A BRUSH OF HOLIDAY......CHEER?

’TIS THE SEASON to willfully consume too many servings of turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes with gravy and other body-shape altering foods. Add in, enjoyment of all the ‘festivities’, like the new national past time “football”, which use to be played in two hours but now takes up to six. Hours wasted sitting or slumping on the couch! That was Thanksgiving, ‘round one’.  Before the next big Holiday, or ‘round two’, I decided to do something counter to unhealthy and mindless, like, clean up my studio. 

On the 1st Day of Cleanup, I went through the different containers of my brushes to pull out any unusable ones to place in other containers reserved for retired brushes. Yes, I said ‘retired’. I hate to throw away the brushes that have shared in the making of many paintings. In retirement, standing in their various vases, cans and odd holders, they become a point of interest, or curiosity to anyone visiting the studio. The unique visual language the brushes speak is a different one than what the paintings themselves say to those who take time to listen. These are the tools of my trade and I feel that on some level, we have been on a journey together through the development of each piece of art and I’m loath to just toss them out.

On the 2nd Day of Cleanup I take unsuccessful canvases off the stretchers, roll them up and store them in a ‘time capsule’, i.e. dark hole in my studio ‘attic’, where they won’t be found for 50 years. I do not let the brushes see me do this.

On the 3rd Day of Cleanup I rearrange the art books, migrating them from the floor, or studio bench, back to the book shelves in some sort of order. They were taken down, at intervals, for inspiration, consolation or just to clear the ‘painter’s fog’ that can settle in when working through a trying canvas. Somehow, leaving them there on the floor for a while serves to cement any enlightenment gleaned and perhaps insures that the fog has burned off.

On the 4th Day of Cleanup I think it would be wise to arrange my music CDs to make it easier to find the music I’m in the mood for. There are days it is hard to paint without the proper music and I don't like wasting time hunting for the right tunes. There have been occasions when I finally found what I was looking for in Rita’s studio, so rearranging them also serves to give her a healthy mental exercise when choosing her ‘work audio’. 

On the 5th Day of Cleanup…I decided I’d had enough of cleanup and sat down with Rita to have a glass of wine and discuss how fresh the studio looked and all the things we have to be thankful for.  With the weekend coming I’m postponing the other Days of Cleanup…to, maybe, go dancing…or watch a little football!

   HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL