Künstlerin Inside

Yesterday I started packing. I am moving again. So soon. But this place on Christburger was always meant to be temporary anyway. And now I have another temporary place to stay in. A sublet from my friend Doug. Just 4 blocks from here. The good thing is I don't need to learn a new neighborhood. Which is nice to think. His place will be a live/work situation. A nicely sized studio off the bedroom. It is homey but also a bit raw on the edges. Perfect. It is those types of spaces that feed my creativity. Too nice of a place and it doesn't seem right to work in; too raw and its not comfortable. But this has the right mix. And if that weren't enough it has a rust-colored couch. The clencher. deal closer. Every studio I have had in school - undergrad, grad - have all had a rust colored couch. It is a requirement. Like needing lots of light. Though I tend to prefer a cave with light. a contradiction but if you saw this place you would understand. It is removed from the street. Set back in. a place to retreat. And on break from painting I can look across the way, at the painter neighbor. straight into his window and see him stepping back from his easel. To pause, reflect and then start in again. And then I will take a sip from my hot, jasmin tea and start in again too.

I am not sure why I started packing. I am paired down to one large suitcase and one smaller one - freeing and humbling at the same time. I don't move until November 1. But I am excited to move and the closer I get to this date, this place the closer I get to painting again. My supplies come in the next week or so from Chicago!

And maybe sometime I can meet the painter across the way. Doug or I, one of us, suggested I make a sign for the window. Künstlerin Inside. But then we decided Painter Inside sounded cooler. Or was it Painter at Work? But this man seems pretty absorbed in what he is doing to actually look out the window and up at mine...we'll see. But at the very least, other people in the neighborhood will know.