Help! I'm staying up nights painting bugs! Pugged and bugged, all within the span of two weeks! Hold me, I'm frightened!
I'm very confused. Riddle me this...why, when getting myself to sit down at the easel is usually a daily struggle of gargantuan proportion, why am I now staying up nights, after finishing deadline work, to paint bugs?
Projects and chores that can be done anytime, and usually aren't done at all, suddenly become my reason for living when it's time to man up and sit down to work. Now, however, with deadlines squeezing in on me from all directions like some giant panini press, it seems I've developed an insatiable need to paint bugs on rather large canvases!
Hey, you know what they say about looking a gift horse in the mouth...what does that mean....I'm gonna ride this train till it stops. This has never happened to me before! I've dreamt of being driven, so driven that sleep is an afterthought, but never thought I'd experience it. To be clear here, I'm not that driven, but for me, not stopping to clean up when Tim comes home is driven! And, I get up to work after lights out, in the cozy dimness of my easel lamp, to the gentle strains of three very distinct snores. Sometimes they syncopate and create some very unique jungle rhythms.
Nice! It's just nice! Must be because I really enjoy painting insects. I'm reprising a few as most were originally done on smaller canvases, so basically, I'm exploring the wide open spaces of a 24x36" surface with some familiar friends.
Of course, the correlation between actually working to realize my dreams and sitting around dreaming about them became painfully obvious...again. Apparently I do need that building to fall on my head.
I've had that dream! I wish it was more than that. Go with it.... enjoy. Love your bugs.
ReplyDeleteTwo words: Passion. And... Avoidance! GO with your passion. It's unbelievable that I am loving paintings of bugs. Just goes to show you - it's not WHAT you paint... but HOW you paint it! Go, girl, enjoy the midnight muses....
ReplyDeleteLOVE your bugs and as Kelley said it is HOW you paint it!! And you do it so wonderfully!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, the word PASSION is what your feeling...
ReplyDeletehang on to the passion and ride it like a roaring wave in the mighty ocean.
It's a beautiful bug, and I think I saw it move.
love
tweedles
Roll with it! Especially if you're going to keep putting out such wonderful work. Good luck with the 'required' stuff. I have faith that you'll finish them all just fine. Rock on!
ReplyDelete-Don
The bugs are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteWow, this baby is alive, and I can't imagine it being more beautiful even in it's flying debut.
ReplyDeleteWell I, for one, can understand staying up all night and painting bugs! And I'm so glad you do because you know I LOVE yours! I'm so excited to see another one so soon!
ReplyDelete-Samantha
PS- thank you so much for the nice email, so sorry I hadn't responded yet! Been a crazy week!
I so identify... have had the same battles and bouts of head-scratching. It's SO much more fun to play hookey from deadlines. I've even been known to do HOUSEWORK rather than try to make progress on a project I don't like.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably very important for us to be able to ditch responsibility, at least sometimes. You know what they say about all work and no play.
I also used to wonder what that "gift horse" expression meant until my grandma explained it to me one day. Apparantly, a horse's age can be judged by looking at the animal's teeth. So if someone gives you a gift, just accept it and say "thanks" without scrutinizing it.
Do not question, and do not stop what you are doing! It's working, and just like it started, it will stop on it's own too, so, enjoy this time. It is a creative surge, high on painting. Other activities get these endorphin rushes, so do artists! (No one in my family can understand why I can stay up, sometimes I think I can work thru the whole nite) Unfortunately, lack of sleep will eventually make us seriously nuts! Paint on! (PS, I really do think you need to publish a book of Pug Musings!
ReplyDeleteYay for drivenness and sleep deprivation and yes, I'll go ahead and say it. . . Yay for bugs!! you make them look beautiful and interesting and full of wonder! :)
ReplyDeleteI love the bugs Susan!
ReplyDeleteI identify with the daily struggle. I find myself procrastinating throughout the day until I actually get to work in the studio. Once there you can't lure me away with anything. It still puzzles me.
Love all the comments and realize I'm not the only one to do the same things...procrastinating by doing housework, going shopping instead of painting, but then painting till 4:00 am when I get started! Love the bugs.
ReplyDeletedon't question it. ride the train while it's running. these bugs are truly amazing!!
ReplyDeleteWonderful work!
ReplyDeleteI'm sooo glad I stumbled onto your site.. I love the bugs, like the rest of these folks, but , I REALLY enjoyed your explanation of your passion for painting them. The sensation was so well described... I know that feeling, and it's so fleeting. Hard to hold on to ! that's why it's so important to go with it when it strikes !
ReplyDelete