When I got home from work yesterday evening, I found the new Anthropology catalog in my mail box. Quickly I put everything away, changed into warm lounge clothes, boiled hot water for some tea and finally, HAPPILY, sat down to devour those beautiful pages of great clothes and furniture, accessories and styling that makes me want to cry because it's so DANG creative and interesting. I save these catalogs because they are works of art. I'm overwhelmed with inspiration and wanting to try my hand at making these things and growing in new directions as an artist. I want to run upstairs to my studio and work the night away - not sleeping - just painting! making! creating! But I close the catalog because I have things to do - paper work for my day job, laundry because I wear clothes, food to prepare because I'm hungry, working out because I'm getting fat, returning e-mails, wiping up cat puke, painting the second coat of paint in the hall... So much to do and yet I'm rarely doing the thing that makes my heart beat and sing - create. WATERCOLOR!
Even this morning, as I'm writing this I feel the pressure of the day's duty's on me already. I'm constantly at work in my head trying to figure out how to manage life's requirements and my passion. To have only days filled with art stuck in a studio is not what I want either. The outside provides so much energy and inspiration. So how to do it? Here is my list that I'm working on.
1. Get to bed at a decent hour - so you can wake up earlier. I'm a morning person so my best work and creative energy comes at this time. I like to write, paint and plan my day during these morning hours.
2. Make a to do list and get the days' priorities done first. DO IT. If you don't do everything - fine, put it on the next day. Eventually you will get it done.
3. Plan exercise - not so much for looks but for a mental and spiritual uplift - afternoons are best for me because I tend to drag and this is a good boost.
4. Don't forsake your friends for art. There's nothing worse you can do than to isolate yourself. You need people. At least once a week meet a friend for lunch or tea.
5. Plan creating time - so far I've not been good at this. But this needs to happen. I plan everything else, but not this and maybe because I think this time needs to be spontaneous. That needs to change!!!
6. Finally don't try to make it all yourself. As a creative person I see so many things that I feel I can make myself. I can do a lot of things but when I spread my creative self too thin I become a master of nothing and a jack of mediocre crafts. Find out what you want to really be exceptional at - one or two areas - and dive in. Don't try to make all the curtains in your house when you could use that time painting magnificent paintings. This is where I fail the most. I think I'm saving money - but really I'm just increasing my frustration with my life. So I really need to think through certain projects and be reasonable and honest with what I really can manage.
This is a huge reminder to me and I hope this helps others too. Life is so beautiful and short and it really pains me to think that beautiful art, stories, crafts and ideas are just never going to be completed and given to the world by the working artists because we have to fold the towels and unload the dishwasher. NO!!!!!
.... and the next step - not quite an "after" picture yet. I want to change the counter tops to a butcher block wood and a plain white tile back splash. But for now, i just needed some encouragement. It seems to be taking forever. I didn't realize what an impatient person I've become - this house is going to teach me that's for sure.
(Photo from Yarn Storm)
I do love the changing of the light and it just kills me that I'm not out there painting. I did this painting last fall. I love our local botanical gardens! Sigh.... But the house, the job, the squirrels, the "everything" that is not in its place has got me pretty down. I don't operate well on stress, and sugar. And then I get angry at myself. And boy you know what's next - mental explosion...
I'm an avid reader of home decor magazines and have all the old Victoria magazines with pages marked of rooms I like. I've day dreamed and wished for so long and I have collections of books, magazines and pictures of homes to prove it. In fact, over the years I've collected old black and whites or sepia photos of houses - they're hard to find - most old photos are just of people that I see in the antique stores. After I scanned my little old house photo collection, I realized it was inevitable - I was bound to buy an old place.
This is a molding claw bar. I bought it to yank out tacks and nails that are embedded in my wooden steps that were once covered with carpet. I'm hoping to strip these stairs of layers of glue, paint and stain to reveal something truly stunning. So far the only thing that I've discovered is the importance of wearing a nose and mouth mask while using stripper because YES you can get one killer head ache. 
The next tool I bought is a nail puncher thingy. It taps in the heads of tiny nails so you can hide them. After you tap in the nail, you squish putty down in the hole, let it dry, sand it, prime then paint it. DETAILS - IT'S in the DETAILS!!! You can not believe how many nail heads need to be sunk. So this little yellow bugger is used with a hammer ... and yes, I already have one of those. 
Finally I had to buy a chisel because the previous owner/renovator forgot to chisel out a hole for my dead bolt to go into. I mean why would you go to the trouble of a deadbolt and not make it work. I roll my eyes constantly while working on this place. But WOW what an education I'm getting. Tomorrow I play with wood glue...
(carpet was pulled of the stairs because a cat had weeweed on it and it stunk badly) 
(this is the front room -I hate the baby blue walls, but once I cleaned it, well actually my mother cleaned it and we put my things in it, it wasn't so bad)
(Oh, and Baby Kitty found the opening to the third floor attic - she was a mix of grays and blacks before she got a very bad hair cut. Here she is posing in a much cleaner state)
I took off the curtains and huge roller shades. Cleaned the windows and I might add they were filthy black - why don't people clean? huh? I think that's the number one decorating tip.
This is one of my favorite watercolors. And now that I'm in the middle of the "Fish bowl" course with Marisa Haedike, it's especially fun. Listening to her podcasts and reading comments from other artists has been VERY helpful. However, I am so overwhelmed with this move, this BIG house that needs so much work, my job... Oi Vay. It's seems like I'm constantly battling between the life I have and the life I want and to make the two meet would be a miracle. Maybe I just need to hoist up the white flag and surrender. But which side needs to surrender? I'll figure it out. For now, I paint when I can get a moment.
This is the place where I've been painting for the past year and a half. I love the light.
I can not believe it. This is a huge dream come true. I'm actually buying my own house - all by myself. I feel both overwhelmed with fear and thanksgiving and I hope the thanksgiving eventually clobbers the fear in my heart. It's a 122 year old Victorian house with a third floor which I will use for my art studio. Yippee no more messy dining rooms!!!
She would point out what worked in my painting while at the same time offering helpful criticism. We had healthy competition yet, I rarely felt the cloud of comparison come over me. It has been years since I've had an artist friend like Charlotte and I'm hoping to find that again in my new hometown. It once again reminds me that we silly human beings aren't meant to be alone, that being in community is really the best way for all to thrive.
Well I heard/read that today when I logged into to my first class of my first on-line course (lots of "firsteses" here.) Immediately I knew this woman, also known as Marise Haedike, could speak to me because she could speak to my heart and that's where I hear the best. 
Check out her blog here. 
or the smell of them or sitting and painting them WHILE smelling them!
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