Open Studio

Well. Thailand certainly does have it’s moments.  Like climbing endless stairs, lotus flowers in hand, to visit a buddhist temple with thousands of Thai students. Like chaotic tuk-tuk rides, careening around corners like a wind-up toy gone awry. Like the night markets with their endless lit stalls. Like the street food everywhere, with it’s myriad smells and textures (mmmm…fried banana). Like the lethargic dogs, their panting bodies draped over the sidewalks of Bankok, sleeping in the heat.  Like incense burning in front of the spirit houses in the morning. Like the high hum of cicadas at night, near the Burmese border. Like seeing a white lotus flower as big as my head. Like the sudden afternoon downpour after a muggy, 100 degree morning. Like sipping many, many iced teas with my sweetie.  Like chasing hundreds of toads around outside our bungalow at night. Don’t even get me started on the curries.

spirit house

Now, if only I could get back into the swing of things here.  I arrived home a week ago, but it seems as if pieces of my self are still arriving, like little packages to be unpacked. Slowly, slowly, I’ve been coming back to earth, back to my routines. Yesterday I spent some time in my studio, preparing some new panels for painting. The day after I got back from my trip, I delivered some pieces to a gallery in San Francisco for a group encaustic show there.  I’ll have the info for you all very soon…..

And now, I’m off for some 4th of July and birthday celebrations with my family. Happy 4th to you all.

One of the things I’ve been trying to do is look at creativity in a more global way….to try to be more aware of  the creativity that is woven into my life and of the way that feeds into more creativity.  As my awareness grows, so does my tendency to plant little seeds of creative potential as I go, and then watch as they build upon one another- sometimes in unexpected ways. The most obvious way is this:

,

The first is a stack of cut plywood, waiting for sanding, and the second is same plywood, covered with paper, and waiting for the first coat of beeswax.  A lot of the time I don’t feel like doing the prep work, like this. It’s tedious, or boring. Not nearly as exciting as painting.  But if I don’t take breaks from painting to do work like this, I run out of painting supports, and it breaks my painting momentum.But it isn’t always so obvious.

Here is a table in our family room…..in all of it’s glorious, messy, chaos. Talk about creative potential! A lot goes on at this table- worlds are created, characters come into being, objects are built…..and having the space set aside for this creates the potential for that. It’s an important part of our home life.  And my creative life.  It’s viral, creativity. It’s essential. And, honestly, does it get any better than this?