Being somewhat compromised as far as feeling good and painting goes I’ve been pottering about in the garden as a substitute, planning out where to put wood-chip pathways and planting herbs with my kids and their friends, who have been surprisingly good helpers with a minimum of attitude and even some enthusiasm here and there.
Monday the wood chips will arrive in a big truck, ready for us to transport into the back garden where they will hopefully do a great job preventing anything growing where I don’t want it to. Wonder if it will even stop the ivy? That would be good.
I’m posting this here because I actually find a lot of good ideas come as a product of working in the garden. There’s something very satisfying about working with dirt that feeds the imaginative processes of the mind. I value it very much. I particularly like herbs because they are profoundly forgiving, growing in bad dirt with little water, but with such a major impact on cooking.
Laying out the garden in a satisfying manner is immensely satisfying too – my soon to be teenage son is particularly into it, and very excited about digging the next herb bed out of the old lawn. it’s wonderful to have such a good project to work on together.
I might have to move a canvas over to the house for a while, because it’s difficult to find studio time when I have the kids here. If I set up a little space in the garage to paint in then I will be able to work while they play.
