Okay.....so as you know.....I moved into my studio space at Walnut Studios this week. It is a pretty exciting! I am excited and nervous! Read all about the move HERE! So I thought I would share with you all the things that went through my head on the first day in the new studio......please enjoy...... 7:45am - Get up (begrudgingly). 8:00am - Settle in front of the TV with my coffee and oatmeal. 8:30am - Get ready to go downstairs to the studio....oh F**K...I don't work here any more!!!! UGH! 8:31am - Consider the merits of going back to bed 9:00am - pack for my first working day in the new studio..... 9:01am - I am sure it is gonna be great! 10:30am- OH CRAP! WHY IS THIS TAKING SO LONG???? 10:32am- Why am I running so late already? 10:33am- What shoes should I wear at my new studio? Wonder if there are any online shoe sales? WAIT! Am I wasting MORE time? 10:37am- Okay, bags & suitcases packed, and 2 oversized bags of paintings....how hard could this be to transport!? 10:45am- Decide to take GO train, to save time, and because the ABJECT HUMANITY of the TTC when you are carrying a lot of crap is just TOO AWFUL to face. I mean ART - not crap..... 10:55am- Get all my crap lugged onto GO...oh...did I say crap again? I mean my life's fulfillment! 11:07am- Arrive at Union Station. WAIT! I HAVE TO CHANGE TRAINS TO CONTINUE WEST?? ARE YOU F***KING KIDDING ME??? 11:08am- lug all bags and luggage down 2 flights of stairs walk through Union Station, find the track I need - great - it is track 24 - and I am at track 3 - okay....lug lug lug your crap...oh....okay now UP the flight of stairs again..... 11:25am- Made it! Not inconvenient at all! 11:35am- Am at Exhibition Station.....totally worth it for a 10 minute ride...lug lug lug.... 11:45am - Gee.....this is a long walk to Walnut Studios..... 11:46am - Well...it is better and cheaper than a GYM membership! 11:48am - I hate this. 11:56am - There is a starbucks - I should get a Caramel Macchiato noon - REALLY ROB??? Why did taking all this seem like a good idea.....lug lug lug.... 12:08pm - ARRIVE AT STUDIO! Wow am I sweaty. But look at all this light in the studio: 12:09pm - So warm and bright!! 12:10pm - OH GOD!!!! WHY IS SO FREAKING BRIGHT IN HERE????? 12:11pm - I HATE YOU SUN!!!! I cannot wait until it is darker! 12:15pm - Okay....time to start a new painting. No more delays! 12:20pm - Wow. How long has it been since I have painted?? 12:32pm - YIKES....it has been almost 2 months since I have painted last! That has got to be a record! 12:33pm - WHAT IF I HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO PAINT???? 12:35pm - ENOUGH! Just do it lazy man. WORK WORK WORK!!! 1:09pm - LUNCH? 1:10pm - LUNCH? 1:11pm - LUNCH? 1:12pm - LUNCH? 1:15pm - LUNCH? 1:16pm - LUNCH? 1:20pm - LUNCH? 1:22pm - LUNCH? 1:24pm - OKAY FINE!!!!! I gotta eat.....I am not getting into the groove here at all! 2:00pm - "Back to the house of slavery" as my Dad used to day! 2:01pm - Why are all the other artists here chatting right now? 2:03pm - Need music.....all I can hear is other people's conversations...MUST....STOP....LISTENING....IN... 2:05pm: ....wait....what is he saying? 2:09pm - MUSIC! 2:11pm - "GIRLS....WE RUN THIS MOTHER.....GIRLS....WE RUN THIS MOTHER.....GIRLS....WE RUN THIS MOTHER....." 2:22pm - "AND I AM TELLING YOU.....I'M NOT GOING....YOU'RE THE BEST MAN, I'll EVER KNOW.....NO NO NO THERE'S NO WAY......" 2:30pm - Time for some Cher-apy.... 2:31pm - "If I could turn back tiiiiiime......" 2:40pm - When's dinner? 3:30pm - WOW....I am really making progress here! Way to be busy at work Robbie!!! 3:33pm - (answering a phonecall) "HEY!! No. I'm not busy! Ya....come on over - I would love to show you the new studio!" 3:35pm - take my picture for instagram.....make it took totally natural and spontaneous! 3:39pm - UGH...no.....not that one..... 3:49pm - NO...MORE NATURAL LOOKING!!!! 3:59pm - Ya...that's the one. It really hides my chins! 4:39pm - UGH...gotta get back to work. WHAT A DAY! 4:45pm - When is dinner....and what will WE HAVE? 5:00pm - "Hello.....it's me. I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet....to go over....everything.....they say that time is suppose to heal ya....but I aint done much healing....HELLO...." 5:05pm -Oh Adele.....how I love you.... 5:06pm - gosh - it is so dark......I wish I had the sun still.... 5:15pm - geez...I am feeling a little down now.....maybe I should go home...... 5:15pm - NO....everyone else is gone....but you need to stay until 5:30 at least..... 5:18pm - PACK IT UP CROXFORD! Your colours are getting MURKY! 5:35pm - waiting for King Streetcar. This will be better than my Go trip this morning!! FO-SHOW!
