White Linen Night in the Heights of Houston

Someone told me, yesterday, I am sunny. That is a pleasant thing to say and I think it is important for each of us to be a light to the world, to the best we can be. I encourage it. Each of us has something like that in us but it is up to us to nurture it and recognize that healthy boundaries help to create peacefulness within ourselves.

I’ve been thinking, this year, about boundaries. What are they? Why are they important? Why do those around me seem so upset when I try to put boundaries in place? It’s exhausting to me, the work with boundaries, but ultimately fruitful. I am healthier for it. I am better in my presence. I am better to be around. In general, I am a better person with healthy boundaries.

It is difficult to backtrack and to put into place boundaries where none existed before. It is difficult to backtrack and to say, essentially, “Look, my rules have changed.” Right now, I am sitting against a pile of pillows on my bed and listening to jazz music. The music is very calming to me. I found it on a Nickelodeon site my youngest son was playing games on. The last game played was Tough Puppy: Unleashed!

I have been resting some and painting some, this week. I’m in preparation for First Saturday Arts Market, in the Heights of Houston, which is this time within a larger event titled White Linen Night (http://www.firstsaturdayartsmarket.com/). I am looking forward to this event. It is expected that 20,000 people will attend. I’m actually hoping to meet Joel Osteen at this event – you never know, it could happen 🙂

Boundaries, rest. Back to that. I’m living a quieter life, of late. I’m staying home more and doing less. I’ve been thinking of titling a blog “How my Concussion has helped me to Live in the Now.” I’ll save that for another time. It’s true, though, and I have thoughts about it tumbling around in my head. Which is exactly the way art should be. By the time art is created, it has been mulled over in the mind, percolating, being created.

Often, I’m asked how long it takes to create a painting. When I say three hours or eight hours, often I get the response, “Oh, you shouldn’t say that to anybody.” But I have no problem with defining the number of hours in painting though the total truth cannot be defined in hours actually painting. An Andrew Wyeth quote is a favourite of mine: I do more painting when I am not painting. It’s in the subconscious.

It’s the truth. Much of my painting is done before anything is on the canvas. Painting involves the quiet and solitude of a two hour bath, of time spent alone. Time where the imagination can get carried away uninterrupted. That is something important, I believe, to understand about art.

Recently, in Galveston, at the most recent ArtWalk, a lovely couple purchased one of my paintings. I thanked them, as I always try my best to do, for their support of my art. Support of my art helps me to continue what I am doing. While the wife was paying the gallery owner, the husband said, and seemed to have a strong understanding, that if I had an hourly job I would not be able to create like I am now creating. We talked briefly about how if I worked at Home Depot, for example, I would not be coming home at the end of the day to create the same quality of art or perhaps any art at all.

Thank you to those who have supported my painting. You are, in part, responsible for its existence. Thank you for helping me to provide for my family in this way. I appreciate your genuineness and I am so fortunate to meet many of you. I wish you all the best in your life. Thank you for bringing my art into your homes. It is touching to me that you have chosen to live with something I am destined to create.

I think of you often,

c.s.