My life has been pretty busy for the past couple of months with multiple projects at my day job and planning a big event for a group I volunteer for.  It’s all good stuff, but I have been feeling stressed and a bit burned out.  The stress was definitely depleting my energy to do anything creative.  After all of my major projects were done, I’ve decided to take  a long weekend and focus on making art for a couple of days.

You may have noticed already, but I’m a homebody.  If I don’t have to leave the house for the entire weekend, I’d be happy.  So that is what I was going to do for the long weekend.  But then I started thinking about all the disruptions I’m going to have at home – the chores, kitties, birds, and the husband – although I love all of them dearly (ok, not the chores), they often take my focus away from art-making. What I really needed was to be somewhere quiet and peaceful where I didn’t have to worry about all that stuff.

I booked this cozy cottage on airbnb on lovely Whidbey Island, Washington, which is about 2 hours away from Seattle, for a couple of nights over the weekend. I packed my bag with food, art and crochet supplies and left home with anticipation of the mega relaxation that was for sure to come!!

It was raining.  And that was perfect.  The cottage was  so sweet and cozy.  All I could hear was the sound of rain and occasional bird chirping.  I doodled and drew without any special purposes.  I made tea and ate when I got hungry, and I slept when I got sleepy.  I went to bed without setting the alarm.

I also explored different medium and techniques which you will see in my future works 🙂  I enjoy making art for other people, but taking the time to make something just for yourself is so important!  I often get new ideas for my art through experimentation and exploration.  Having a mini retreat like this also allows you to relax and refill your creative energy reserve.  I think I’m going to have these mini “retreats” more regularly from now on!  So good!