Hello again. Here I am. Welcome back. I needed a break. I took a spontaneous month off from blogging and I learned a series of lessons centred around a common theme:
You are what you spend your time on.
As complicated + simple as that little idea is - it's been a rocket-science type reminder for me this summer. PROFOUND. I took a look at my schedule and shuffled things until I could appropriately answer the question "If-I-died-tomorrow-what-would-I-want-on-my-tombstone?" The truth is I don't want it so say "she blogged daily". I love blogging and the connecting + sharing it has brought to my life. I truly do. BUT, I want it to say "she was a painter". So I shuffled (and am still shuffling) life around until it resonates with my heart.
The result? I did so much painting in August there is no longer any room to walk in my studio. That's not a joke. It's good. I'm bursting with inspiration + gratitude. There aren't enough hours in the day to get my ideas on canvas - it feels like they are flying out the window. The walls in our home are FULL. And that feels pretty darn liberating. I have a big art show on the horizon and a stack of canvas 5 feet high. It also feels like I'm living my life to the full width - and not just length.
So happy.
Today: my ARTshop will be closed starting at noon CST. It will be closed for about 2 weeks so that I can sort through my studio and decide what newness I can bear to part with. Out with the old and in with the new! I am in the midst of a million mini-transformations and that means a million mini-changes to way things work around here. I will be blogging my best and trying to keep up with all of the exciting things going on in this filled-to-the-max studio. It's good. I will also be sharing daily via Instagram (@kalbarteski) for more "real time" peeks at how life + paintings collide and what kinds of things just might be new around here.
Change is good. It was time.
GO!
