Working

Twenty years ago, I read Studs Terkel's' sizable book, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.

I've had a lifelong curiosity about what people do all day and how they feel about what they do.

Here's what I've done so far today: exercise in my Strongboard class at the Y; prepare food; post and comment on Instagram; prepare billing for clients; plan meals for the coming week and write a grocery list; respond to comments at my blog; prepare lessons for tutees; try and fail to order postage stamps on line (didn't know my password and had no success with the process of establishing a new one); meet with a friend for a coffee date during which we sat outdoors; meditate, also outdoors; write a postcard to my dad; partially clean up my email inbox; research local sustainable sources for nutritious meat; read an article about bone health; read several chapters in a young adult novel; and paint.

I moved yesterday's mark-making forward—selected a limited palette, painted with my fingers, blended colors directly on the canvas. While I painted I was all in, nothing else going on but the exquisite choreography of hand/eye/canvas/paint.

Next up: meeting with tutees.

Tomorrow: more interaction with this patch-in-progress.

Off to the Races

Oh my gosh, did I ever have fun stepping out of my same-old-same-old over the weekend. No solitude in this studio! No indecision or precious grasping here!

While in Virginia, 8-year-old granddaughter Emmy asked, Gma, do you want to paint?

Next thing I knew she had a plastic cloth spread over the kitchen table; canvases set up for herself, me, and Caroline; paints and brushes out; three palettes in place; and a cup of water at hand for rinsing brushes.

Then we were off and galloping, no one holding any reins that I could see.

You want paint? Squeeze a whole bunch out of a tube.

You want a different color? Mix wildly.

Brush not doing what you want? Use your fingers.

Blueberry Trees
by Emmy
12x16"; acrylic on canvas board
abstract
2018

None of Your Beeswax
by Caroline
8x10"; acrylic on canvas
abstract
2018

work in progress
by Gma
12x12"; acrylic on canvas
abstract
2018