Tuesday, January 29, 2008

reconnecting

I've noticed that I've been doing a lot of reconnecting over the last six months, and it feels good. Far away family, friends I haven't seen in a long time, even my former babysitter--we have been communicating and it feels good. On New Year's Day, I had a five-hour phone conversation with my friend Julia...how's that for reconnecting? (We saw each other over the summer and we email, but busy schedules don't always allow us to be in touch on a regular basis.) I've even reconnected with my yoga practice, having started at a new studio a little under a year ago, which has really breathed new life into it. (I had never stopped doing yoga, but I never really realized that I was in a bit of a rut until I started at the new place.)

Most of all, I have reconnected with the process of painting. In the past, I would go through spurts of working, followed by droughts of not working. I would feel terrible during the droughts, and the longer they lasted, the worse I'd feel. During my spurts, I would work until I felt drained, and then the drought would begin again. Now, I paint every day (when I'm home, that is) for at least 30 minutes. Sometimes it's only 30 minutes, which is fine...everyday work and life doesn't always allow for more time. However, sometimes 30 minutes turns into 45 minutes, or an hour, or two hours, or more. This way of working has caused me to be a lot more productive, plus it avoids the whole process of beating myself up because I haven't painted in x amount of time. Right now I have four paintings going at once, which I don't think has ever happened before; plus, I have tons of ideas for new paintings. I guess self-discipline works for me. Now I just have to discipline myself to write this blog more often!