Reed Calligraphy II in progress

Have you ever had an exercise schedule that you have been committed to, and then had a longish, unavoidable interruption to your routine? I think it's pretty common that when this happens, it's difficult to get started again. Even though you know it's good for you and that you feel 100% better when you exercise consistently, there are a million reasons why not to start again.

This is how it works when doing art, too (at least for me). For one thing, you forget what the heck you were up to, if you have an unfinished piece to start in on again. This problem is a piece of cake compared to having to start fresh on a new project after a long hiatus. That can be just plain terrifying. Whenever I can, if I know I won't be able to work for awhile, I try to have at least one painting in the works to jump back into.

What you see above is a painting I started last April. In fact, you can see a photo of me with it in my studio, on a blog entry way back on April 18. Since then, there have been all kinds of perfectly legitimate reasons not to work on it. I worked on another piece off and on, which was completed in June and is currently on display at the Curley School. Since then, I haven't worked in my studio at all. Period. Now I've run out of excuses.

But I can't remember quite where I was going with this piece. So today is the day that I'm going to prepare my palette and jump back into work again. Feels a bit like jumping off a 10 story building. Stay posted to see what happens.