Sometimes You Just Have to Surrender

For the past two weeks, I have been ill with the world-renown H1N1 virus. So for the past 2 weeks, which feels like two years when you are sick, I have been unable to paint, wash the car, or keep up with cleaning. The main offending symptoms were wicked fatigue, weakness, and achiness in joints I didn't even know I had!

This morning, I woke up nearly symptom free. As the morning has progressed, my joints are reminding me that now is not the time to start an aerobic exercise program.

Sickness slows us down, and makes us surrender. And that is not such a bad thing. We have to really pay attention to our bodies when we are ill. So, during the past two weeks, I have read a lot, updated my marketing materials, enjoyed chocolate muffins, and napped whenever I felt like it. I have watched lots of movies, football, sitcoms, and Survivor. The folks on Survivor looked liked they felt much worse than me - I have snuggly blankets to stay warm, and a roof that doesn't leak!

I started playing around with painting today. While I was painting, all the aches seemed to melt away. I entered that special zone, where anything is possible. While the fatigue cut my session short, I still enjoyed those sensuous moments of mixing paint, and covering canvases. And maybe by this weekend, I will be ready to work on some real art.

Cheers,

Cathy Harville

Fixing Things

I am a very messy painter. Almost every piece of clothing I own has paint on it. My studio looks like it blew up. Even my "office" area is strewn with papers and handwritten notes.

Chaos leads to mistakes - and accidents. While preparing the ground for one piece, I get the gesso on another piece. Paint flies, drips, and smears. All of this leads to all kinds of chalenges - and adventures in fixing mistakes.

The worst "mistake" I ever had was when I had run out of horizontal space to put a painting covered in acrylic gel to dry. So, I sat it on the rug on the floor. I went out to the restroom, came back, and stepped right in the wet goo! Not only did I step in it, I slid several feet, so prussian blue was everywhere. I spent the next hour cleaning off paint off the floor, and my shoe. I gave up on my clothes and the floor!

Determined to save the art, I pushed the wet gel back into place, added some more, and giggled the whole time. It really was a mess, and it is such a shame no one else got to see the event! After several more "surgeries", I completed the piece, called "Layers of Sunlight". It was the first piece I got accepted into a show at the Art League in Alexandria!! The jurors were quite baffled as to how I created the piece. I told them everything, even the accident part, and they got a good laugh.

If it wasn't for mistakes, my growth would have stopped sometime as a toddler. Mistakes are learning moments, rich with "I will never do that again", or "this looks better than what I planned"! Not many people understand the chaos that surrounds my creative space - except for other artists, of course!

Artfully yours,

Cathy Harville