JOURNALS

Thursday rolled around, and it found me at the studio bright and early, or at least what counts for bright and early for an artist who doesn’t fire up on caffeine. Just getting settled into my creative den, I was ready to dive into the day. There’s something about the early studio air that feels full of potential, probably dust too, but let’s stick with potential.

Kicked off with writing the newsletter, an artistic adventure in itself. That chipped away at my morning, dancing between creativity and the curse of the spell-checker. Who knew grammar could be such a fiend? Dropping the freshly polished newsletter into Substack felt like sending a paper boat down a river. Will it reach the sea or circle in a puddle? Only time will tell.

Lunch was on time today, a rare achievement in the unpredictable rhythm of studio life. There's a subtle art to remembering to eat at a decent time, or so I keep telling myself. The search for crisps afterwards might not count as a significant achievement, but it’s the little victories that keep a day on track, right?

By the afternoon, the #Weeknotes video was clamouring for attention. Editing footage is like pruning a bonsai tree, except less serene and more swearing at the screen. Still, making headway felt good, especially knowing the quiet studio wouldn’t last.

Then there's the zine project, a dive into the automating magic of hidden line removal for SVGs. Bundling chaos into a single script felt like a minor miracle. It's the small tweaks, getting Kitty to generate designs and handle the cleanup, that turns tedious into triumphant. The goal is to get these scripts to work so I don’t have to, or at least, not as hard.

Rounded off the evening tinkering with my scripts. “Winding down” might sound more like a clock than a person, but there it is. It’s funny how winding down often involves winding up new ideas for tomorrow. The studio life, it’s a loop of create, reflect, and create some more.

Sat in my chair for those planned breaks, I realised something simple; taking ten minutes to just be can make the rest of the hours more bearable. It’s not ground-breaking, but it's something.

I guess the day had a bit of everything: creativity, coding, and crisps. Funny how they all start with 'c'. Coincidence? Probably. But if my day were a sandwich (not that I’m fond of analogies), those would be the fillings. Tasty ones too, if I say so myself. Here’s to the small wins, the coded victories, and yes, scheduled lunches. Cheers, dear diary.