Where I Am Now

This is my new life. I am a server (waitress) at a restaurant. I am 53 years old, and now I am a waitress. Sounds awful - but ...I actually love it. I love the work, I love the people I work with. I love working at a restaurant at the water's edge on the coast of Maine.
Let me back up a bit. I had a career as a real estate broker for 16 years. In the past three years, as real estate self-destructed, and our country did a lot of financial self-destructing...my real estate career and income did the same.
So I tried some different avenues. I worked in home health care for a few years to keep an income coming in, while looking for a new career. I got out of real estate completely, and after a home health care job ended - I was unemployed for nearly 8 months. Then I began working as a waittress.
In contrast to being a real estate broker - I get paid each day for the work I do. I go home everyday with cash in my pockets, and nobody calls me at home in the evening to complain about their real estate problems.

Throughout these trying times I luckily rediscovered my creative self.

So this is where I am now. I work at the restaurant so that I can come home and work in my studio and create art and try to create a career through art. I just opened my ETSY shop, and have begun to put a few of my works up for sale.

We'll see where this path takes me. It feels right. It feels like the most genuine thing I can be doing. It feels like I am following my heart and my passion, and that can't be wrong.

This is Where I AM Now.

FINDING THE TIME

That's the hardest part isn't it? I mean, once I'm in my studio..the ideas are flowing (most of the time), the paints are moving, the paper is being cut and pasted, backgrounds created, layers added on, colors chosen, and art happens. Time flies by when I am creating in my studio. But getting there...? That's another story.

I work a varied schedule, sometimes days, sometimes evenings, sometimes both. When I have time off, it's just like all of you, I'm sure... there are meals to prepare, laundry to do, grocery shopping, errands, banking, bills, cleaning, dishes to do, dogs need walking...etc. I can easily look at the block of time I've got before me and decide that I've got time to do all of the above - but no time to get into the studio. And I like to get everything else done first, so that I can relax in the studio. Often I get everything else done and find there's no time left. So what's the solution?

Does anyone else out there find it very hard to create when you have small amounts of time? Like if I have only two hours to devote to studio time - I can't always get going. I get in there, get some ideas, start to get out paints and canvases...it seems like I just get into it and have wet brushes and wet paints, and sticky gel medium everywhere and in no time its time to stop. I've got to leave time to pick up a little. I don't want to leave my good brushes soaking in water for days...who knows when I'll get back here? And I find myself at work wondering...did I put the cover back on that new tube of white acrylic I just bought? Ugh!

So..it's a day to day process. My life is very much day to day right now. It's been a pretty tough last two years...won't go into detail right now - but ultimately - it got me to this point in my life. This point where I have a little studio space, I have rediscovered my creative self, and I know what I want to do now.

So I'm going to do it. I'm going to find the time - and then I know the time will find me too.

PS - turn off the television!!! (huge time waster)

Here's a piece I was able to complete last week;

It's called  'Remember Yourself'.


                                               ~Have a Creative Day!~