A to Z Blog Challenge: S is for...

 Share

Today is Earth Day and I am celebrating with tiny paintings towards this planet that we all share.

Sometimes it is frightening to see what people are doing to each other, and the planet, our one and only home.

Whether you think we will colonise another planet in the future or not, until then this is our home. 

Why not do something for our planet today?

Happy Earth Day fellow creative!

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé

 

A to Z Blog Challenge: R is for...

 Recycle

 This concept is one of my favourite art things to do...recycling painted paper for collage. I even used randomly painted papers in a painting for a competition two years ago. Since I don't paint portraits, the only type of art that made the finals, my painting didn't get anywhere. But it is still one of my all time favourite abstracts.

I love collage of all types, and will often make tags (a junk journal thing) with collage, and now also have four sketchbooks of various sizes (two really small) exclusively to play with collage.

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé
  

A large prompt based collage challenge I did in Dec 2025
(70x50cm)

A to Z Blog Challenge: Q is for...

 Quader

An old Scots word literally meaning “to make something square,” but which can also be used figuratively to mean “to agree with or get along with someone.” (mentalfloss.com)

While I don't think I will be using this word in my writing any time soon, I do find the blog challenge always a good time to learn a new word or two. Q is a letter that definitely lends itself to such a learning opportunity.

Here is a watercolour background and ink doodle drawing I did for #the100dayproject - all square at 11x11cm. 😏🤣

Until tomorrow!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé

A to Z Blog Challenge: P is for...

Planning

Everyone plans their work or other activities in a way that works for them. Whether it is a digital planner or a paper planner. Maybe even both. I prefer a paper planner.

Over the years I have adapted the Bullet Journal method to a style that works for me. No, I don't spend hours decorating the pages, because I need the space for planning everything.

When there is some space left at the end of the month, I will add stickers, washi tape, or stamps to decorate the space. I use a spread for a whole month. Then I can see everything at a single view. I draw a calendar, and a tracker. These are the only 'drawn' items.

I cannot add the individual activities of my work, there are simply too many, so I make a list of the highest level tasks that need to be done per job. I add my logbook (I need this for tax purposes), and then a list of everything else I have to do: pay tax, book a service for my car, etc.

How does it help with dealing with feeling overwhelmed?

Priorities. My work priorities are not in my control, but everything else is. By knowing my priorities, and the number of things I have going on, I can see what must be done by when, and what can be delayed by a day or two.

But I also plan to take breaks. Not hours, because I do take breaks during my workday, but days to relax and forget about my responsibilities. I do this as often as I can, and not when I have to. Something I learned the hard way!

And it is knowing my priorities and taking time off regularly, that has been the most useful to managing that near paralysing feeling of overwhelm.

There is no past tomorrow, so I will see you again on Monday!

🇿🇦💜 Linzé

A to Z Blog Challenge: O is for...

 Overwhelmed

If you have visited my blog in the past, you would have found this theme several times. It is the one thing that I often struggle with, but over time I have begun to become better at managing it.

But not only managing it when it happens - I have now become better at recognising the symptoms of the situation as it starts to happen. And the sooner I notice it, the less the impact, and the sooner I can do something about it.

I have a lot going on: work, writing, and creating and teaching art. While doing all those things is my choice, and most of the time I am very happy with what and when I do all these. In the past the feeling of being overwhelmed suddenly surprised me, and then I would just do nothing for days, unable to get anything done. As someone who is self-employed, this is not a good situation.

Then I sat down and thought about what caused the situation, and how I could better manage it. And in that process, and it happening again and again, I have worked out what to do for me. Preventing it is not yet something I am capable of, but being more aware of what is causing it at that moment, has helped me to figure out how to cope without needing the do-nothing-days.

I am now planning my time, especially my work schedule, better. I am also following my gut when it comes to my creative activities. Yes, they are on my schedule, but unlike my work which has deadlines, I have learned to trust my energy levels, and managing what I can do in a day.

Two weeks ago I had to have my car serviced - normal for all of us that drive our own cars. I also left home 90 minutes earlier than normal. Because I know it was to be a longer day away from home (the service station is close to the lab), I planned to do tests that required more time on the same day. The tests went well, but by two hours after lunch, I haven't heard anything yet about my car. Which was unusual since it was a standard service, nothing special required.

When I called, I was told that my car hadn't yet been serviced; they were running behind. I then asked one of my colleagues to take me to the service station, so I could wait there, instead on holding them up when closing time for the lab arrived.

I met other people who had to wait too, so it was nice chatting to while away the time. My car was ready just before 5pm. While I was happy with the service, I wasn't about having to drive the highway back home in peak traffic. My husband was already home at this point, so he got dinner for us (at least I didn't have to cook).

Thanks to the grace of God, traffic flowed. There were not many big trucks struggling up the hill, and I made it safely home although it took nearly three times longer than it normally would. It is uphill all the way home from the lab, and it is a steep one, hence the concern about the big trucks.

The exhaustion of that Thursday, took me two more days to recover from. While it was difficult, I did manage to do some work on the Friday, because I had a deadline. I simply took care not to overdo it.

This was a long post, and thank you if you read it until the end. How do you deal with this modern phenomenon of being/feeling overwhelmed?

Until tomorrow where I will explain more on how I plan an unpredictable schedule.

🇿🇦💜 Linzé