In high school art class we were required to have a sketchbook. Ms. Livy (Hannum at the time) had us divide a page into fourths. Each quadrant was for a five minute drawing or writing. I loved these because it was creative freedom for five minutes with a structure. Often we were given a subject to draw, a topic to write about, or a free for all where we could write, draw, or both in that white pace for 300 seconds.
As an artist with very raw talent, I never felt good enough around my seemingly gifted classmates to be in art class but my soul knew it belonged and needed to be there. Ms. Livy said that anyone could draw or paint if we practiced. She was correct. Like muscles can be developed so can any craft if time is invested. Regular practice will maintain said development. These five minutes allowed more than an opportunity to improve, for me when I look back at those pages I see the accumulation of creation. In just five minutes, here and there, I had blocks of inward expressions put out for reflection later. Something that could stand alone or be built upon later.
It’s Christmas Eve and I am reviving an exercise that brought me happiness and an end product, in five minutes. I plan to take five minutes, at least three times a week, and create something. A scribble of art, a spatter of paint, a snap of photography, scratches of writing, the list is infinite but the goal is to simply produce something in five minutes and it doesn’t have to be polished to perfection. At first I thought about doing five minutes everyday but I don’t want to pressure myself into seeing this as a forced chore. I want to allow the hunger of passion to build so I might pour out something that might have more purpose. However, if I feel the urge then I will produce more five minute (5M) segments than three per week. I also considered doing one 5M session a week but thought that might be too lax. Three it is for now, subject to increase or decrease but there will be at least one 5M session every week until Christmas Eve 2018 rolls around. I hope this project enlightens and heightens. ~trvw
(this is a semi-rough draft left unedited, some 5M sessions may be kept unpublished from blog – tbd <3 )