I laugh when I look at pictures of myself in the studio and see that I wear the same clothes all the time. My favorite is my artmaking apron. It’s a terrific apron, made from a pair of denim overalls. I won it in a Christmas gift exchange in my art quilt group several years ago. I have added a good crunchy layer of paint to the front of it, built up in layers and from many days of artmaking.
Today I traded in this apron for my cooking apron, the one my daughter created for me. It has great big pockets, a dinosaur across the bottom and it is lined in a pattern of screen printed fish. I was chopping and stirring today, part of the kitchen team with my Rotary Club, preparing to feed over a thousand guests tomorrow and raise a lot of money for local causes in our annual Wild Game Feast.
What different enterprises. Working alone in the studio. Working in a team with a service cub. I like them both.
Things that are completely different can both be interesting and pleasing.
In my studio, I go back and forth between playing Mozart or Beethoven and Elton John or Paul Simon.
I am drawn to vibrant, intense colors. And sometimes a simple, subdued palette of grey and white will just take my breath away.
I love abstract art. It simply fascinates me. But it’s not what I create. And I can completely enjoy a simple, well-rendered still life of a tea cup.
I work well alone, and — if circumstances keep me away from my studio work for a few days —I long to be there creating, all by myself. But I’m also fulfilled by working in the fast-paced, close contact environment of a first grade classroom, or the shoulder-to-shoulder camaraderie of a service club project.
We are diverse and intricate creatures. We are filled with different and seemingly conflicting needs and desires. We are both curious and complacent.
Before stopping to compose this post, I was reading a great book of poems. It has filled me with appreciation of details and diversity and depth and rhythms.
And tomorrow morning I will put on my dinosaur apron and head back to the feast site and immerse myself in that very different kind of creative endeavor.
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This blog post ended up being more words than pictures. If you are in the mood to look at some pictures, may I recommend my you-tube videos? There are a number to see and they show works in progress. I hope you enjoy!
Becoming One With the Night (My newest Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3t8B_17flM
Bobbi Baugh Studio Channel w Multiple videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHLOZMw29FpPrgr0cyBbxrw