Hobbies

         This blog is not about my life, per se, although of course in another sense everything here is filtered directly through me and my perceptions and opinions.  I generally mention only in passing my own personal doings outside the explicit work of block printing and writing fiction.  I don’t have any desire to make my personal life public (although again, to be an artist of any kind is inevitably to turn oneself inside out to the public gaze), and frankly, I don’t see why anyone beyond my own mother should care about my own little doings.  However, recently it occurred to me that various of my hobbies are not unconnected to the work of making art and writing stories and poems.  The art and writing are not coincidental or arbitrary.  Rather, they are of a piece with the other preoccupations of my life.  So I thought it might be of mild interest to explore how my hobbies connect with my work.

        First, a quick definition.  Because I’m self-employed, working at home on my own schedule - and working at something I love and enjoy doing - the difference between a hobby and work is one of priority.  Work is all the things I prioritize on a level with getting my family fed, taking care of the cat, fulfilling commitments I’ve made to various organizations, etc.  It’s work if I say “I have to get this done.”  Hobbies, on the other hand, are lower priority.  There’s nothing wrong with them and they can still be important, but I have to get dinner on the table or attend some committee meeting - or finish printing - first.

        So, what hobbies am I highlighting today?  In my little bio section on my web site, I’ve described my interests thus: In addition to block printmaking and writing, I enjoy reading (of course), nature photography (with a simple point-and-shoot camera), spontaneous research, gardening, quilting, and failing to do housework.  So let’s have a quick look at how those actually connect with the work that I do present to the public.

        Reading - Well, that’s easy!  Everyone knows that the best way to improve your writing is to read, that what you read is a massive influence on what you write (a bit about that here), and that it’s always a good idea to keep up with both the history and latest trends in your field.  Check out any of the posts under the “List of Books” label in the sidebar to see some of what I read in the fantasy (and block printmaking) genres.

       Photography - (Mostly nature, but also architectural elements, and anything else that strikes my fancy.)  Although the snapping of a photograph is a very different process from the making of a relief block print, there are similar mind-sets at work.  For one thing, there are issues of composition (more on that here).  For another, there’s the whole practice of looking for beauty, noticing, and celebrating, in the everyday as well as the extraordinary.  Or, of course, being open to just how extraordinary the everyday can be.  Quite frequently my photos become the basis of a block print (more about that here and here), but even when they don’t they’re part of a habit of observation and delight (more about that here).  I share a lot of that on my Instagram.

        Spontaneous Research - Often the research necessary for a block print or for writing a story is not spontaneous, but is very much directed by my need for a particular specific piece of information.  However, whether I’m in the midst of particular research, or just come across something that sparks questions, I do love following the twists and turns and rabbit holes of research.  Wikipedia’s always a great place to start, but I also love getting into primary sources and flipping through digitized old books of all sorts (but especially with woodcut illustrations, of course!)  Intellectual curiosity is a wonderful thing in its own right, but it can turn out to be very useful, too.  There have been many times when some little thing I’ve come across during spontaneous research ends up igniting a new idea or being just the thing I later need to add a little spark to an idea for art or writing (an example of that here).  I love having my metaphorical attic cluttered up with random but wonderful tidbits!  (Truth be told, my literal attic is also cluttered up with random wonderful stuff, as well.)

        Gardening - I’ll admit that my gardening (including houseplants, flowers, and vegetables) took a big hit when children began dominating all my time instead, and it has only gotten lazier and lazier over the years.  Still, I do enjoy growing things, as well as admiring and sometimes eating the things I grow.  Elements of gardening are reflected in many of my block prints, stories, and poems, but there’s also a connection in the way I think about things.  Many of the metaphors through which I view the work of creation are gardening metaphors: planting seeds, turning over compost, mulching and resting, watering and pruning and nurturing…  (You can revisit a few previous posts in which I employ gardening metaphors here, as well as here and here.)

        Quiltmaking - If you want to see a few more pictures of my quilts, look here, here, here, and here.  This is one of those hobbies that can be not only time-consuming, but space-consuming and mind-consuming, as well.  For that reason it’s the one item on this list that is least connected to the art and writing.  In fact, whenever I’m doing more quilting, I’m doing less art and writing, and vice versa.  There is actually a limit to how many things one can really focus on and do at once.  Which brings me to

        Failing to Do Housework - Okay, this is not really a hobby, and in some ways I don’t enjoy it.  I’d love it if the housework managed to get itself done without detracting from my art and writing time.  But alas, it doesn’t, and that brings me back to the priorities I mentioned at the beginning of this post.  When I prioritize art and writing as work, that means I have to be willing to say that some of the housework just isn’t going to get done.  Yes, I get dinner on the table every night, and yes, I do the laundry and the dishes… but dusting is an occasional thing, and the kitchen floor does not get scrubbed on a daily basis.  Heck, sometimes it doesn’t even get scrubbed on a weekly basis.  In short, my house is not the cleanest, tidiest house on the block.  But it is instead filled with art and writing (mostly not even my own), curiosity, wonder, people whose work brings them joy, and work that hopefully brings joy to others.

        What hobbies do you enjoy?  And how do they contribute to the kind of life you live?  Are they pure respite from your work, or do they contribute to it or enhance it in any way?

[Pictures: all photographs by AEGN,

all quilts by AEGN.]