In my creative work, I’ve often straddled fences.  One foot in refinishing furniture and another in writing a book.  One foot in managing a paint brand, while the other is in freelance articles and photography.  I have always enjoyed the flexibility and stimulation that comes with hopping from one side of the fence to the other.  I have also learned over the years that one creative endeavor often speaks to another.  I get writing ideas when I’m working in the garden.  I find new color combinations for decorating when I’m mixing my oil paints.  There is a beneficial symbiotic relationship that develops between two seemingly unrelated activities.

Most of the time, I feel at home bouncing around from one thing to another.  But there are some seasons where it feels chaotic and overwhelming.  It all becomes a bit too much to juggle, because there are only so many hours in the day!  Whenever I think of simplifying, through, of whittling my work down to just one main thing, I already start to mourn the loss of the things I wouldn’t do, document, and share.  So, I think I’ll always be straddling the creative fences in some form or fashion, sometimes successfully, and other times I might get caught uncomfortably on a splintery old rail until I regain my balance.

I struggled to know what to write today, so I decided to share what this juggling looks like in a typical workday.

I started this morning with email, responding to social media messages, and blog comments.

My art commissions are open for January, so I’ve been corresponding with clients to nail down panel size, reference photo, background color, and to select a frame if they are interested in one.  I have reviewed those options with several clients, so it was time to print up the reference photo and details, and officially add them to my queue.  My commission queue is literally a stack of papers, old school, with the particulars clipped to the photo I’ll use for the painting.  It took me a couple of hours to get this done because I had to edit each photo to ensure the size and quality were exactly what I needed.  For example, I need to lighten the shadows, or they will print as one black blob that doens’t show any subtle details.

With my January queue taking shape, I labeled the selected frames and asked Jeff to cut custom plywood panels to fit the vintage and antique frames.  Later today or tomorrow, I’ll sand them and apply two coats of gesso so they are ready to go.

Since I didn’t plan my blog post for today in advance, I had to figure out what to write about.  I still need to finish decorating my kitchen and dining rooms for Christmas and photograph them, so I wasn’t ready to write about either room.

I still have a lot to share about my time in Italy, so I worked on editing photos for the next two or three blog posts.  I created drafts for a couple of them, but realized those posts were a bit more involved than I had time to write today, so I set them aside.

I walked over to my drying shelf to see if my final commissioned paintings for December were dry.  They are Christmas gifts, so I need to make sure I ship them in time.  There is no hurrying oil paint, though.  It’s either dry or it isn’t.  I touched the thick white passages of paint, the slowest part to dry, with the pad of my middle finger.  They were slightly sticky yesterday, but dry enough to varnish today.  I removed them from the drying shelf, stamped and labeled the back of each painting, and applied the varnish.  Since social media likes varnishing videos, I set up my camera to record the work.

 

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With those on the drying rack, I visited my folder of reference photos to select which still life I wanted to paint today, so I had that decision made.

And now, I am writing this blog post to get it posted before my RSS feed is scheduled to go out to subscribers on my email list.  I’ll have to find a few photos to plug in, probably a picture of my studio.

(Here you go…)

Once the blog post is up, I’ll take off my hoodie, put on my apron, and work on a painting.  I also set up a camera so I have process footage to share on TikTok and Instagram.  A still life will typically take me one or two hours to complete.  I try to start painting no later than 3:00, so I still have at least some natural light!  The clock is ticking on my RSS feed deadline and my light window for painting.

(This is what I’m painting today.  You can find more royalty-free reference photos HERE.)

When I’m done painting, I’ll clean my palette and brushes, then upload the video to my computer.  If people and animals aren’t bugging me about dinner, I’ll work on some video editing and social media posts before closing the laptop for the day.  Lately, I’ve had to spend more evenings and weekends on my computer or at the easel to get it all done.

I think it’s fair to say that I thoroughly love what I do about 98% of the time.  I’ve done it long enough that I usually feel comfortable in the uncertainty and in wearing a lot of hats.  There are times, though, when I think wistfully about the days when I worked in Corporate America.  I showed up on Monday morning, did my job, took a lunch break, and then went home and didn’t think about work.  I got the same amount in my paycheck, whether Facebook changed its algorithms or AI summaries negatively impacted my blog traffic.  It wasn’t my job to forecast, plan, or make adjustments to the ever-changing online landscape.  In hindsight, it often seems much easier than what I’m doing now.

But then, I remember how depressed I felt every Sunday night when the weekend was coming to an end and the deep, constant longing I felt to do creative work.  I remember feeling woefully out of place in a pant suit and a cubicle all day.

I remember those things, and once again I’m thankful I get to do things I love, things that make my heart come alive.  No matter how much fence-straddling, juggling, and balancing is involved.