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We are going through sickness again here. I think that when you have 6 people in a house, with most of them going to places (work and school) where there are a lot of people, this is bound to happen. But I am really getting tired of it. I am stocked up on Lysol wipes and we use antiseptic hand gel on a regular basis, but it doesn't seem to really help. So that gets me down.

The new issue of Art Calendar Magazine arrived, and I was going "yippee yippee!" because that magazine always tends to get me pumped up and positive and I really needed that boost.

The latest issue is mostly about art for public places (sculpture and such) and exhibiting your art in corporate spaces - so most of the magazine this month isn't geared for me, but I try to read it all anyway, because you never know where a useful tidbit of information will come from. This issue also goes into "Creating a Studio to Envy." That sort of depressed me more. My "studio" is a large art board. I have a corner of the living room where I work, but very often I just use the art board and get comfy on the couch and work with some music playing or the TV on.

One of the best articles each month in the magazine is written by Jack White. In this issue, he discusses how he decided one day to be an artist, but he had never even doodled! His wife thought he had gone insane. That Christmas, their kids didn't get any presents except candy and fruit. It was a dismal time, but he goes on to explain that an artist needs to lock himself or herself away to produce art, saying,

"When you made the choice to become an artist,
you committed yourself to a life of solitary confinement.
That is, if you plan on being successful."

I think that is so true. Most artists are creative people, and therefore, everything seems so interesting (and distracting!) to us. I must work really hard to not be distracted from my work. I keep the phone nearby when I'm working, and I'd rather not, but I place it so I can see the Caller ID ... I might need to answer it if it is the school calling saying a child is sick, for example.
My friends who call know which days and hours I have childcare, and I've told them I must work during that time. However, when my kids keep getting sick, they can't go to preschool, and that destroys my working time. That can be very frustrating, but I know my job as a Mom is the most important one.

Oh, by the way, Art Calendar magazine has a great site called Art Scuttlebutt. Here is my page on ArtScuttlebutt.com. If you are an artist and you join, be sure to add me to your Friends list!