Deciding when to spend time in the studio was not as easy as I thought. In the very early days I just drifted in and out of the room and whilst it made me feel very happy, it was not really productive.
I needed to work out a selfish, uninterrupted routine, just for myself. I quite envied my husband because he had found his routine very quickly and lived in a huge happy bubble, known as a Gap year. I actually found it hard to adapt. Making selfish choices requires some thought, because us women have to cast aside the constant desire to put family and their needs first. However, I can tell you once you get used to it , it does become easier.
I decided that I would be in the studio on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I let friends and family know and within a week or so, people generally avoided contacting me on those days. It was so simple to sort out. In addition my husband organised all the boring household jobs on those two days.
Each morning we continued to go off in our own directions, meeting up at the end of the day with a glass of wine. We could never have lived in each others pockets, or been tied at the hip. It is so important to have your own physical and emotional space.
Do for two days I would make a flask and sandwiches go into the studio, shut the door, light the fire and put on some music. For me that set the mood and placed me in a zone of mental and emotional calmness. That was and still is how I start my day in the studio.
My space, my time.
The next blog. Find out how listening to Woman’s Hour on Radio 4 played such an important role in influencing my art.