Trees and Birds

My first full week in the studio has come and gone. It's been a time of getting used to the space and focusing in on my project.

The first day I spent getting a tour. My next visit was moving stuff in and I got very distracted by all my stuff, old projects that need to be finished, memories of times past and the urge to go in all directions at once. I came home overwhelmed with the possibilities and inspired by the breadth and depth of my past explorations.

Then I took most of the next week off as I had an unexpected visitor in from out of town. It was great to have a friend in town, but it was a distraction from really getting started on the Goshen project.

Thursday of that week I dropped my buddy off at the airport and headed straight to the studio. My intention was to be focused in contrast to the scattered feeling I had on moving into the space. Like a laser I picked up with my cardboard tree project right where I had left off (I had started this project in my kitchen and hadn't gotten very far, but had a good direction already defined.)

This week the weather was warm and on the sunnyside, showing the first hints of spring. My typical day included arriving around 10 am, watching the birds in the tree across the school yard or the peacocks on the roof opposite my classroom studio. The first 10-15 minutes include bird watching and getting some music playing (either cds or radio). Then preparing my workspace happens, I get fresh water for rinsing off glue, a clean brush and paint tray for the wood glue, scissors, pencil sharpener and sharpened pencil. I grab a piece of cardboard from the pile and begin tracing and cutting out the organically evolving disc shapes that make up the branches of my cardboard tree.

This past week I got 3, 4-5 hour days of good solid work done on my project. This next week the students start coming in to see what I'm up to so I will see how that affects my productivity.