“Pondering” 6×6, oil on gessoboard, $75 Buy Now

I didn’t get to paint yesterday, and it made me sad.  Well, I did get to paint.  At my job– the kind where you teach women how to paint sunsets or wine bottles while they empty their own.  One of the customers asked me what I do during the day.  There was nothing more gratifying than saying (direct quote), “Oh!  I’m a painter.”  

I’ve been working on a large commission the past few days:

Painting this large (24×36) has left me with some pretty large messes.  Paint gets on my foot, and I walk around the house leaving little pieces of my work wherever I go.  The paint gets on my arms, legs, eyebrows.  I hate cleaning.  But in the midst of painting I’m cleaning other, less tangible messes.  Ones I didn’t make.  Ones I can’t quite seem to leave behind me, throw away for good.  They find me.  Just when I think its all gone, I notice the speck, the tiny bit of paint that has managed to spread to sofa, floor, wall, cabinet handle.  Between making and cleaning, these messes are getting the best of me.

I worked on this crab for hours.  And to reward myself, I painted the little kingfisher.  Wouldn’t you know, when all was said and done, I felt better?  Something about those birds.  Wish I could name it.