Struggling. Failed to meet the goals I set for this afternoon. So I’m sitting on the couch. Watching the time tick by. I wanted the afternoon to “feel right” and now it doesn’t because I messed up and now nothing “feels right.” And now I’m sitting here, spiraling down this mental landslide of everything I’m doing wrong. What do you do when you feel this way? How do you get yourself to move when this happens?

Thanks. I do have art class tonight. I don’t want to go. I will go. I wish I wanted to go. If that makes sense lol.

@Alyosha Yes, it makes sense. I'm glad to hear you're going anyway ☺.

I’m going to wash some laundry. I can accomplish that. I can accomplish laundry.

@Ben84 I’ll probably enjoy it once I’m there, even as exhausting as it will be.

@Alyosha That always feels good afterwards!

@Alyosha If you don't mind me asking, is it the social aspect or doing the art aspect that you find exhausting?

@Ben84 Aw man...I forgot the laundry had a lot of “contaminated” items in it. And they all touched me. I want to change and shower so I don’t contaminate the art class.... 😂😭. I won’t shower. We’ll see about changing... It’s the socializing that is exhausting.

@Alyosha I can do laundry a lot easier than I used to, but I still feel like I have to be "careful". I hear you on the social part. If you're like me though, you're stressed if you have to talk to people, but sad if no one talks to you 😂.

@Ben84 Ha! That is definitely how I feel.

@Alyosha “please pay me attention...ok that’s too much...wait, come back.”

@Alyosha 😃

@Ben84 So thanks for talking to me. I would have felt sad if nobody had.

@Alyosha You're welcome. Enjoy your art class ☺!

@Ben84 Thanks! I did. It was a lot of fun.

When I paint it’s usually in acrylics. I’ve done some watercolor and tempras, but I’ve actually never done oils. I usually think of myself as a sculptor first, but I absolutely LOVE drawing: pencil, charcoal, and pen&ink (which you can still paint with, but even then, can still call it a drawing, lol.). When I finally got my bachelors, I did half my thesis in sculpture and the other half (which was nearly a second complete thesis, because ya know, OCD can make ya driven too) was “drawing”. The drawing part was pen and ink on fabric that was going to become a quilt, and a “drawn” portrait in white thread, machine sewn with all sorts of fancy stitches, on white fabric. Since early on of Covid hitting USA, I’ve been using my machine to sew masks instead of for my art. Still feels really great, but I do miss my more creative work. Gotta get that balance back.

Since you love graphite and charcoal, do you also really enjoy going through stacks of papers in art stores? Especially the print-making ones for drawing. 😋 Good paper is so sensual. I wonder if its big expensive just adds to its specialness.