When is there time to paint?

[Doreen Peri]

It's only noon and has already been a very long day. Meeting scheduled from 1-3. They often last until 3:30 or 4. By the end of the day, it will have been a very very very long day.

Everything multiplies exponentially. A one-page list turns into 10 two-page lists. Every email becomes a 3-day conversation.

By the end of the day, I'm exhausted.

Very little gets accomplished other than making the time to take some advil.

Then there are the SAT registration deadlines, doctor & dental appointments, rehearsal schedules, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, holiday preparations, and on and on.

When is there time to paint?

That's what I'd like to know.

Luckily a healthcare revamp is getting closer to being passed by the govt. This will mean pre-existing conditions will not be considered as a reason for insurance companies to decline coverage. This law alone will help me free up my ability to make decisions about my future.

All I want to do is paint. I rarely write any more because the files were all over the place, the inspiration wasn't coming in regularly, I became too overwhelmed with too much data.

There's just too much information coming in. My mind is on overload.

When is there time to paint?

Pardon my venting.

Not long from now this post will self-destruct. Read it and shake your head at me while you can.

[the mingo]

I know what you mean about the writing. That's getting lost for me too. And I've lost my respect for it I guess. Painting has moved in to take its place. And I paint more and more. I paint even when I'm not painting. No metaphor intended. So I say PAINT 'reen. Paint as if you life depended on it. Paint as if you had six arms and twelve hands. Paint when you rise up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Live paint, breathe paint, eat paint, sleep paint. Paint 'til you're sick of it. Paint right down to the bone. PAINT ! PAINT !

[Artguy]

I gave up sleeping 30 years ago. Painting for me, not like in days of yore, comes to me very quickly....it's the planning...the stewing of an idea that can take weeks, months and even years. I think I have developed a storage pouch in my mind that keeps my ideas so I can pull them out and work on them...I also keep a journal...actually I keep several journals...one for day to day...one for my studio....one for gallery hopping and one for travel....I also doodle and sketch a lot when ever I am idle for a minute or 2, and especially when I'm on the phone....I have a friend that calls now and again and we'll chat for an hour or 2 and I will sketch some of my best work...

[Doreen Peri]

mingo ... yeah, me too. I DO write sometimes but not nearly as often as I used to. I sorta miss it, sometimes. I'm loving the visual pieces you've been posting! So yeah, keep on keepin' on with the visual arts, mingo! And thanks so much for your support.

Paint as if you life depended on it. Paint as if you had six arms and twelve hands. Paint when you rise up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Live paint, breathe paint, eat paint, sleep paint. Paint 'til you're sick of it. Paint right down to the bone. PAINT ! PAINT !

I LOVE that! Thank you!

Kurt ... I hear you about giving up sleeping. I was up until 3am last night painting and when the alarm went off at 7:30 this morning, I was a little pissed. Something's got to give. I can't do this for 30 years like you. I was exhausted today. I need to figure out how to fund it so I can quit my job. LOL! Because i enjoy painting. I'm not that good at it yet but I'm getting better and it's relaxing and creative and it's ME. So, I'm not giving that up. I'll have to give up the job. I don't plan, like you do. I know that's probably a problem. I start painting and it just happens. The planning comes as I'm painting. I DO, though, draw and sketch all the time. Just yesterday I was at a meeting and they had me on camera into someone else's office. The guy said, "what are you doing? doodling?" I said, "yeah, of course! and I held up my drawings to the camera so he could see them." We all had a good laugh because I guess everybody else thought I was taking notes. Which I WAS... Notes and drawings in the margins. Haha! Well, they didn't fire me or anything so I'll just keep drawing during meetings. *smile* ... I also have a journal.. several of them, like you.. where I draw and write in sometimes too. That gives me an idea. We should have a "pages from your journal" jam... hmmm... would that be cool, or what?

[the mingo]

Thanks 'reen, for the comments about the painting. You approach painting the way I do. You just begin and take off from there. And it becomes what it becomes. Discovering what something wants to be that has no shape or form 'till you come along is the exciting part anyway. For me that is. It's what draws me in the first place.

[SadLuckDame]

Doreen, I don't paint, but I still wanted to read this,
then I wanted to tell you I'd buy your paintings in a heart beat.

[Doreen Peri]

mingo... exactly.. it starts to become what it's meant to become. Thing is, i think i could make more of them if I planned them better ahead of time but just like in my real life, my plans get foiled by changes i didn't expect and then ... omg... it's an entirely different thing! .. lol.. how exciting, though, right? .... I still would like to buy one of those beaded purses your wife makes... i finally saw your post (recently) about a trade.. we could talk about that... wish i'd seen it sooner so i could have one of those purses to give for christmas (even if i gave it to myself! ha!)

dame... you are sooo sweet!.. what a lovely thing to say! i'm so damn honored that you like my attempts i can't tell you .... !!!