Some of you might already know this, but I normally work full time at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University as an exhibition designer / reference librarian. When the library announced last week that all of us would be working remotely from home for the foreseeable future, it felt wildly surreal. I’m used to juggling my day job and my art, so knowing that how I manage my time would become much more open ended, I felt both ridiculously anxious and wildly excited for the change. Since I work on art and design projects at home, transitioning to a work at home setting was relatively simple. Though I do miss the clear separation between home and work, so I do my best to build in that separation. Turn off the work email after 5pm and on the weekends, take virtual lunch breaks with the coworkers that I would normally see at lunch, walk away from my computer to have tea or water and enjoy the company of my adorable cat. I’m painfully aware how incredibly lucky I am in this regard.

I don’t own a smartphone (in fact, I recently replaced my Samsung flip phone to the Light Phone which stumped all the T-Mobile employees), so unplugging from social media and the constant stream of news has been helpful to keep my morale up. Of course, I have an iPad Pro for both digital drawing and for all the app related things that I need for my business, but not being married to my device constantly helps me focus on making work, reading a book, and just taking time for myself to daydream about things. This week, I took some time to map out all the things I would like to do to improve my business, now that I have time. I started with adding more product photography to my Etsy shop, and in the long term would like to launch my own website storefront - something that I’ve wanted to do for ages. Of course, just breaking out all the materials and painting makes a world of difference. It’s like what poet Mary Oliver wrote, “Pay Attention, be astonished, talk about it.”

Just breaking out all the materials and painting makes a world of difference.

I’m also enrolled in an online course on commercial illustration run by Lilla Rogers and it’s been pleasant to have a community of other creative people to talk to. She’s actually offering a free class right now if you all need a welcome distraction and love learning about making your creative business thrive. The entire creative community has come alive to spread love, joy and knowledge right now. I’ve never seen so many people want to perform, teach, create to keep each other feeling connected and hopeful. When faced with adversity, I’ve always been the person to look towards the future with optimism, even if it is a giant dumpster fire. I like to hope that this time will allow many of us to pause and look at our goals, our collective and ourselves to see how we can all grow together in these trying times. I’m glad to have met many of the collective members over the years at various events and can put a face to a lot of the business names. Virtual happy hour next week, anyone?

Vanessa Lee is a NYHC Member and artist; her work ranges from abstract, watercolor figure paintings of dancers to highly realistic, detailed digital illustrations of birds. Visit resetreality here.