I was away such a long time. Back in the 2000's (the ots, as I heard the other day) I spent a lot of my free time painting. I was needing to heal from some very serious professional difficulties and art was the way I recovered from it. It was also the fuel for my eventual redemption.
It's been ten years since I picked up any kind of art making stuff. The 2010's for me were all about other things. Getting our kids through high school and up, up, and away to college and beyond. I built a whole side career as a local musician. Dealing with the infirmity and eventual passing of my beloved mother. Music hasn't run its course with me but I'm well over the hump of learning the basics of the craft.
Now I'm on the cusp of getting out of the work for pay world. I'm soon going to become a pensioner, a semi-retired gentleman of leisure. I'd long planned on a return to making art and doing it for real, with full force, actually spending the time required to do something serious. This is where I'm starting.
So the last couple of months have been largely experiments, getting my technique back, hauling out a vast pile of old things I've made and going through them, putting stuff up for sale, making plans for this activity as a commercial enterprise. I'm close to 60 and I just hope the fates grant me a good 20 to 25 years before I start to shut down physically. Who knows how much time is left.
But I do know this. I'm back and this time, I'll be here until the end of the show.
