Thanks to steady nudging

...from Ariel and H, I finally made my way back into the studio yesterday. The first task was to ready the space for the work I've been avoiding. That meant removing all the work from the walls and putting it in racks and flat files. A big job. I've never done that before, but I decided a new approach was necessary. Out of sight, out of mind. A cliché, yes, but an apt one. Anyhow, H did this for me because many of the works are too large for me to handle without damaging them or myself. By the end of the day the studio was ready.

This morning I walked into a fresh space. Easels with fresh white canvases. Bare walls. I booted the computer, clicked on CBC, took a clean sheet of watercolour paper out of the drawer and before I knew it I was lost in the work. What an incredible day. And incredibly exhausting. Best of all, the work I produced has a freshness about it. A freeness. I imagine that's because there was no work on the walls to influence my eye. Some paintings practically tell you what you should or should not do. "Ya. Do that. It's safe. It worked for me." Or "Eek! Don't do that! What are you thinking? That's what you did to me and I'm not going anywhere." Today there was nothing but CBC, and it had nothing to say about what I was doing. I just painted. It was heavenly. Of course, my little good luck cat, which I've had since I was a kid, looked on with a straight face.


This cat has been painting with me for more than twenty years and it will be there when I turn on the lights in the morning. Needless to say, I'm excited about painting again tomorrow. No nudging needed now.