Monday, October 13, 2014

Around the Studio

I recently committed myself to do a painting a day, which has quickly turned into, painting everyday, to painting most days. And while that sounds like I have fallen off track from my initial plan, I am really proud of my recent focus. Completing a piece in a day is ambitious, and given my full time job, kids, and house, that is not remotely realistic. Over the last few years, getting any amount of artwork done has been hard for a variety of reasons: time; space; toxicity exposure to young children. But now that I can feel fairly confident that they won't lick my paintings, drink dirty water (or turpenoid), and suck on paint brushes, I can reintroduce these elements into our environment. And while our house over the last year with the move and obligatory painting-flooring-fixing, has taken most of our time, it has also provided us the best studio space we have ever had. There is room for desks, wall space, a storage closet, and natural light! We sacrificed the "living room" for this space, but we all enjoy hanging out in here together, even absent of a couch and TV. And while I may not get time in here every single day, we spend considerable time in here most days, and that is pretty good.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Green & Gold

Light is glittering this season. There is the golden light on the fading green leaves, and also some incredibly bright moons - Our whole house was lit up the other night!  This is incredibly helpful to the little one in my house who likes to wake in the middle of the night and find his way to my bed. We've been good about keeping up our adventures, and the little one is starting to draw on paper and not just his skin (and tongue!). And we are having fun! Routine can remove pressure, so we are diligently keeping to our commitment. But really, it's been much easier doing activities with the kids these days. They can walk, and communicate, and amuse themselves to some extent. They can follow direction. This fall has really been a time to see they are not little babies anymore. They are little kids - and that baby phase is fading away. By no means is it totally gone - we've still got diapers in the house- but its clear how soon it's going.