A wooden japanese teacup box filled  with treasures. 

                       

    Okay.  I admit it, I have been avoiding the studio this last week or so – I won’t say exactly how long – but long enough to be feeling some guilt.  Its just that, well – that inner critic has been rather active of late, the one that comes (usually) in a certain voice, with a certain cadence, repeating certain old phrases such as “lazy girl, quit wasting time with trying to do something you know nothing about,” or “Why don’t you clean up that mess and do something productive for a change,”  or “oh, so that’s what you were doing (long pause,)….. nice,” offered with a teeth only smile, and worst of all, “You know, girl, your sister is the artist in this family…” (not much you can say to that).   So I find a lot of good reasons to avoid going into the studio and  take a furlough, a brief time away, I tell myself – (which usually restores my inner creative faith) – but sometimes those little furloughs turn into very long times, even years, and I get a little worried when I withdraw.  So I start juggling reasons of great import as to why I must do other very useful tasks like: laundry; dishes; sorting junk mail; bookshelf reorganization; button sewing, etc.  Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing for, um, probably more like the last two weeks – I guess it’s sometimes difficult to tell the truth when it comes to studio doings, or in this case, non-doings.    Now the studio is a mess, and this is another very good reason to avoid finishing left projects.  Today I peeked in and thought it might be helpful if I just looked around and took some photos of my corners, and my junk, and things I need to clean-up.