Tra La It's May - Resolution Time

YOU must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;
To-morrow ’ll be the happiest time of all the glad new-year,—
Of all the glad new-year, mother, the maddest, merriest day;
For I ’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I ’m to be Queen o’ the May.

                                                             Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Only I don't plan on dying at the end like this girl in the poem did. I plan on dancing o'er the fields. Or at least watching the wheat dolphins gambol through the wheat on sunshiny afternoons, walking with my dogs.

If it ever stops raining.

The month of April felt exactly like you'd expect a month with, not one, but TWO!!!, eclipses. It was stretched, busy, strange, complicated and demanding. I am ready for a sweet soft sunshiny May and today, at least, the weather dot com guys say it will stop raining. That's good enough for me.

In April I resolved to clean out at least one knee wall closet and tidy up the Heap-0-Clutter in the corner of the guest room. I accomplished the minimum if one counts beginning to tidy up the H-0-C. It is better. It is not done but it is better.  And now that the room has AC (we still can't get over the idea of air conditioning at TheCastle) I can continue to plug away at that corner. Perhaps I shall be in a position to sit at a desk and write my Christmas cards come this December. Is this the glimmering of a goal?

So what will be May's resolution? Ah well. My inner artist has been clamoring for attention this winter - and in fact, I've been drawing a good bit recently. But that inner artist (mostly my wild child right brain) has been longing for the structure of real art practice (mostly my school marm left brain)    And so, for May, I plan to put in one hour of drawing practice a day. 30 minutes of drawing technique and 30 minutes of whatever I'm in the mood for. It can be More Technique or something more free form.

In another life I was a performing violinist and I know that scales and exercises are the foundation for all the concertos. I am sure that technique practice plays the same role for paintings that those scales do. Those to brains need to get together, pool their talents, and make some progress.

Yes. Of course there will be pictures.