new painting
This is Ruined Barn (68"x24") delivered to Grace Chosy Gallery in Madison along with the rest of my show on Friday. It is the largest piece of mine in the exhibit. In spite of fairly intense snow the evening before, the roads were OK and I was able to take off and make the trip with no problem. Although it was tiring (I was gone a about ten hours, 6 of those on the road) I enjoyed the day--which included lunch with a friend, and a little shopping besides time at the gallery.

I took yesterday off to clean up the house a bit, file papers, and do the sort of things that get shoved aside under a deadline. This morning I've been spending time with my studio diary, planning in a general way what I need for various commitments ahead, and examining scribbled notes and rough sketches I've entered over the past few months. Ideas are surfacing, and I feel my creative energy rising. I'll probably extend my little rest away from the studio through today, but I'll be back at it tomorrow.

It's interesting to me that I no longer tend to feel a let-down or blocked period after an exhibit, though this was definitely a pattern in the past--along with major pre-show anxieties and a pattern of injuries or illnesses just before an opening that took me years to recognize. I'm not sure what has changed. But I really appreciate that things flow better now, my energy is more sustained both before and after a show, and I'm not likely to wind up sick or limping through an opening. Of course I'm not above feeling a bit on edge, but for the most part I get past it--and I really don't miss that old roller coaster ride of emotions surrounding an exhibit.  ¶ 12:40 PM