Artists and Their Unique Lifestyle

My studio at night. 2011. Hercule Poirot is stumped in The Mystery of the Clean Studio

 

PRODUCTIVITY

Over the years I have detected a pattern of behavior in our group of artist friends.The New Year shows up and then one month slides by without a peep from your artist friends. You know that everyone is either in Mexico, Maui or has skipped the trip to the tropics and have locked themselves in their studios and are being their focused productive selves once again. Being productive is good but it can produce long term eccentric indoor behaviors and malnutrition.

REALITY TV
If Vic and I were in a reality TV show, it would not be glamorous or garner high ratings or a big audience. It would be a rather boring show because Vic is not a loud aggressive guy and we don't shout profanities or throw paintings or stuff at each other or scheme to sabotage each others projects and most importantly, I don't wear skin tight sexy designer outfits to the studio (just when I go to the grocery store). I must grant you this, we are not your typical married couple either. Both being artists and living in our cozy home/studio has its advantages and disadvantages. We live in a gallery of sorts and are surrounded by art and projects in every room. Every morning I wake up and within a few minutes I am staring at one of my paintings in progress. While sipping my first cappuccino of the day, I look closely and take mental notes about what area of the painting needs this, that or the other thing. Often I will see my slow and methodical approach in the painting is working and other days I see the need to rework an area that bothers me or seems wonky.

THE VIEW OUT THE WINDOW
Over more cappuccinos, Vic and I check out the view from our big dining room window. The view out the window is one of the many reasons we live here. Our backyard pond is a great draw for wildlife and we often look out the window towards the pond hoping to see Mr. and Mrs. newly wed Mallards. Beside the daffodils, tulips and cherry blossoms, the ducks are delightful and are the high point in the spring. They don't usually show up until March but we are always hoping for their early arrival and their first big splash landing in the pond .

The deer are the newest visitors to the pond and in the late spring, summer and fall, they admire the pond and then happily munch their way through our yard. Our once gorgeous Japanese Maple is now just a pathetic looking stick in the garden. Last summer when our "water feature" was undergoing a new liner/coating, two young bucks got into trouble as they tried to walk across the thin plastic cover that was stretched over the pond.

The bird feeder is always a great source of entertainment and high drama especially when the multitude of little and big birds battle it out for their space and turn at the feeder. Some of those feisty feathery things toss about $15.00 worth of feed on the ground daily. The Juncos are smart and always benefit from the spillage on the ground. I have a sneaky suspicion they gather all the seed up and wholesale it by the pound to the Junco's who work at Art Knapp's Garden Centre.
Where there's birds, there's cats and our neighbour's cat, the lovely and self important Lynx Siamese is fun to watch. We call him Max and he shows up around 9 am and struts around the pond and garden area dutifully marking his territory. Max is a bit silly and totally ignores the birds but loves to jump back and forth over the pond several times or brazenly run after the fat old raccoon whom I had to chase off our sundeck a few times. As the early morning animal kingdom show comes to a close, Vic and I soon gravitate back to our studios and lock into our projects at hand.

MAKING IT WORK

The type and the scale art work we do suits our life and workspace. We are very self contained and Vic works in his computer studio in the front gallery area and close at hand is his professional printing system. This area is open and sunny but the hallway through the house is tricky for Vic. Daily, Vic patiently navigates with precision and grace in his manual wheelchair up and down the hallway and often has to back into some of the rooms. I am full of admiration for Vic's amazing steadfast patience and navigation skills. I know that if I was in a wheelchair full time, I would dread the trip to the other end of house and would most likely injure myself while taking out some of the frame work and walls.

MULTI-TASKING

Many artists live intensely in their creative imaginations and their focused work mode. Hours roll by easily as we do creative work. It is often Friday but it seems like it should only be Tuesday. Sometimes I feel like the absent minded professor because I am so involved with doing a million things that relate to doing art or preparing to do art, working on my commission painting, preparing for exhibitions, printing art cards, playing Facebook scrabble with Janet, and making and showing up for our appointments. Part of each day I will also assist Vic on his Gallery ArtLife art print projects.

Like many of us creative types, we both just loose track of time and all of a sudden I notice that Vic looks 10 pounds lighter.... then I realize there is no food in the fridge or cupboards and we have not had any real meals since Tuesday or was it Friday?

ALL I CAN SAY
All I can say, with our lifestyle and if we had children, they would have learned quickly how to make  cappuccinos and get themselves off to school and most importantly find out how to make healthy balanced meals or order in.

Study of  Homes Along Gonzales Bay      Acrylic painting  9 x 12 inches  by Barbara Weaver-Bosson  C 2008