Artistic Frenzies, Laughter, and Rejuvination

I painted today (well, yesterday) for 7 1/2 hours.

I don't mean I just painted a wall white, and I don't mean I painted for a while then took a break then painted...

I mean I got caught up in a creative frenzy painting a mural for scenery of a play at my church...

I spent 7 1/2 hours... one paint brush in one hand working on the canvass, one clenched between my teeth and two more tucked between my fingers in the hand holding a paper plate as a pallette, mixing colors and bending and stretching and shading and highlighting and detailing...

I was in an altered state of consciousness, completely oblivious to time and space, nothing existing but me and colors and canvass, paint splattered on me like the ritual decoration of some tribal warrior with a mind focused only on the battle.

It is relaxing and exhilerating to get caught up in an artistic frenzy like that... if I could do that every day, I wouldn't think much about food and be too tired to eat at night.

So I got home and didn't feel like working or anything; I ate a bowl of cereal for dinner and dozed on the sofa while the kids were watching some tv and running around getting ready for bed. They woke me up to kiss me good night and I realized my back, shoulder and painting arm were killing me.

Oh, don't get me wrong, it was totally worth it... but killing me nonetheless. So I popped a quick asprin.

Maybe it's because when I get caught up painting like that it's like sex, some kind of creative orgasm, I felt like having a ciggarette.... but of course I haven't smoked in 4 months and am not about to start again now, so I decided to just veg out on the couch and watch TV and try not to think about it.

I watched some documentary about an artist/anthropologist who went to live with tribal cultures where male homosexuality was as normal as having a poker buddy, and where they practiced cannibalism until even very recently. It was pretty interesting.

Then I put on some old episodes of the 70's sit-com "Soap" on Netflix live stream... and Oh My Goddess did I laugh and laugh and laugh.

And after all that creativity and all that laughter I feel so relaxed and rejuvinated. I wish I could just take a hot bath to top off the night but I have to clean the tub-- I only like to take baths just after the tub has been well cleaned-- and I'm feeling too lazy to do that (besides, it's on the chore list for Friday, and it's not my turn).


Speaking of baths, I was looking through an old Scott Cunningham book for an incense recipe, Incense, Oils and Brews, and came across a dieters bath. It looks good, but my only objection is he recommends doing it twice a day for 2 weeks... wow, that's a lot of bathing, tub-cleaning and not to mention my electric bill from all that hot water will shoot up a good 50 bucks next month. But I am considering it. But you have to start it 2 nights after the full moon, so I have a month to think on it.

So anyway... I recommend to you, if you love an art-- drawing, painting, dancing, playing music, drama, writing, photography, scrapbooking, or whatever it might be-- and if you haven't done it in a while, take some time and get creative. Sometimes it seems like there is too little time to fit such hobbies into our day or week, but the thing is when we do we feel so good and relaxed that it makes getting all the other jobs done a bit easier and more pleasant.

And I also recommend renting or buying Soap on DVD and having a good night of laughs!

Bright Blessings...