3 Hours of Painting

Spent 3 hours painting outside yesterday morning in what was like 102F degrees. I became so engrossed in my painting, in getting the colors right, the shapes right, the relationships right, etc., that I forgot time. Then I checked my watch and it was almost one o'clock! I had been painting since 10. By then my head seemed like it was swimming in a heated fog and I couldn't really concentrate. When I stepped back to look at my painting and try to figure out what to adjust, I found my eyes and my mind couldn't focus. Time to call it a day. And I was getting hungry. My stomach was protesting and I had been ignoring it for quite a while.

So I stopped, packed up and carried everything back to my car. Man, it was hot. I opened the car windows and cranked up the AC. The cool air felt good. I started to drive back home, while wondering if I would be able to make it. My mind just didn't feel like working anymore, although the cool air started to soothe my roasted skin and mind. I started to feel better. I could barely think but I knew I needed a nap badly. Just lie down and rest when I get home. After a snack, of course.

Painting is a strange process. It's hard work. It engrosses you totally. You're out in the elements, the heat, the bugs, no real food, etc. You get frustrated when you can't seem to get things right. And you keep wanting changing things when you come back--just cannot resist. Very tiring. Exhausting even. Yet when you get back home you almost want to go out and do it again.

The thing that attracts you is not so much in what you have created; it's in the doing. It's the pure state of mind you're in when you in this creative process. It's addictive, and you want to be pulled in, to surrender willingly.