Like many professional artists, I still have to work at side jobs to make ends meet between painting sales. My approach is to do things that are flexible enough that I can take an occasional day off just to paint. But recent events have shown me that even good things can get in the way of better things. To have my attention divided between a job and painting is exhausting! The work comes in short tiny bursts whenever I'm not too tired to regroup after working all day. I know some other painters who do it, but for me it's hard to get any momentum that way. It seems that on those split days, I just get started and it's time to stop for the night. Still, the bills must be paid and I'm NOT going to give up painting, so what's a person to do but just keep plugging away?
However, in the last few weeks a series of knee injuries have forced me to curtail any physical activity EXCEPT painting. I was abruptly forced to work sitting down. Once I was done worrying about how to pay the mortgage and done feeling sorry for myself, I found I could produce more in one day than I might have in a whole month before. I suddenly had strings of whole days to paint, not just what was left at the end of the day. And my work improved quite suddenly as well. This will be more evident when I take more refined photos of them. This is because I'm painting early in the day when I'm freshest and the need to push for completion isn't there. I am free to get lost in the work and take my time. The three paintings above were all completed in one day along with a couple of others that are still in progress. Though the little wren on the flour sifter was already in progress, I spent a great deal of time refining it. With twenty-plus ideas for more work already imagined and recorded in my art journal and the fourteen panels I gessoed yesterday, I'm ready to make 2019 my most productive year to date.
What a paradox; I take my time and end up producing better work and more of it. Who knew that a knee injury could turn out to be such a good thing? The One who gave me this creative power...THAT's who knew!