5:37pm - YIKES. The streetcar was too full to stop!! 5:42pm - REALLLLLLY??? THREE FULL CARS IN A ROW?????????? 5:45pm - Will walk to Bathurst and take streetcar North! 5:46pm - stupid commuting - does anyone else know what a nightmare this is??! 5:55pm - WHAT? Bathurst is a nightmare with all these cars!! Okay, I guess I will walk to Spadina - at least there is a dedicated lane for streetcars.... 5:56pm - Seriously - how do people do this everyday?? 6:02pm - REALLY?? A problem with the Spadina line? 3 streetcars in a row - just waiting......F**CK THIS MOTHER-F****** ******* ****** DAMN ****** F***ERS.....I guess I will walk to Union Station and take the GO home! 6:35pm - Home sweet home. 6:36pm - In pyjamas, eating pizza. SO THERE YOU GO! My whole day.
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ADMIT IT! JANUARY IS, LIKE, SUPER HARD! It can be challenging to get back your pre-holiday work rhythm! All the sweets and treats, all the visiting and cajoling, all the time off and time away, makes a person NOT want to get back to work. I call this Lazy Artist Syndrome. Thankfully YOU can't linger in a state of LAS for long - as YOU have a big bad boss, who is gonna crack the whip on yo' @ss! Well.....right now, I envy you. I am a self-employed person, which means my boss (who is a total whip cracking bitch during show season) is a little lackadaisical right now. NORMALLY, in January, I am gearing up for The Artist Project...a HUGE art trade show.....remember TAP? This is my booth last year: This year, I decided to NOT do this show - and I think it is this lack of a deadline that led to a serious case of LAS. I did TAP for an astounding 8 years.....and there were times in the first few years, that I thought I had "made it" as a professional artist! In fact, the first TWO years, I sold out my entire booth! WHAM-O BAM-O! Oh how I miss those days! At the time, I believed that the success would be everlasting....but many years later - I know that an art career is a very fluid thing. I NOW look at my illustrious artist career in the LONG RANGE. A few AMAZING YEARS - a few TERRIBLE years - neither of which necessarily defines my success! Last year at TAP, I heard a lot of: (insert a hipster 'been there - done that' tone) "Oh, I've seen this guy before!" THAT is not a great thing to hear, so I decided then and there to bow out of the show in 2016 to change things up! As a result, right now I cannot show you new work. I JUST CAN'T EVEN. There just isn't any. (LAS) BUT I can let you know that I am working on a bunch of new drawings, and have primed and readied a TONNE of new canvas! Also...in my defence...I am getting my studio packed up for my BIG MOVE to Walnut Studios in TWELVE days: That's right, in less than 2 weeks, I will be painting in a brand new space that I will be sharing with 40ish other artists. Here is the glamorous state of my space as it looked like last month: Now just imagine it filled to the brim with my art...and me! INSTANT BEAUTY!!! Why did I choose Walnut Studios? Well there are many reasons. 1.) TO ESCAPE THE BASEMENT. Truthfully, working in total solitude every day for years, has slowly transformed me into a anti-social mole man. It is not great for ANYONE to work in total isolation all the time! THIS is gonna force me to talk to lots of people! 2.) more space and more natural light 3.) a place to being clients! Ever since I left my last studio.... ...on Queen Street......I have found it IMPOSSIBLE to have clients over to see my work. I have felt a bit weird welcoming people into my home, and then having to take them into the dark and scary basement. "Oh, please come down.....pay no attention to that big hole in the ground with the bucket...." (YA - I was totally 'Silence-of-the-Lambs-ing' it!) An outside the house studio - solves that weirdness!
4.) There are some great facilities at Walnut! 5.) There is also a 'workshop space' that I can rent so that I can run some (SPOILER HERE) Rob Croxford art classes! Yes, I wanna run a couple workshops this year - a create art - have some nosh - have some laughs - workshop for my clients! Look forward to announcements about that SOON! THERE. FIVE great reasons for leaving the comfort of my home studio. Forging a new path of self discovery and artistic fulfillment in a strange new world! HELL-to-the-YA I am a little nervous! But I think that it will be a great opportunity for both me AND prospective collectors!!! RIGHT?????????? So there you go! Look forward to February's blog FILLED with new paintings.....and show announcements...and for now......as I get over my LAS and free myself from my mole-man habits.....be patient....BIG THINGS are happening here soon!! |
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