Thursday 28 July 2011

A Womans Demise

"Walkies?"
Old Pastel of a Bearded Collie from days when I loved working in pastel!

Every female artist will understand this blog post. 

A Womans Demise 

She clears the table from the evening meal, checks everything is ready for the morning and finally switches off from her busy day. Finally she has time to think about her studio and what she will paint in the morning. While she falls asleep beautiful subjects appear in her dreams. Vibrant compositions and wonderful paintings full of life and movement. She can't wait for morning to come.

And it does.
She makes coffee,toast and tea for the family.  Smiling she watches as they leave for work and gradually begins to clear the breakfast away.  Upstairs she make the beds and then heads downstairs to her art studio walking past the laundry room which is piled sky high with washing from a loving husbands return home from sailing. While loading the washing machine she begins to imagine what her brushstrokes will create if she ever gets to her studio.  The dishwasher stops at that moment and she knows if she empties it now she will have more time to work later on but an interruption comes from the phone ringing. Now time is taken instead on organising an event for next week. While she is on the phone she decides to also make a few more appointments for next week which means she needs to check emails first to do so.  The flower she so wanted to paint from her dreams has all but wilted in her distant memory as she begins to forget what it looked like in the first place.  She returns to her task of emptying the  dishwasher and looks at the clock. The day is disappearing but she decides to have a quick cup of coffee before heading to her studio. She stops to remind herself, what was she going to paint?  Not surprisingly she has completely forgotten. Was it a dog or a portrait ? No wait, it was a flower but what kind?  As she struggles to remember the washing machine pings taking her out of her train of thought. So she moves to the laundry room,empties the washing into a basket and walks into the garden to hang the clothes on the line. Outside she notices the  flowers badly need watering and the fish in the pond need feeding. Moving to the pond she sees her ducks are all in a line waiting to be fed.

Finally the home is gleaming, the washing is all out to dry,the zoo is fed.

At last she can paint.
Until she sees the dog who is asking

"Great, you're ready. Is it time for my walk now?"

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I am like every other woman. I have a home to run and a family to care for and a wonderfully fluffy dog who insists quite rightly on having his regular walks. I understand how many of us juggle our day to find the time to paint and fit in what we are passionate about doing!

Which makes it oh so much more wonderful when we finally manage to pick up our brushes!
 
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6 comments:

Brotesdeternura said...

I loved your post and I admire you deeply. I am a mother of three school-age children and take care of the house also 100% in addition to making crafts to sell. I can hardly find time to paint, which I love deeply. And as Twyla Tharp said "Art is the only way to run away without ever leaving home" thanks for sharing your day with us. Grace

Carol Blackburn said...

Your bearded collie is wonderful, Jean. Great post. Sounds like most of us, most of the time. I like to work in the studio after 4 p.m. (I have no idea why that time of day works for me) but I have to leave for work at 6:30 so there's my conflict. It's ok on days I don't work but it seems when I do have to leave that's when some inspiration hits me and I have to start that painting now.

Jean Haines SWA, SFP said...

Hello Grace, I havejust been looking at your painting of flowers. Thank you so much for your reply to my blog post. I love your quote!

"Art is the only way to run away without ever leaving home"

How true thsi is, its really lovely to see you here and thank youf or your reply:)

Jean

Jean Haines SWA, SFP said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jean Haines SWA, SFP said...

Hi Carol, I do know the feeling. Its often been late afternoon this week that I have started painting when I usually work in the early morning.

Life gets in the way at times!

Heres to the day we paint all the time without any interruptions!

Jean

Capt Elaine Magliacane said...

As someone still working an 8 hour job to support my art habit... making time for my art is hard some days... but it is so refreshing to splash paint about... I do try to do it at least a little every day... I started my journey in art late in life, I started keeping a watercolor journal so that my grand children would have something of remember their grandmother by.... I've filled 14 journals in the last 4 years... and every day I get just a little better at it :-)