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Many thanks to my brother, Mark, for access to the great photos!

Yeah. That. 

Attention splatter is when your attention is splatter over EVERYTHING in your life with little or no focus on any one area unless it's a crisis. We discussed how to get and keep focus here, here and here on the blog.

Attention Splatter

If you've been reading the blog, you may have some idea that I have a rather large number of irons in the fire at the moment.

You would be correct in that assessment.

Some of those irons include planning an artist's sketching holiday at the beach in 2015, a trip to Acadia National Park this summer, interactive Imaginary Trip classes, overhauling 2 web sites, creating a couple of logos and building Independent Learning classes—just to name the highlights.

That doesn't take in account things like grocery shopping, going to the bank, dry cleaners and hairdressers, eating, cleaning, doing laundry and all those daily maintenance things necessary to keep a life from derailing.

You may think that I have a handle on them as well.

You would be incorrect in that assessment.

Very.

Up until lately, I thought attention splatter looked a little like the graphic above. I thought there had to be some semblance of order even if there was chaos.

Umm. Well, no, not really. I've found that the inside of my brain looks a whole like this:

The Way The Inside of My Brain Really Looks

Oddly enough, this isn't so much a complaint as it is a realization that despite my determination to keep on track this year with my attention to my projects and goals, life has thrown several challenges and opportunities my way that have made focus a challenge.

You may relate.

Last Monday, when I found myself with a couple of "free" hours that were not already slated to be used on a specific project, I found myself with absolutely no idea what to do first, where to start!

Panic started to build!

I wasted a good half hour before I threw my hands up in disgust and jumped into the first project I laid hands on…and gosh, what do you know, things turned out just fine.

But that's not how I want to "run" my life. Or my mind. It gets old after a while. And what I've found is that has been working best for me is to simply stop, take a deep breath and to start writing.

Write it ALL down. And I do mean everything. Every blessed and not-so-blessed thing.

All the stuff I want to do, have to do, think I want to do, should do, would do if I could and so on until I get it down on the page and out of my head.

It makes space. It calms the "noise" of all those thoughts competing for attention, clamoring to be the loudest, crashing into each other and causing a mind-numbing roar.

Whether I write it down by hand or type it out on the computer, it seems to have the same effect, but I do find handwriting to have a more last impact. Probably because it takes longer. If I use my computer, I still print it out so that I can see "the big picture" of ALL of my brain clutter.

Once I have it listed out, I can often cross things off the list because they're past their freshness date. Some are no longer relevant and some are things that seemed like a good idea in the moment, but once I hold them up in the light of day, I realize they're not so hot.

I can usually see "themes" in the items left. Some are urgent and get highlighted with a pretty-colored highlighter. Some things can be relegated to the "Someday" file. Others are just the many steps to all the projects I have going on and need to be put in order with any necessary dates applied.

Once I have some sort of a plan, a way to approach the piles, I generally feel calmer. And that's a good thing because I don't like waking up at 4:37 AM wondering if I forgot to do some major task. It irks me because it doesn't have to be that way. Keeping focus is a lot like losing or maintaining weight—we all know what to do. It just comes down to whether we're doing it or not.

If planting myself in a chair to write down the noise will stop the panic, then yeah, that's what I'm gonna do.

When I compare my recent lists to those I created at the beginning of the year, I see I've made progress even though it doesn't feel like it. I've marked a considerable number of things off my list. I've also added a bunch more because I chose to take advantage of opportunities that showed up with expiration dates.

But probably the biggest thing I realized when I saw that attention splatter is not pretty or neat is that I've realized I'm normal. Everyone I know has a similar splatter in their lives.

It's okay to have all of this going on. In fact, I figure I'm lucky to have so much going on!

We demonize our lives and ourselves because they don't look like something out of a life-managment textbook.

Do you know anyone who has that kind of life?

No? Me either. And really, as busy, chaotic, crazy, messy and overwhelming as my life can get, I'm really not sure that I'd change a thing even if I could.

