At Loose Ends
Inspiration in Not Doing
I just finished a painting commission which took a very long time to complete, interrupted as it was by my serious injury and confinement in a neck brace. As a consequence, I could not paint or do any physical work or even drive, so the commission had to wait. Luckily, the customer is an old friend who is patient and understanding and was not put off by the three-month delay nearly as much as I was. The thing that kept my spirits up was a solo painting exhibition scheduled many months before. While I had to give up my plans to create a lot of new work for it, I could certainly pull together what I had already done and contribute paintings from my stock to create a new show from those.
That exhibition has now closed. I am now in that wonderful creative space where I don’t have any pressing deadlines, haven’t yet decided what to work on next, and the world feels open and pregnant with possibility. Shall I paint a series of summer garden florals from …
