Now that I’ve settled on something of a direction, that doesn’t feel like I should be looking around for the next best option, I’m starting to settle in and get to things. Not that that’s going perfectly smooth. There is still clean up to do and there have been a few things interrupt the forward momentum. Still, I’m staying on track and the interruptions and minor detours are not near a wear on my patience as they might have been a few months ago.
Finding more focus has been nice for so many reasons, not just finding my patience not as tested. It’s also made it easier to clean out book shelves and closets. It’s made it easier to decide I don’t need to spend money on something that really is just going to get left laying around. It’s my version of the simplifying thing that seems to be the trend these days.
Having a more limited focus does not necessarily translate to having more time. As I said there is still clean up to do that includes not only cleaning out, it also includes cleaning up, litterally. Unfortunately the past few months of craziness have lead to a bit of neglect in taking care of my home. And quite frankly, it’s a mess and needs a good scrubbing. I’m only just starting to distribute the resources I recovered, in the form of time and energy, from the other things I was doing, into the things that need doing as well as the art and music. It’s going to take some work.
I say it’s going to take some work because without those other things to worry about, I tend to get a bit lost in whichever I’m doing, art or music. I do a little better in the art room than the music room. Working on the art for too long tends to lead to hand cramping and a tight back so I’m fairly good at setting a timer and taking a break after about an hour. But I have this play list for windows media player, of this one singer, that, at the moment the play list is about 3 hours long. It’s on shuffle repeat. So. I take a break, check email and get a fresh cup of tea and then right back to working on the painting. When it comes to the music room that’s another story. About the only time I remember to set a timer is if I have to go some place. Then, I’ll set a timer. Otherwise, I can go in there with the best intention of only spending 30 minutes, or an hour working on something and the next thing I know, I’m at an hour and half, maybe three hours. You would think sore fingers would stop me, and it used to. The more I play, the longer it takes to get to that point. It’s more like a grumbling stomach or eyes that will no longer stay open that stop me.
I am going to have to make some effort to be a little more disciplined for the next couple of weeks. I really need to haul off the stuff I’ve set aside to get rid of. I’ve also got some business stuff to tend to. And I really need to get the place cleaned up before I head off to San Antonio the end of next month. My neighbor will be coming in to check on my birds and I don’t want the place to be embarrassing.
Now that I’m making the shift to just the music and art, it’s time to really look at how to make that work. Somethings I can see how they can work and can be scheduled to fit in the day to day, and somethings I think are going to take a little more thought and planning. For example, I have an idea for a new piece of art to be a new business card. It’s a 3D modeled design and I’m thinking of using Blender for it instead of 3DS Max. I’ll need to figure out where that fits in everything because I’ll be learning a new application again. Or relearning. But I still have other art and music to work on so I don’t want that to take over. Yes, there is a reason for wanting to use Blender and I’ll get to a full discussion of it another day, for now, it has to do with this refocus. I also want to do some experimenting with the guitar paintings. There are some things I’ve discovered with the prep on the current paintings that are causing a little trouble for me. I think I can overcome that but I need an opportunity to test it and that won’t come until I start a new painting. I’m also considering using a different technique to create the paintings. Which is another topic to discuss another day. Trialing that will need to be worked in somewhere as well.
It’s all good though. I’m moving in a direction that is making me happy and I don’t feel like I’m flailing around trying to grasp whatever I can.
Before I close out this post, here’s a bit of an update on the music and art front.
While I don’t have the video from last week’s Blues Jam edited yet, I did get to work on the Ovation painting this week. So here’s a look at that. I started on the Flame Red that separates the quilted part. I think it’s going to do what I want. I will need at least a second pass at it to get it vibrant enough. That’s a ways off though. I want to finish a full pass of the Flame Red first.
And the guitar is back from repair again. As the Muppets sang “Movin’ Right Along”.