Working

I've always treated painting as a luxury - a leisure activity that I couldn't indulge in unless everything else was done. When the dishes and the laundry were taken care of, when the house was clean, when everything else and everybody else had been tended to - then I would allow myself to paint. Except I almost never got to that point, and on the rare occasions when I did, all I wanted to do was go to bed! Meanwhile I searched for the answer to "What do I wanna be when I grow up?" because I was always very sure that I couldn't make a living as an artist. Now I find myself in a place where people all around me are making their livings as artists. I don't have a day job, and I'm left with nothing but time. All my excuses for not painting - everything that kept me from it - all gone. I remember my Granddad telling me once, years ago, that if I didn't find some way to use the artistic ability that I'd been given, it would be a real waste - and he was one of the smartest people I've ever known. Could it be that the thing I love to do is actually what I'm supposed to be doing? I don't know, but I no longer have anything keeping me from finding out.

This is just an exercise I'm working on, practicing lines & techniques, that kind of thing. It probably won't turn out to be anything, but it's fun to work on.