Art Store-ing, Creating & a frustrating day

First, as an artist that still works full-time at a "real job", I don't get a great deal of time to create...so, when I get an entire day off during the week, it's like gold.  However, when something like our heat pump being repaired comes up, it's a necessary evil to sacrifice some crucial studio time - unfortunately.

With that in mind, here's how my day went today.

I will preface this with that, I spoke with the Heat/AC repair person on Tuesday morning; well, technically my wife spoke with him first, as he called around 8am, and I was still dead asleep...until the phone rang that is.  We established that the repairs would take place on Wednesday, and that the person coming out for the service would call on Wednesday morning to tell me what time to expect them.  As I often do, I was up fairly late working on some sketches for a project on Tuesday night (still a secret if you happened to visit my Facebook page recently), and figured I didn't really need to be completely functional when they called the next morning.  To my surprise and chagrin I was awakened by the doorbell, which totally interrupted an awesome dream I was having about playing with a bunch of otters.  I gathered myself together as quickly as I could and answered the door, knowing full well it was the service guy...and it was.  So, thanks for calling.

Unfortunately because our dog, Gibby, doesn't care for anyone outside her "circle of trust", we have to isolate her when service people are at the house.  Either outside or inside, it requires constant monitoring on our part, especially for the service today which required them to continually come into the house and then back out to the heat pump.  Sure, technically I could have gated Gibby upstairs with me while I worked in the studio, but considering I had to come to the door dozens of times (for an assortment of things) it would have been quite a workout to hop the gate at the top of the stairs and then run down & back up the stairs.

I should also point out that it was never conveyed to me how long the repairs would take.  Clearly I assumed incorrectly that they would only take a few hours, leaving me with 5+ hours of studio time, as it took nearly 6 hours.  Ideally, I had hoped to swing by Plaza (an awesome art store about 15-20 mins. away) this morning after the heat pump repairs.  Really had my fingers crossed it would be done around 11am, and I could get to Plaza and back in less than an hour, make some lunch, & then start drawing up a storm the rest of the afternoon.  And, like I said...gold.  I was itching to create today, and it can be really frustrating sometimes to not be able to take advantage of the time.  Not really anyone's fault, just one of those things.

Once 4 o'clock rolled around, the heat/AC dudes were finally done & gone, and I was headed out the door to the ole art store.  I had created a short list of supplies to pick up the night before (cause, I'm a guy, and we don't screw around much when it comes to shopping).  Some drawing pencils (F, B), some watercolor pencils (ivory black), and a new pad of drawing paper (Strathmore Bristol, smooth paper).  I was in and out in about 15 mins.  Because I left the house around 4pm, arrived at Plaza about 4:20, and left the store around 4:35pm, I timed it perfectly to hit a fairly large portion of rush hour traffic on the way back home.  I also had to stop & pick up stuff for dinner from Kroger, so that further delayed my arrival.  All told, I believe I walked in the house around 5:05.

I unpacked the groceries, brought my art goodies up to the studio, and decided I would take out some of my frustrations the best way I know how (besides blogging about it haha)...throwing some weights around.  So, got in a quick workout in just over an hour, so that I would have enough time to whip up some dinner before the wifie would get home from work.

Anyways, that was my day in it's frustrating entirety.  And, you know what, I am not deterred.  I create as often as I can, as much as I can, with what time I have.  I will succeed at this one day.  It might take longer than I would like, but my resolve is stronger than ever, and my dream will not be crushed.

- Jason
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