Underwhelmed

Dolly, today's studio helper. She's naturally nosy and came to see what I was doing with the power sander.

Now that I'm back in the studio with too many projects I realized that in my funk I had forgotten one of the most important things about my paintings. My mantra! The chant that I perform before adding paint to canvas. Sometimes I write it on the canvas itself. I can't believe I forgot!

"God in me is my ability to prosper and to do good. And so it is."

I change it from time to time, but the message stays the same. When I thought of it this morning it was good to hear myself laugh. Then with confidence I added the stroke of paint that would make or break the painting. I have sent off an image of it for approval, so we'll see.

I've worked on four mockups today, for a nine foot square painting. I'm not really happy (underwhelmed) with any of them, but again, I've sent off images to my client.

I did one more important thing today -- go get fake fingernails. I had acrylic nails for many years. Last March when I was ready to go to France for the month long residency, I had them removed. Ever since then I have had thin brittle nails that continually split into the nailbed. They hurt and looked terrible. So I went back to see Henry today, and now have nice strong nails. Nothing fancy, just normal.

This afternoon I am sorting through my camera equipment in preparation for the weekend in Washington. There's a fine line between taking too much and not taking what you need. I never can figure it out, but I'm getting better. I bought two new 4gb cards so memory won't be an issue this trip.