I’m feeling a bit nostalgic today. This week I will start packing up my studio, print the rest of the blank shirts that are lying around, and figure out exactly what supplies are coming with me on the boat. Brian and I have a wedding to go to next weekend and, in addition, are making an early Thanksgiving trip to Virginia to see my parents and drop off the art supplies that will not be joining us on the boat. I have to be moved out of Sparks Studios at the end of the month and start helping Brian get the boat ready for our big sailing trip. The date is so close now that I am getting antsy. There certainly is a little more business to take care of at my studio, like another big panel that I am ambitiously trying to complete before the end of the month and a whole bunch of t-shirts to print for the gallery in Bluffton and to take with us on the trip. I am borrowing a hairdryer for this batch to speed it up!
Leaving the studio is a little bit sad for me, as it represents the new path I’ve chosen to follow as an artist. I’ve spent about as much time at my studio as I have on the boat over the past few months. It is my own little space to follow whatever inspiration or idea comes to mind, a place to think or be messy, to experiment, to be alone, and the place where I took my first real steps as an artist. I won’t say it was the ideal space for a painter (as the lighting was quite poor), but it suited my needs at the time and served me very well. Will I continue to practice art on the boat? I sure hope so, although I am not sure what medium will best serve me in such an unpredictable environment. I have a travel easel and plan to bring my sketchbook and some of my screen-printing equipment along, but there is no doubt that a few sacrifices will be made for the sake of space and practicality. We are talking about a sailboat here. In either case, I am hoping that this trip will encourage further artistic explorations with unexpected outcomes and I will continue growing as an artist. I suppose we will all just have to wait and see.
Also, in case you haven’t noticed, pictures of the panels have been uploaded into the Web-site gallery, except for the new panel I finished last week and the last one I am trying to finish up now.
*photographs courtesy of Ben Williams Photography.
