Nesting

I have been able to spend almost the whole week here at the studio, which has been just absolutely fantastic. I managed to finish #3 of 9 on the Green Experiment, but mostly I have been nesting.

Spending as much time here as I have led me to finally unpack some boxes that have been pushed into a corner, rearrange some furniture, and even make a trip out to Ikea to get some storage shelves. I moved books around, threw out some old (and terrible) drawings and sorted through a bunch of flat materials.

There are still a couple of extension cords to run, but it feels like a more workable space now.

I finished shuffling everything around this afternoon, and then setup a still life to paint.

Working on Stage I & II of the Green Experiment has occupied pretty much all of my time in the studio, and thus I have not really painted objects in months. The results are not pretty, but it feels good to work on trying to render something in paint.

Fortunately, I have this note hanging up as a reminder to just show up and paint:

As I get close to finishing Phase II of the Green Experiment, I am going to try to divide up my focus and devote some more time to trying to accurately render objects with the paintbrush.

And with that, I am going to go home and make some dinner.

Peace in yer crease.

What's Next?

I resigned from my day job. My last day full time was the day before Thanksgiving.

I am currently working on the Nutcracker that I manage production for every year, and finishing up part time at the old job, getting my replacement up to speed and finishing out one last project. With any luck I will be done with both by the end of the day on Thursday.

I had been stressed and frustrated for some time, but it took me a while to finally commit to the decision to give up full time employment. I do have some trepidation about giving up employer provided benefits and a regular paycheck, but when I reflect on what I want, where I am and what I need to do to get to where I want to be as an artist, the decision is easy. And in truth I have slept better in the weeks since I turned in my resignation than I had in the previous six months.

I have been putting out feelers for freelance design work, and in the short term will probably be spending some time pushing road cases and setting up lighting systems to pay the bills. But I am excited about spending a lot more time in the studio with pencil and brush in hand.

Who knows, maybe I will finally get through Phase II of the Green Experiment.

Peace in yer crease.