Pulling back the curtain

 

I am often out in the studio a few minutes after six in the morning. These days, I'm getting out of bed long before the minute hand rotates to the top of the clock. My first cup of coffee is usually made and I'm unlocking the shop a few minutes later. I often have things to do - left over tasks from the day before.

As an example, today I started my day by photographing my latest gnome painting. "Three Little Gnomes Sitting in the Tree..." is a concept that I noodled on paper, several times, while passing the hours at the Saskatoon Farm Christmas Market. 

I placed the painting on the photography wall and took three different photos of it, each with a different shutter speed. This give me enough variety on the editing side. The SD card comes out of the camera and into a little adaptor that connects to my laptop. I spend a number of minutes editing the best of the three shots and then upload the finished image to my archival site and to our Birdsong Studios web shop. 

As soon as a painting is successfully captured it gets two coats of gloss varnish. Once those coats are dry, hanging hardware is installed, a certificate of authenticity printed, and the painting goes on the wall and available for purchase. 

My routine varies ever so slightly from painting to painting, but not much. After almost 2,500 completed works, I have a routine that makes sense. 

While most mornings my brain is firing on all cylinders, this morning it felt a little sluggish. I was having difficulty holding onto a thought and keeping things in order. It doesn't happen often, but on some mornings I feel mentally scattered. After my second cup of coffee, things are becoming sharper. Thank goodness. 

I will spend my morning working on a commission and meeting with Ideal Protein dieters. Oh yes, that is the other thing we do. We provide Ideal Protein weight loss products and coaching to a small number of clients from Nanton to Calgary. It's a lovely deviation for me, as I get to put the brush down for a period of time and focus on my clients. Tuesday mornings are my busiest.

I've begun the process of looking back on my year and setting goals for 2025. This year, even though we had moved into our SEED Home, still felt like a transition year. The studio didn't arrive until late spring and took quite a long time to set up and get occupancy. Despite needing to work out of the spare bedroom in the house for many months, I'm proud of the year and the work that emerged. I'm excited to build on the momentum we've created in the past few months in terms of workshops, commissions and new creative ideas.

Speaking of which, I'm noodling (my word of the month) a major fundraising initiative in support of Bracelets For Buildings, the charity that I've been volunteering with for many years. I haven't felt in the position to take on anything major for a couple of years as we've gone through this transition. I think I'm ready now. More to come.