About Getting Ready

I am usually good at staying in touch with the people who warm my world. This last month and a half I have been operating at fever pitch to get finished with all the organizing that seems to need doing so that I can feel free to paint. This blog has been my main link to others except for an occasional phone call or even less frequently, an outing.

The new studio should be ready at the end of the month. The tasks and chores and obligations that distract from the work will not come to a sudden halt at that point. I will still need to do laundry, some cooking and if I don’t want to become a total nut-case, keep my connections to friends and family alive and well. When I had a job and four small children and a big house, a husband straight out of the middle ages and an active social life, I managed it all. Not always easy, but definitely doable. Of course I was younger then. But that’s not where the difference lies. Back then I could give short shrift to any of the above mentioned pursuits. (Here I have to stop to beg forgiveness of my children for the times they didn’t get the attention they needed.) But racing through a painting is not advisable. The results are bound to be garbage-like. One needs to be focused, to have no thoughts of anything other than the work at hand. And how to get to that state of complete absorption in the process? Well, for me it means feeling that everything in my life is in place physically or otherwise or, if that is not possible, then there is a plan in place to cover all eventualities. Some of the basics however, cannot be ignored. There must be food in the frig and if any essential appliance is not working, calls will be made before work is started. If someone I am close to is in dire straits, not possible to turn a blind eye to, that will get attention. But usually, anything that can be postponed will get noted on a list (to be sure that I won’t forget it), and I go into the studio, lock the door and let the world happen without me.

I have tried not to think about the work. I've kept busy getting the house in order and it's now as good as it's going to get. For a while, anyway. Tonight I will spend some time over drinks with some friends I have missed. Life is moving back to what I want it to be. Oh, joy!

The images above are of the studio space, then and now. It's going to be magnificent. I plan to be ready, come hell or high water, for our county-wide open studio event in June, along with many other of the artists who ply their trade in this lovely piece of our world.