Spring Break, 2008

It seems every year, after my teaching begins in late summer, I go into a social "hibernation". Thus, no work on my site or this blog. It's Spring Break now, a time for reflection, a time for all public school teachers to rest and try to figure out how to make it through to the end of the year.
I had a dream last night that someone gave me some rooms at the top of a very old building. There were two rooms, very grandmotherly, with fireplaces, oriental rugs, comfy soft sofas and chairs, dark curtains. A baby was crawling around, with messy excrement I had to clean up after...I worried about the rugs. The rest of the house was the same, two or three sitting or sleeping rooms and a kitchen. My first thought was, "ah...peace & quiet...sleep...hibernation", then I thought "where will I teach the kids? what about an art studio? it's too dark." I made plans to have rugs put into bedrooms, have some furniture I didn't need taken away, paint two big rooms white and take curtains down for light, set up classroom and studio. Leave part of the rooms dark and old and quiet.
What a metaphor for me! An answer or good advice: it's ok to hibernate, go to your "cave" for renewal, but you also need some bright open airy rooms for art making and teaching.
My two latest paintings I can analyze from that: A dark room looking out into bright sky with bird flying out the window. A child sleeping in a dark room: My Spring Break paintings.
CATCH UP (in a nut shell): Art Marketing class has been wonderful. We have a show coming up together in Ft. Worth in a swanky gallery (Oct.). This brought me back to making larger paintings. And back to canvas (to avoid the framing dilemma). I hope to have ten paintings to choose from.
I went to an art retreat earlier this week:
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/debdidit/) Out in the country, at a B&B with an art studio across the road. We slept, ate good food, made art, took walks on long country roads. I came back depressed that I couldn't live like that always. But, painting and sleeping here, before I go back to teaching in a few days, has turned me back to my own life and reality. I'm going to start up yoga again, and perhaps get some centering. As long as I paint, I'll be fine.