Finally, I’m feeling better. I can breathe through both nostrils! Unbelievable.

Still no word from Skowhegan. No word from VCCA either. Oh well. What can’t ya do? Soon I should get my rejection letters.

I’ve had enough energy to organize things around my drafting table, which I use for most of my art these days. I can’t stand at the easel so much anymore. I don’t know if it’s my body, the limited space, or what. Half the time, I bring my oil paintings to the table to work on them flat now. Strange.

The drafting table takes up much of my room in an almost awkward area. It can’t “go” anywhere else. But it’s the number one thing I need. I also draw, paint in watercolor, use gouache, collage, cut paper/book stuff, etc., and many other things on it. However, it’s incredibly heavy and a pain in the ass to move.

I used to have eight feet of steel cutting tables, like the kind used in industrial manufacturing. Those were an even bigger bear. An albatross around my neck. Hannah hated them because she was usually stuck with moving them from studio to studio. Putting them together was a bitch.

But I love this table. It’s a Mayline brand, and they made good drafting stuff (flat files, office furniture, and such). Then they were taken over by Safco.

The table belonged to my brother, who gifted it to me, FREE of charge, which was one of the nicer things he’s done for me. I mean, he’s done a lot of nice things for me. I’m grateful for all of them. I’m just particularly fond of this table and remember the day he brought it over very well. It was a great day for me regarding how I felt about him, and not just because he was giving me the table.

Anyway, because I do various things on this table, I have to keep it pretty clean and tidy, especially between projects. I’m pretty tidy anyhow though, for the most part.

This was when I was working on some new trailer pieces in watercolor and gouache.

And here’s a shot of how much room I have between the table and the easel:

Not very much.

Yesterday, I had fun organizing my watercolor box specifically for travel.

Soon, I plan to take a day to make art with my friend Teresa Watson. We’re going to sit around and draw while listening to music, which I don’t usually do. It’s normally quiet when I work. I listen to all the animals outside. We have a lot of wildlife here.

I organized this box to carry all the things I want so I can make small watercolor drawings. I want to start making small stuff for the fall when I do the Hwy 62 Open Studios Tour. I’m pretty sure the box is now perfectly prepared. I can’t believe I was able to fit it all. It was like putting together a puzzle.

I happened to have made this box. This incredibly stunning box, if I do say so myself. I’m very proud of it. It came in rough wooden pieces from Gerstner, and Hannah helped me put it together after I sanded it. Doing the staining-fine sanding-restaining was the most victorious part. When it all came together, I was impressed with my bad self. A brand-new box like this handmade by Gerstner costs about $650! We got half-price on the kit and got to do a project together.

That’s a picture of it when I finished it. Is it not gorgeous? I feel rude having it, it’s so cool. It was so fun to make. I love wood! I’m one of those people that get super excited around nice wood and beautiful paper. Some people like feet. I like wood.

I keep little blank moleskin notebooks and draw rough sketches in them. They are more ideas than they are sketches. They’re as raw as raw could be. I’ve been going back over them and picking out the ideas that are worth turning into watercolor paintings, or maybe even good enough for oil paintings. You never know.

An example is from the above. These turned into eventual paintings. At least the right side did, but for the left side, I only did a version of it in watercolor and ink.

…So these raw drawings make some sense to me to go back over and contemplate, as you can see. The strange ideas that come into my head are odd, yes, but useful too. They come (mostly) when I’m half asleep.

Which reminds me, I should probably go lay down and get myself all the way better. I’m still a little under the weather. Why am I blabbering???