How About Painting?

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, on a fine June Saturday morning.

I am off my regular running schedule this week---surely I can blame it on the midnight ride home from Chicagoland (Hinsdale Art Festival) last Sunday. I try to run M-W-F, but when the car parks in the garage post 1am on Sunday, you KNOW how Monday morning feels. So this week is a T-T-S kind of week. And because I'm already going about it weirdly, it seemed only logical to make the Saturday morning portion of that running program a little different as well. I added some distance. I didn't say lots, I said some. And the last portion of it was up what the town of Jefferson claims as a hill. (Jefferson doesn't know hills very well) Anyway, I felt the difference. My feet were just barely coming up off the street, I'm pretty sure. Is it possible to run flat? I don't think my side profile was very attractive, and definitely it was not good form. (never is) But I pushed, and I made it back into the driveway. The garage was once again a welcome sight.

A week ago, for some odd and unknown reason, I went some extra distance on Monday. Do my feet have built in odometers?---somehow they knew because Wednesday and Friday's normal distance was a breeze. It causes me to ask theis question: If you push extra hard on one day, does the normal routine seem easier, IS it easier, on subsequent days? And does it apply to more than just running? How about painting?

If I put an oversized canvas up on the easel, and start adding paint, does that 20 inch canvas seem easier when I get back to it? If I do a commissioned painting for someone, and then get back to painting whatever amuses me, is it easier?

What about signing up for a new class? I did that, and this past Tuesday was the first day. About halfway through, I realized I was thinking of the regular figure drawing group at Ames (Iowa State University), and even the previous one up at Okoboji (Pearson Lakes Art Center). It would have felt like old-home-week to be back in either of those groups rather than working to adjust to all that was new and different at the DesMoines Art Center class.

So, how about painting? Is it good to push for some extra distance? I think I just answered my own question. And it's affirmative. Thanks for stopping by.

And if anyone is wondering, I'm working on a cool painting of two people with their bikes by the lake. Hopefully a posted image is in our near future.

Later, Cooper