It’s a long story. You know, getting through winter, even a mild one requires ingenuity and persistence. When I had a real job I didn’t have time to think about it. It was up at 5:00, school at 6:00, kids at 7:30, lunch at 11:00; when I took care of personal business, kids go home at 2:30, take a 15 minute nap then lesson plans, check papers-enter grades, set up lab for the next day, telephone-talk to parents, update computerized progress reports, read ahead in text and screen outside reading assignments, organize my work station and turn out the lights between 6:00 and 7:00; never, ever take school work home. After a short ride home, grab a bite and decompress for a couple of hours. Next thing you know the alarm goes off and it’s second verse, same as the first.
But I don’t have a real job; I have to improvise, fake it. I can’t do everything I used to do but then I wouldn’t if I could. Still, at the end of the day, I want to feel spent. Right now I’m putting together a show of my photographs. The show will hang from mid March through mid April in the gallery at All Souls Church in Kansas City, MO. I try not to take myself too seriously but I get very serious when it comes to my work. Now days I work at writing, telling story, creations in the wood shop and for certain, my photographs.
I decided to make my picture frames, three different sizes, all 26 of them. It saves me a lot of dead presidents but more important it gives me work to do. I can only make two or three at a time so when I’m sanding the finished frame, getting ready to paint, I start thinking about what I’ll do while the paint is drying, three coats. I don’t want to saw or sand while paint is drying, Duh! So this morning I decided to journal. If it doesn’t turn ugly and I stay positive I can post it on the blog. I have ten photographs matted, framed and crated with six frames ready, two more still drying, waiting on a 3rd coat. The prints themselves are safe in big envelopes, separated by dividers and handled with white gloves. My living room has cases of mat board, foam core board and three crates for finished work that are starting to fill up. The dining room table is stacked full of conservation museum glass and I can barely get to the window to open and close the blinds.
To be honest, I do miss the kids (students) but I like this job more. It takes probably five years, maybe a decade to learn how a particular kid turns out. When you finish winding the hanger wire and turn the frame over, you know immediately. It’s not perfect, nothing’s ever perfect but it works. It’s a great motivator, I want to go back downstairs and start sawing again, or throw my camera bag over my shoulder and go out the door. I don’t need to know where to look for good lines and edges, strong shapes and vibrant color but I know it when I see them. I think the paint is dry by now. I can get that 3rd coat on and then go find a very small brush roller for touch up work. I haven’t touched the guitar in over a month and that’s not good but we’ll go there again after the show is hung.
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