Ruts Vs. Routines and the “Smarts” to know the Difference

I love routine. I always have and I always will. Routine gives me security. Routine makes me feel safe and helps me develop habits that keep me on track. Staying on task helps me accomplish what I set out to do.

Routines are delightful because you do them without thinking. They become automatic. I know that at a certain hour of the day, I will paint. I will write. I will carry out my dreams come “hell or high water!”

My husband knows never to interrupt me when I’m painting. He knows I never answer phone calls when my hands and elbows are dripping in acrylic paint. If friends call, they go into voice mail. The world literally goes on hold when I’m at canvas working with fast-drying acrylics.

If my husband chooses to converse with me, he may get a growl in return. If my agenda changes either by crook or necessity, I’m not a happy camper. I may even have a temper tantrum of disproportionate proportions. My day becomes lop-sided. The monster within comes out. I feel betrayed, cheated, and forlorn; oh, woe is me and a pox on everyone’s house.

If you’ve stayed with me to the end of this tirade, you now know the difference between routines and ruts. Routines are good “if” they help you stick to your goals and enable you to get your work done. Routines become “ruts” when they hold us prisoner and don’t allow us to be flexible. Without flexibility you can kiss creativity goodbye.

Ruts can entrap us, hold us, and make our lives miserable. The first time I went cross-country skiing it was late in the season. Hard, icy tracks were molded on the pathways.  As long as you stayed within their boundaries, it was smooth sailing. Get out of the grooves and you went sailing into the trees. That is exactly what I did when I came to my first turn. The ruts were so deep that you literally had to jump and twist to make the turn. Not something a novice like me could do.

(New work in Progress: "Reggae Night" first layer drawing w/edits)

Ruts stifle creativity. Spontaneity is also a critical component. Awareness and objectivity need to be in control 24/7. Creative thinkers must be good observers. They must be willing to adjust when opportunity knocks. Inspiration is a product not of time or mind, but of heart and soul. The door must always be open. The spirit must always be prepared to receive.

Go ahead and plan your schedules and routines. Set your goals and work toward them; but leave yourself an opening for the unexpected, the priceless moments with loved ones and family, and the sudden impulses that may flutter suddenly on your window sill or whisper in your ear in a moment of reverie.

"Tansy's Pride" 9 x 12 Pastel on Bristol

Here are a few tips:

·         Routines guide our way.

·         Ruts hold our feet to the fire.

·         Routines allow movement and growth.

·         Ruts exhaust us and make us feel like slaves.

·         Routines involve familiar tasks and a safe place to explore ideas.

·         Ruts become rigid trails that lead us nowhere.

·         Routines let us experiment without criticism.

·         Ruts are monotonous black holes that go nowhere.

·         Routines ground us while our mind soars.

·         Ruts create anxiety and worry.

What is Style and how do you develop it?

I have a pair of old worn out slippers that I wear when the weather turns cold. They are ugly as sin, but they keep my feet warm and shield my ankles from drafts. I could throw them away and get another pair; but, hey, it doesn’t get that cold in Florida.

Like old ruts, my slippers are so comfortable it’s easy to forget how unsightly they’ve become. Like routines that become habits, old ruts are familiar and predictable. We sink into them easily without even noticing.

(Work in Progress) -- "Kindred Spirits"

Some people paint this way. I reviewed the portfolio of a young artist who was trying to develop a unique abstract style. Each painting looked much the same as the last. All of them used variations of red, green and blue on white. By the time I’d perused his portfolio, I was b-o-r-e-d! His theme became monotonous. 

Even the swipe of each brush stroke was similar in width and length, and no unusual center of interest emerged. The colors were all the same intensity; shouting for attention with no place for my eyes to rest.

We all fall into this trap at some time or another. We think style has something to do with similarity and recognition when style really gives us a larger picture of an artist’s capabilities and skill.

When you study the works of renowned artists, it is clear there are similarities in the way the brushwork is applied and in the colors used, but there is a greater principle at work. Style comprises the artist’s “world view” and how he connects to his or her audience. If a painting does not communicate, it remains stagnant and unremembered. Here are a few of my favorite artists and their unique styles:

Thomas Hart Benton

Benton was a “regionalist,” a painter who recorded the people and the places that he lived in and loved. I lived in Kansas City, Mo. when I first became acquainted with his work. His murals were in the capitol building and other public places. He painted the rural farmers, the railroad men, and the people in the city. His love was evident in the unique and swirling landscapes and in the curves and forms of the men and women who built the city from the ground up. The variety and the places he painted were so varied in content that even though his unique style is evident, each painting tells a distinct and original story.

Edouard Manet
Manet enjoyed surprising his audience. He preferred a loose and sketchy style, without fussy detail unless he chose to emphasize a certain area of the painting. He often used nudity to expose the foibles in the human condition.

Winslow Homer
Homer dappled in many mediums. He enjoyed watercolor as much as oil. He became skilled at both. You can almost see the growth in his style and skill with each painting. 


When he moved to Maine he began painting the sea in its wildest and most unpredictable forms. He became a master of the elements. The people he included in his paintings were often seafaring men and women, robust and hardworking.

We are Fighters, and the Battles we Fight are Real

"With These Hands -- Hope" 16x20 mixed media canvas

Every day we fight fatigue, interruptions, resistance, competition, and our own ineptness. If you think I’m joking, I’m not.

Sometimes we hit a stone wall so strong and so deep that we can’t get past it. We bang our heads on it for awhile and then give up. Maybe we try again tomorrow. If we keep batting our heads or our fists against an obstacle, maybe it will go away. Usually it doesn’t. If you’ve reached this point in your life, don’t give up just yet. There may be “light at the end of the tunnel.”

What are the possibilities?

1. You could climb over the wall.  Earthly walls, like most obstacles are rarely sky high. Most of them are created in our own minds or by outside forces we feel we have no control over.
2. You could go around the wall. It may cost you extra time, and perhaps more education, but your efforts will pay off if it helps you reach your goal.
3. Knowing that the wall represents the circumstances of your life that prevent you from being productive means you must find a way to remove it, go around it, or look at it as another challenge that must be overcome.

The last thing you want to do is allow the wall to stop you from doing what you want to do in your heart of hearts.

"Broken" 11x14 mixed media canvas SOLD

I’m not usually a gambler, but there was one time in my life when I sat in Reno, Nevada, and poured nickels down the throat of a slot machine. I was determined I was going to win. I was afraid if I left someone else would take over my machine and reap what I’d delivered.

I went through $35 that evening with nothing to show for it. 

Some machines are rigged to pay up, and some are not. My inability to move, to get past that wall froze (brain freeze) my common sense. A move to another machine, a change in thinking or attitude could have helped me get past this slump.

I’m not telling this story to encourage others to gamble. I’m just saying that sometimes in life we hit obstacles. Instead of finding ways around them by weighing our options, and asking ourselves: “what’s the worst that can happen?” We let fear freeze us into a position of banging our heads against problems rather than trying to solve them.

"Leap of Faith" 16x20 mixed media canvas

If there’s a nagging problem or wall in your life, find another way around it or you’ll end up sitting in the same place stalled; frozen by inaction in much the same way as I was frozen into a losing position in Reno. Sometimes we just have to get off our “duffs” and move! We have to climb out of a rut, jump over a hurdle and move into the light of common sense and self-discovery.

Featured Artist
Today I’m featuring Krzysztof Tozowski from Warsaw, Poland. Her surreal paintings and photographs are humorous, colorful and lively. See Link for Krzysztof’s facebook page below.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/lozowskio