Okay.

I'd take the calories out of chocolate. ; •)~

How are you doing with your attention and focus to your life this year?

I wasn't sure how long I'd have to try and capture the gorgeous Jacaranda tree in bloom across the river, but since I had my iPhone with me, I knew I could always take a photo if it became necessary. 

Once I had the bare bones down, I checked on Celeste to see if she was still on the phone. When I realized it was going to be a lengthy call, I pulled out my palette and started slinging (literally) paint—there's a big black smudge under the ticket on the right page!

One of the things I often tell folks in the Imaginary Trip classes is that as artists we have to look for and seize those little pockets of time that are unexpected gifts. Seize the moment!

To take advantage of those golden moments, it is necessary to turn loose of perfection and expectations because you never know just how long you're going to have or how things are going to turn out. 

For those few minutes when you're racing the clock and you're watching the image emerge on the page is pure gold and the image is just a bonus. It becomes part of a bigger experience. One that was made richer because of the sketching assuming you don't get caught up in the "is it good enough" mindset. 

The first challenge comes in recognizing those pockets of time. The second challenge is scraping up the courage to sketch in front of people. I had several couples mosey by me while peeking at the page. 

Because I knew my time was severely limited, I hung out a mental "Do Not Disturb" shingle and no one attempted to engage me in conversation. I didn't meet anyone's eyes, I didn't smile at anyone and as such, I was able to focus on the scene. 

The third challenge is knowing your current skill level and how fast you can sketch. If the whole scene is too much to attempt, focus on a less ambitious sketch. There were fountains, row boats, ducks and gorgeous (non-moving) plants in bloom that could easily have been added to the page.

As for the thought that's all been done before…yeah, maybe, but not by me, or you, on this day, in this light, with these pigments, with our given life experiences, skills, and challenges that are in constant flux. 

For me, that's what keeps me coming back to the page, to the brush, to put down marks and to see where it takes me, what it reveals.

 

We stepped out into her garage where it was hotter than Hades and started to look around. I figured it was going to be a short hunt due to the heat, but it was a bit like a treasure hunt. Even though many of the boxes, crates, bins and bags were labeled, you never knew what you'd find inside. 

Oddly enough, one of the very first bins I opened was filled to the top with seashells, starfish, and pieces of coral. (The label suggested watercolor supplies.) With an upcoming workshop taking place at the beach, I knew immediately that the bin of shells would be going home with me. Replacing the lid, I set the bin aside to keep looking. 

It wasn't until I was home that I started to wonder at the serendipity of discovering a box of seashells—a grand plan by the Universe or just lucky happenstance? Digging around in the treasure trove, I discovered the crab claw you see above. There was also a plastic seahorse(?) as well as shells that had been sliced so that you could see the chambers within. 

Because of the claw's faded colors, I couldn't decide if it had been cooked or was natural, so I started doing research and learned the following:

• The crab is actually called the Florida Stone Crab. I've never heard them called Florida Stone Crabs before.
• These crabs can be found as far as Connecticut to Belize in the North Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba and the Bahamas. 
• They live 7 to 9 years.
• Predators of stone crabs include the horse conch, octopus, grouper, sea turtle, cobia and humans.
• The crabs will easily give up a claw to escape from a predator as they can re-grow the lost appendage. 

About The Page
Looking closely at the two images, you can see torn tape around the edges of the sketch and a small peek of the other sketches that will be on the page once I get the page finished. The torn tape you see is an experiment to see if it will create a "torn edge" look to the boxes.

As for the rest of the shells in the bin, I could be busy painting shells until the cows come home in, say, 2051. It would definitely take a while and in an odd way, it kinda felt like a nod from our friend saying, "Yeah, I'm still keeping up with you and what you're doing. Now, get busy!"

Wishful, nostalgic thinking, no doubt, but comforting as well.

Many thanks to Minnette Webster—you may be gone, but you'll live forever in the many hearts you touched. Bon voyage!