Sleepless in Chicago

I may be losing a lot of sleep this week. As I mentioned in the last post, I'm about as busy as I've ever been, so if I'm going to fit this in, it's going to be during the sleeping hours. You see it's Halloween time and I've got to make some costumes. Not just any costumes, mind you. No! I've got to spend hours and hours designing and modifying patterns and discovering the best fabrics and materials to make my kids into the dog or the mouse or the cat or the warrior queen they want to be this year. Then comes the cutting and stitching and sculpting and gluing and trying on and adjusting and back to the table for more cutting and stitching and sculpting and gluing until occasionally it's perfect, but more often I'm out of time and I pop the kids into their costumes and they promptly stomp in a mud puddle or something.

It may seem strange, but I really enjoy the process. It could be I'm into pain, but I prefer to think that I'm innately creative and the process of making something out of piles of fur and glue and clay fires me up enough to make it all worth doing.

That, and I work best when I'm up against a deadline. No deadline and I can drag things on for years. I recently painted a portrait of a friend's daughter and her horse. I asked my friend when she wanted it done and she said, "Oh, don't worry about that." 6 months later, I saw what was coming. I begged for a deadline! She said, no no. It's fine. Whenever. 2 years later, with her kid at least 5 inches taller and the horse long since sold to someone in Florida, I finally deliver that painting. She loves it, but it made her miss her old horse.

Now Michael, my partner, is a planner. Deadlines make him edgy, but he can live with them. With no deadline he shines. He picks a project and works on it daily without fail over weeks, months or years even. Very impressive.

Maybe it'll rub off.