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Old 12-16-2005, 01:17 PM   #7
Steven Sweeney Steven Sweeney is offline
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Location: Stillwater, MN
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Pat,

Resentment has a lot to do with having your head someplace other than where your body is. If I think about painting while I'm at work (in a noncreative occupation), and then think about work demands while I'm trying to move ahead on my artwork, I'm miserable all the time.

The Zen guys remind us, "When walking, walk. When eating, eat." Meaning, try to not always be thinking ahead to what you're going to have or wish you could do later, or thinking back to what you wish you'd done before. Similarly, "When working, work. When painting, paint."

(Besides, a lot of problems are being "worked on" in your unconscious, even when you're not focusing on them, so don't worry that you're not painting during the day, for in a way, you are. I used to be asked when I found the time to write, and I honestly replied, "I'm never not writing.")

That will help with the resentment. I can't tell you how to add any hours to the day, though I wish I could. I'm at my desk around 6 a.m., rarely leave before 6 p.m., have a one-hour commute and the dog to walk and snow to shovel. I'm actually using a vacation day today to try to catch up on some framing and canvas repairs (fire damage), taking a break while glue and varnish dries.

I can count on two fingers the artists of my acquaintance who don't rely on income from a day job, theirs or their spouse's, to make a go of it, and they're both better artists than I'll ever be.

One cool thing about the day job is that, here I am homebound on a snowy beginning to a three-day weekend, the dog curled up at my feet -- and my employer is paying for it! That never happened when I was trying to make ends meet in a studio.
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