Art Retreat Week!

Rarely do I have my house to myself.  In fact, in the 20+ years since my sons have been born, I have never had my house all to myself for an entire day.  Imagine my delight when my husband decided to go hiking with his friends for a week, at the same time my sons decided to take a trip to CA to visit their grandma!  Oh heaven!

I recently learned when my husband disappears for his rare trip to visit friends that I should use that period for focused art time.  At first I called it my art bootcamp, but that has morphed into the much friendlier (and more leisurely) art retreat week.  I start by entirely clearing my calendar for the week. With the exception of my morning trips to my dance class, I do not leave the house.  I also get all my food prepped as much as possible for the week, so I can have healthy things handy without giving it the slightest bit of time or thought.  One of my favorite things to do is make my salads ahead of time, so they are crisped and ready to dump in a bowl.  Add some chicken for lunch, and turn them into taco salads for dinner.  Done.  No food planning whatsoever!

I made a list of projects I want to work on with painting planned for my more energetic mornings and stitching for later in the day. I also made a list of art-related things that I've wanted to read, watch or listen to that I never seem to get around to.  I have a list of websites to browse, art documentaries on Netflix, old art magazines I want to revisit.  And that will be my week.  My idea of heaven!

And I finished stitching my August 2017 project.  This has not been my favorite palette, so I'm eager to start moving into deeper fall colors.