Rained Out - Even though they predicted rain on day 2 of the Mystic Art Show, we convinced ourselves and each other it would hold off until after the show, not so much.

It is the unpredictable nature of life that makes it interesting. Perhaps there are those who plan their lives and are less surprised at what their future brings, but I am not one of those people. Don’t miss understand, I am not a person afraid of making a decision, leaving all to chance, but I also do not plan too far into the future. It just doesn’t occur to me. There are things I want to do and places I want to go and given the right set of circumstances I then take that leap. Right now, things are very much up in the air with our house being “on the market”. Even though we could be in this state for quite some time given the economy, things could also change rapidly at any point. That fact has also effected my ability to plan ahead and even to focus. Still it keeps life interesting.

When I paint, however, the whole world disappears. I get lost in the focus of what I am painting. I loose track of time. That is a good place for me to be, especially now. There is nothing else I have ever done that causes me to focus so intently. Maybe I should, or should have but I don’t think I’m capable with anything else. That is, perhaps, where the emotional attachment happens with a painting. We went there together. Following that is the excitement of looking at a finished piece and being happy with it. Of course that isn’t always the case, and sometimes it takes time for me to decide if I like it. But there is another joy, that is when someone else sees it and their face lights up. Now that really makes me smile.

So when people ask me if it’s hard to part with my paintings, I can say no, not really. I think that is why I enjoy doing the circuit of summer art shows. It is meeting both the folks that buy my paintings and those who just like to look. To know what about a painting appeals to them. When I hear things like, “I know just where I’m going to hang this”, it’s like an adoption of sorts. I know it will have a good home. That also seems foolish, but I think understandable. You never know what painting will sell where. That’s one of the stresses of packing to go to a show and part on that unpredictability.

So as I sit with the Portland, Maine art show coming up this Saturday, sitting in the back of my brain, its time to start working on the painting of the dingy’s I’ve been meaning to get to. It will be from a photograph I took on a trip to Wells Harbor Maine with some painting friends back in June. I completed a small painting while we were there started a larger one, which I subsequently scraped off (I’m not sure if I’ll return to that one) and took photos for future reference. Now it’s time to get to work, and to get lost….