I May Not Look Busy

There is an assumption among a certain set that because I am self-employed I have time on my hands. Time to do their stuff. This request for assistance from others goes in spurts. I am in one of those spurts at the moment.

June, July and August are very busy months in a mountain tourist town. Make hay while the sun shines as it were or at least the snow does not fly. As president of an arts council, a working artist in my own right, a gardener, a pet sitter, and a home owner the list of todo's of my own abound and time dwindles down daily. Mind you I am not opposed to helping my neighbors and friends out from time to time. It is what we do in the high country.And I may in the future need their help.

But some people have no idea what they are asking. Like my artist friend with the light boxes and failing ballasts. I came up with the idea of her switching over to battery lights so there would be no cords to irritate gallery owners, a problem she had shared with me. She wants me to spend my time googling possible battery lights for her art. "I am so busy," she whined and then launched into a list of deadlines that loomed. "Yes, Jane, I know because I got the same list of deadlines plus one." "Oh, but you are so much faster at this than I am," she said. Some people see others as staff.

But flattery will get you nowhere these days. I have learned to say no. Though with some people just trying to get them to hear NO takes a lot of time and I want to scream not merely NO but HELL NO. The problem is the worst when I, by all outward appearances, seem to be doing less. Artists require a lot of meditation time. Really, I am not making this up. And little interruptions don't go well. Easier to put down a wet paint brush and get back to it after a phone call then to set aside my thoughts on composition of a piece I am working out in my mind before putting pencil to paper. Creativity loves a void. The problem at the moment is keeping that void open.

Let's take yesterday: 1) putting labels on the post cards for Artsfest which approaches too rapidly, 2) meeting the plumber and my working friend's house to unstop toilet, 3) e-mailing back and forth in regard to a safety product we are trying to purchase for artsfest, 4) putting some thought into what paintings to submit to Contact and which to the NM State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit, 5) remembering I have to come up with a list of rules for Artsfest exhibitors - omg moment, 6) noticing the outside container gardens are wilting and I forgot to water them, 7) watering them, 8) leafing through sketch books to seek inspiration on my labyrinth painting, 9) finally giving in to the fur kid increasing pleas for a walk . . . suffice it to say the list goes on. Yesterday was definitely not a welcoming void for the muse.

May today be a better day or at the least more empty.

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