Painting Withdrawal Syndrome

I haven't painted for three weeks.

And yet I am overflowing with art.

From Florida to Ohio to Italy to Ohio and back to Florida again.  Everywhere art.  The Cleveland Art Museum, the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, a wand-maker (more about him in another post), Tuscany, Cinque Terre, Florence, Rome, the Vatican, the street artists and street musicians and graffiti and food and fashion.  All art.

My head is bursting with ideas, colors and movement.  My body is weary and aching and done in.  My neck and back...well, we won't even discuss them.

painting withdrawal syndrome

I will go gently into my studio and begin to process all I have seen and tasted and smelled and felt and thought.  There is too much.  I don't know where to begin.  But I know that I will start.  Even these little sketches, scribbly and scratchy - pen on paper - a beginning.

Some extra strong Italian coffee might be just the thing I need.  Our bus driver, Mariano, kept a personal espresso maker on the bus.  Maybe my studio needs one, too?