Waltzing Around the Easel - or how I perfected the art of procrastination!

I have been out of the studio for 5 weeks and now I'm back and have begun the oh so slow waltz around the easel, telling myself I will get back to the studio 'tomorrow.  It's remarkable, but after a week at home 'tomorrow' has so far not dawned!

You will know if you have been reading my blogs, that I have been exhibiting in Dorset in the UK.  It was an open studio event, with around 350 visitors coming to see my work, some to buy, others just to browse, all with lots of questions, many with their own painting stories to tell: all in all it was pretty tiring and I certainly don't envy the gallery owners who have to do it all the time! As a matter of fact I think I deserve a holiday!

Brilliant, there's another excuse to add to the ever growing list!  The odd thing is that I do have a lot of ideas that have been incubating while I have been away and I was really looking forward to getting going with them, but that means tackling those big blank canvasses. It is an inescapable fact a lot of artists will agree with, that  we are supremely inventive when it comes to perfecting this art of procrastination: the urgent calls to make, the dog to walk, the laundry to do, the TV to dust, the fridge to visit for one last snack....on and on it goes, even after the painting clothes have been put on, the brushes have been put out,  and the canvas is on the easel.

Soon of course I will get so disgusted with myself that I will take myself by the scruff of the neck and frog march me back into the studio and close the door!  Apart from anything else I need to replenish my stock, having sold well and left several canvasses behind to be 'aired' sometime this summer at Courcoux & Courcoux in Stockbridge, Hampshire.

So I will get back to work and this time with renewed determination to control the urge to paint bigger and bigger. The simple fact of the matter is that not many people have the luxury of large wall spaces to fill and an artist has to make a living.  Meanwhile, the image below was a work in progress on the easel when I left - needless to say I can't remember where it was leading me - but it is part of the mountain summit series (which you can see on my website) all of which really just have to be large paintings!

By the way I just finished an interview on another blog which is written by Steve Gray in Australia.  One or two of us on there now - follow the link if you have time.