Monhegan From Pemaquid, 2012
I don't post nearly as often as I should. I haven't posted a word about the class I taught - and what it taught me. I will, pretty soon! But today, I'm packing for the retreat on Pemaquid Point. It's sponsored by the Pastel Painters of Maine, but they don't object to having me and my acrylics along for the ride. I went last year and it was wonderful: a little room in the Pemaquid Hotel and a big studio in the carriage house across the road.
What is it about artists - and writers - that we so often need to retreat from the world we usually inhabit? Our batteries seem to require a great deal of charging.
Speaking for myself, I find that working creatively both costs and pays a lot of personal energy. The getting-away thing is less about nurturing the creative mind than it is about shaking the Etch-A-Sketch to erase all the expectations that build up so quickly, about who we are and how we work, and how we allocate time.
So, I bid adieu for the weekend, to my family, and to the usual me. I'll open the windows, and let the sea breeze in.
"Can we come too?"
