to catch them. Or pop them.
  13. Find a dandelion that’s gone to seed and blow the seeds away in one breath to make a wish. Or wish on a falling star. Or catch a leaf as it falls and make a wish. If all of these fail, light an unbirthday candle and make a wish as you blow it out. I’m sure it counts.
  14. Read in bed under the covers with a flashlight. It doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of the day.
  15. Give all of your loved ones who live close a hug and tell them you love them.

Do you feel nostalgic this time of year? What do you miss from your childhood? Do you have anything to add to my list?

Haircuts

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My boys all have summer haircuts. It’s such a sharp contrast when their hair is cut short. Suddenly they look different, older. It keeps surprising me every time I see them for the first few days.

But then, it grows out. Slowly, slowly, it returns to its former length, with periodic trims, and I don’t remember what it looked like short. Until it gets cut short again when the warm weather returns.

I think that sometimes it’s like that trying to establish a habit. Especially one that I feel like is good for me, but I’m not very enthusiastic about (like exercise). I jump into my shiny new habit and for a short time I keep it up. It’s there every day, but hard to get used to, like a surprising haircut.

And then I get less diligent. It’s hard to keep up the enthusiasm under the force of time and my normal routine. And then something outside my normal routine demands extra time, and I decide I can skip the habit just the once. It happens again and again. It’s no longer part of my normal routine.

I get used to the idea of a routine without the new habit. It’s like in the fall, when the haircuts just aren’t as short and we are used to the new length because it happened so slowly. Somehow, everything is back to normal and I can’t even remember how I managed to add that new habit in the first place and make everything work.

And yet, I wanted that habit for a reason. I remember the reason. I feel guilty for not keeping up the habit. The next time I’m setting goals, there it is, back on the list. Maybe this time it will take. Maybe it won’t.

I’ve found that, like haircuts, goals need maintenance. While the new year is a good time to make long-range plans with a large number of goals, there are multiple points in the year where I can add a few new habits and goals back into the mix. It’s like a trim, instead of the full summer haircut.

My birthday, my anniversary, the start of school, my blog anniversary, spring break, the beginning of summer, thanksgiving… there are lots of times for checking in on and fine-tuning the plan I made at new years.

Someday I hope that the habits that I find so hard to keep will settle in place and become part of my daily routine. Until then, I’ll just keep adding them back in. Hair grows. Life crowds out new habits. I guess that’s just how things go.

Do you have a hard time keeping new habits? Do you set goals and start new habits at certain points of the year or as needed? Or both?

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Musical Confidence

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Even an introvert needs to get out and spend time with people every so often. In addition to routine outings and trips, it’s good to see new things and meet new people. When I stay home and my world stays small, then every little problem looms large. My art draws from the same small well of inspiration and starts to feel stale.

In order to get out and find inspiration, I like to take classes and learn new things. But, all the people and the new experiences can be scary and overwhelming. Luckily, I have a secret weapon.

When I feel myself curling up and tensing, when my shoulders start reaching for my ears and my head ducks, when I want to dart away and hide or shuffle my feet as I walk, then I know the stress is getting to me. Mentally, I play a calming tune, usually Edvard Grieg’s Morning Mood from Peer Gynt. I don’t know why that one seems to work best for me, but it does.

Shoulders back, head up, I glide to the music as I walk. I imagine I’m going to go talk to someone I feel comfortable around. Calm, I tell myself. The music plays on inside my head and I breathe out the tension and breathe in the calm.

I once wrote about how music can help with creativity. Music is also great for lifting moods. On down days, I play my current favorite musical selections for motivation. On Sundays, I play hymns and other sacred music. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

This weekend, I’m going to a writing conference. There will be lots of classes to take and lots and lots of people. I’m excited, but also very nervous. Luckily, Grieg is coming with me. As long as I remember the music, I know I can walk the halls with confidence and feel calm. Wish me luck!

What music do you find calming? Motivational? What is your favorite sacred music? Do you have any helpful tips for dealing with large crowds?

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Magnet Days

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There are some days that you expect to be extra busy. Holidays, and the days leading up to them, for example. The end of the school year when you have students at home.

But there are other days, out of nowhere, that are inexplicably busy. There might be nothing major scheduled for the rest of the week, but on a random Wednesday you have three different overlapping events of equal importance. Days like that I like to call magnet days. Like a magnet, they attract scheduled and sometimes unscheduled events.

Usually you can see them coming from a week away, or even longer. Even with a week of careful planning, you still can’t do it all, and it’s stressful. It’s worse when it all just comes crashing on you at once. On days like that, I find myself scrambling and stressed out, and wondering why some of this couldn’t have happened the day before when I had plenty of time.

I had a day like that last week. At the end of the day, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to do any art practice or not. Often, when I’m tired, I let things go rather than pile on any more stress.

This time, I put on some music and told myself I didn’t have to do much at all, and if it looked terrible that was okay. Something is better than nothing, so there was no pressure.

I had fun. The pictures turned out fine. It felt nice to accomplish something that I didn’t think I could do. It doesn’t always go that way when it’s late and I’m tired, and that’s okay.

However, when I do beat the odds and accomplish something extra on a difficult day, it’s nice to celebrate that. Especially when it’s a magnet day!

Do you sometimes have magnet days? How do you cope when you feel overbooked? Do you have an accomplishment to celebrate? How do you like to celebrate?

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