A Lesson on Play

I taught at CREATE in Chicago and was traveling from August 23-26. I knew that once I got home I only had about 10 days to finalize my paintings for the St. Louis Art Fair. Usually I try to give myself the proverbial day off, but it just didn't happen after Chicago.
Monday was a catch up/laundry/paperwork day and then I headed into the studio on Tuesday, all full of energy, ready to paint up a storm and hopefully complete some more pieces.
Ahem.

Best laid plans.
I had a horrid painting day that left me in tears, yeah, even after all these years I remain thin-skinned.
Facing Wednesday I was morose. Julie and I had a group of friends coming over to hang out and to be honest I was dreading it. I wanted to see my friends (duh) but I reallyreallyreally needed to finish some paintings and I knew that was highly unlikely in a group setting.
Ahem.

After much soul searching, I gave myself permission to play on Wednesday.
I entered the studio with absolutely zero plans. My friends arrived. I puttered around with some of my small pieces, ones I had previously prepped. Everybody started doing their own thing, conversations buzzing.
I picked up a 6x6 and started futzing with it, laughing and talking all the while. Hmmm, it looked kind of nice. Grabbed another, then another and poof! Before I knew it I was into a lovely rhthym and I completed some of my smaller pieces.

All while I was playing......