Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Taking a little break

I've had to take a little break from the barns and houses, getting quite sick of them. I was also getting quite sick of the colors of the walls in our house so I have been painting, cleaning, and moving furniture around for the past three days. I haven't been outside or slept very much, but the house looks great. I took all the curtains and shades off the windows and the light is pouring in and I painted the downstairs all a charcoal gray, which makes the pottery I have look even better. I took three boxes of junk to the thrift store and organized all my cabinets. I can't believe how out of hand this house got while I have been working on this group of barns and testing glazes. That's almost all I did this summer and have done nothing to the house. Next I'm moving to the upstairs, it's even worse, because I just kept moving things up there to be out of sight until I figured out what to do with it all. And then..... the outside trim has to be painted. It just never ends, but it's like we have a new house now!

5 comments:

Trish said...

If you need another little break, you can come to Alberta and paint my house! :)...and I'll feed you as well..lol!..'we' are trying to get some inside window trim painted....yes, a never ending job.Enjoy your fresh space.
Cheers. T.

Judy Shreve said...

Tracey -- I just went through the same thing. I painted, rearranged furniture, threw away tons -- At the time I was dissatisfied & frustrated with my (clay) work. But on the other side of that whirlwind, I am excited about my clay work again.

For me, It took getting away from being so immersed in my studio for a couple of weeks and - just staying completely focussed on something else - that let my mind quietly work out a direction I needed in clay.

Now I would have loved to have been laying on the beach somewhere instead of all the work I did on our house -- but the house is ready for the winter chill & I am happy in my clay work again.

I hope this is just a cycle for you too -- your barns are wonderful -- but I think, maybe you should add a few more things -- so you don't get barn burn out. Your sculptures and raku are very cool too.

Tracey Broome said...

Thanks Trish and Judy. Trish I would gladly come to Alberta to paint! and Judy, I was thinking while I was doing all this cleaning that I always go through this when I start to work on something creative. I have to clean the space around me before I can start anything, so maybe I was mentally getting ready for something new! I'm not really tired of the barns yet, it's just that there are soooo many of them right now!

ang design said...

it is spring after all....well here anyway 1st day and it rained!!! boring...

Monique said...

First the hair... then the cleaning, rearranging and painting...
My guess there are some new creative things on it's way! :-)
A break from creative work sometimes is the best you can do isn't it?
Love that picture, beautiful how it catches the light!
Enjoy your 'new surroundings'.