The Dreaded Words

"Delphinium Rhapsody"

Delphinium painted in my cottage garden this afternoon

An exhausting day. I have tidied my studio. And every single time I do this I have an incredible urge to paint and mess it up again which actually isn't a good idea, or is it.

Why is my blog post called " The Dreaded Words" you may ask.  Well when I had the first meeting with my publisher for my next new book they told me that they would come to me this time with the photography crew, to film the step by steps. In my studio. Wow, I thought at the time. That's fantastic. No packing my car and worrying about leaving anything important behind. No unpacking and packing again at the photography studio. No having to stay in hotels overnight while the filming was taking place. And how easy this would be with everything I need at hand, here in my studio.

Then the dreaded words sunk in.

" In my studio"

Wait.

"IN MY STUDIO"

Aaaargh!

I have been putting off tidying up and making room for the cameras etc. Constantly making excuses of more important things to do. Like collecting freckles in my garden if the sun is shining, as well as painting of course.

 I kept putting it off, until today when I could put it off no longer. Last night I went to bed imagining how enthusiastically I would race to my studio this morning and set about  tidying. Re arranging things and making it look wonderful.

But when I woke this morning all my good intentions of heading to my studio seemed to evaporate within minutes as my feet headed straight for the potting shed in my garden and the next thing I knew I was gardening. While I was gardening I fell in love with the above delphinium and just had to paint it straight away. All the while telling myself that afterwards I would definitely sort out my studio. But then a sale came through which meant wrapping a painting for a gallery urgently. And then a second gallery contacted me asking me if I had any Venice scenes but the one the gallery's client wanted had just sold, only minutes before.  So instead of sorting out my studio I helped the second gallery by forwarding images of paintings that may be suitable for their client instead.

Finally as evening drew near I made myself get on with the task I had been putting off all day. Now my studio looks fabulous. In fact, it looks too fabulous.

A tidy studio?

What kind of artist works in a tidy studio?

This won't do at all.

Tonight I am going to bed with the notion of waking to mess my studio back up again.

I am sure you will be eager to see whether my studio is a mess or organised in my new book.

But what the heck, I actually just want to paint delphiniums now so my studio, messy or tidy will have to wait.

Happy painting!

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