a day in the life blog carnival

Thanks again to Marla for organizing the 2nd blog carnival "A Day in the Life." Here goes...

Most of my painting days are pretty similar. They are usually weekend days, occasionally a week day. If it's a weekend day, I always start in the morning. After putting the dogs out and coffee, of course.

Then it's up the stairs to the studio. The baby gate is for the dogs, so the cats can have a refuge when they need it.

Today, because my space was a wreck, I had to start by cleaning it. I normally don't let it get this messy but it was a busy couple of weeks and I just let it get out of hand.

After clean up. Much better. 

Then a smoothie for breakfast. I'm kind of dilly dallying today and not expecting a full day's work, which is fine. Kind of taking it easy today.

I start by setting out my paints and then sitting down to just look at what I'm working on and make a task list. I'm very bad about stepping back while I'm painting to take in the whole painting. I really need to work on that. But if I sit down and take it all in for about 15 minutes and write down all I need to tackle, that kind of gets me around my habit of not assessing during the painting session. 

Then I start painting. The music is on today instead of the podcasts. There's a bit of dancing whilst painting. Good thing there is not a video camera in my studio. I would look ridiculous. Mostly because I am lucky if I have put on pants for the day and my hair is pretty much a tornado that I use as a paintbrush holder. Not a pretty sight.

After painting for awhile there is some laying around on the floor and stretching. Or napping. Or staring  off into space at nothing in particular. 

I do also use this time to look at what I've done and think about the painting some more. What's next, what needs to change, etc. And usually this is also from the floor, while stretching out my back and relaxing.

So for today, I mostly just worked on the dredlocks and the chicken (sorry the first picture is little fuzzy).

Then comes the really boring part which is the brush cleaning. I always wish I could find some neighborhood kids who wanted to make a few bucks to come clean my brushes. Wouldn't it be nice to have a brush cleaner? But alas, it's part of the job. 

After that's done, a little straightening up of the studio, then off to do things like laundry, dinner, get ready for work on Monday. Occasionally, I'll take a dip in the pool with the dog. That's pretty much how my painting days go.

Thanks for looking and spending a day in my painting life with me.

Giveaway!!!

Become a member/subscriber of my blog and you will be entered to win a print of tan lined feet  (printed image is 8" x 8" w/ 1" border all around). Winner will be randomly selected and will be announced on Saturday August 31, 2013.

Don't forget to take a look at the other "A Day in the Life" posts of these other great artists. Just click on the names to visit their blogs. 

Cindy Michaud	Jo MacKenzie	Christine Parker	Marla Laubisch
Joanne Grant	Kevin Larson	Cindy Williams	Sharon Graves
	Karen Johnston	Charleen Martin