Early Morning Practice

This season of life brings a lot of new things. One of those is painting with more consistency. Another pastime we enjoy is watching our sixteen year old twins participate in their various sports. Both are very competitive, athletic and committed to multiple sports. We love watching them play and compete.

Since they entered high school they have had early morning practices that begin sometimes as early as 7am - sometime even earlier depending on the sport. This often creates transportation challenges but sometimes the inevitable gaps in time that emerge while driving them around create opportunities. Some evidence of this is found in my early morning painting practice I engage in typically twice per week.

This practice has developed easily as a natural way to "fit painting in" to a busy schedule and it also allows me to save on gas. This is a biproduct of the fact that the scenes I paint are often closer to their practice fields than our home. This is nearly a complete win-win-win! Once I set up and am ready to paint, I set my timer on my phone so I can rest assured that I will arrive on time to pick them up and head home.

Much like how I used to feel after a long run or intense workout, after each painting session I feel recharged and ready for a productive work day -- Even if I am not happy with the results achieved during my painting session.

The day may come when I have more time to paint. Maybe the future will offer fewer tasks to manage in order to squeeze in time to paint. For now, I am grateful for the time we spend at the field, on the pitch or at the track. The memories, the privilege of witnessing their growth and spending time with our kids during the rides to and from practices and games is more valuable than an original Van Gogh painting.

Cheers! Enjoy the rest of Summer!