February has been an insane month.   I began a new job at the beginning of the month.  Then this week, I began two other very part time jobs in addition to the day one.  All the while, I haven't been sleeping well and waking with a pinched nerve which makes for painful leg movement until I'm up and walking for a bit....due to the fact that my bed bit the dust.   New bed arriving next week.  

This has created much exhaustion.  I enjoy the jobs but they all happened at the same time which can be a little crazy-making.  I haven't had any any energy left over to paint.   But I've been dealing with getting my work out and about...again in Seattle, including shipping a painting to be part of an installation.

Hopefully I can touch the canvas tomorrow while in the studio.  This is the last painting I did almost 3 weeks ago.  It's 24"x18", oil on canvas.  

Early in the morning heading to work...

Monday, on Westminster St.   The shovel brigade.  :-)

About 10 am today I finally managed to get my car out and tooled downtown for a bit.  It's been raining all day and the temps are quite a bit above freezing.  As you can imagine, the streets and sidewalks are quite a mess.   Large slushy puddles and no room for the quick melting snow.

Photo taken on my way home after my quick little excursion.

Photos from a short walk I took last night.  Our street still isn't plowed.   SUV's and trucks can get through okay but small cars like mine keep getting stuck.  I may not be going anywhere tomorrow.  We shall see.

I'm hankering for a longer walk but don't have the boots yet.   For the last two weeks, I kept telling myself to buy snow boots but because I loathe shopping, I didn't.   This morning I ordered boots from Lands End and will be getting them in a couple days.   I want to explore my snowy white world on foot!

Beautiful morning on my street.  And folks are still digging out. 

More photos from Storm Nemo here in Providence RI, all taken around my home this morning.

It's 8:30 pm and we are about one third of the way through Storm Nemo.   Fortunately I still have power although 3 blocks away there is no power and College Hill is also in the dark.  Photo taken from my front door.

Thought I prepped yesterday until I realized I was almost out of peppermint oil.  It's fantastic stuff for keeping the mice away and I didn't want to run out during the storm.  So a rare Whole Foods trip this morning for the oil.  It was a mob scene but people, including the cashiers, were cheery.  Home to settle in and 3 hrs later realized I was dangerously low on half and half.  Trekked to corner store.  Then I turned into the liquor store to replenish the fireball whiskey.   My new Sunday gig with children's book author postponed until next week.   Three days of hunkering down and relaxing....with a little computer work, reading and drawing in the mix.  It was snowing early this morning.   Wind is picking up a little.  Still snowing.  

Normally when I do play paintings, they tend to begin as still lifes.  Yesterday, after working another painting, I didn't want to think about anything and so simply began quickly grabbing whatever color was on my palette and moved paint around.   It's like playing in a sandbox.  And the bourbon didn't hurt.  

30"x40", oil on canvas.

(Photo isn't very good.)

Today, after a short studio stint I came home to chill.  This afternoon I figured that I'd hit the gym during the Super Bowl because it would be quieter, hence perfect.  And it was.   But when I returned home I realized the game wasn't for another couple hours.   Clearly I am still on Seattle time.

Three years ago, on my 50th birthday, a good friend gifted me with a bottle of bourbon.  I hadn't opened it because I was waiting for the right moment.   Oddly, today just before painting I knew it was time.   I dug into my stash of still packed boxes in my studio storage closet and found a box labelled "kitchen stuff and bourbon".  There was the bottle, all safely packaged in loads of bubble wrap.

Sometimes the perfect moment isn't about trumpets and rainbows.  Sometimes, it just is.