transitions

This is today, in the studio... We slept in, then had the maintenance man come in to fix stuff, then made lunch, then had some I-get-frustrated,-Mike-says-just-the-right-stuff-to-make-it-better time, then Mike went to school and I finally sat down to do some work. I put up some magnetic cables to hold my inspiration wire (not realizing that every one of the million exposed pipes is magnetic, duh) and got my table tidied up enough to do some work. Then, I did work, and tackled the end of a painting that had been beyond my grasp the last couple times I sat down to it.

The bad news is that I'll never be Martha Stewart, clean and organized even in the midst of creating. The good news is that I'm finally getting settled into my new studio and into a painting routine where I actually get things done instead of just making a mess, getting distracted by the cat, getting paint on the cat, checking out our neighborhood, daydreaming about possible artwork and then going back to staring at my mess.

It surprised me how much the transition from part-time to full-time artist threw me off... everything about my creative process is just a little different now that there is more time, but also more pressure, to make art. The freedom to paint in my own space at my own pace is almost overwhelming. I'm getting used to it and I know its just a matter of time before it clicks, but right now, man... what's a paintbrush?

(In spite of all that--- walking into an art studio every morning is infinitely more rewarding than walking into a cubicle in the basement of a hospital. I'm happy I took the plunge. More on that soon.)