it all started friday morning...early....way early...before the sun early...everything was assembled and waiting for me, having horsed & hauled it thursday night....my heaven: let the giggling commence. here is the building - or at least my view of 1/3 of it... it's a horseshoe shaped old factory. old. the patinaed wooden floors roller coaster and tilt as you creak your way down the halls...door after door, left and right, artists ensconced within, conversing with their muses - sometimes loud & angry, sometimes in reverent silence, sometimes as music plays...i watch the sun rise from the large windows at the end of my warren, and realize there are tears spilling over...gratitude gratitude. now - to address some blank canvases. where to start?? let's take a look at those materials, first... all morning long, a voice tumbled through my head - insistent ABSOLUTELY insistent to be heard "Don't drop your keys! don't drop your keys!" and i was pretty sure Someone was trying to tell me something other than keeping good watch over my keys. but what? as is my practice, i stood a short distance from the workspace & said a prayer of gratitude for the space & time to create, and asked that creativity flow through me for a productive day. as i bowed in respect to my workspace, my eye fell on a bright yellow book gifted me for christmas, Hafiz! i opened it to a random page and stuck my finger down...and i SWEAR to you this is the truth...the poem was called Dropping Keys. (page 206 if you don't believe me). well, nothing sparked me there, so i glanced to the right hand page, and there, there it was..."All the talents of God." "All the talents of God are within you," reads the first line. i didn't make it past that... a shiver and a great stretching smile later, i was busy at the table. i'd give you a peek, but blogger has suddenly (again) decided to be a bad child and not download pictures, so i'll try again later. but in the few moments i have left before starting the rat race, let me say that i made some of the best art of my life, and learned some crazy cool things about myself, and being cloistered and being creative and being social. more on that later, but well, well, blogger came out to play, so here's peek...not done yet, but almost... i came home each night unable to speak, i was so tired. my legs feel like concrete poles from standing so long...i went to bed by 8pm each night and slept immediately. i have never drank so much water in my life. i loved every second of every minute in every day i was there. the challenges, the ghosties, the moments of unbridled creativity...all of it. as i packed everything up, i had those 2 hours to just say thank you thank you over and over. now swept clean, studio 261 is ready for the next creative voice...a bow in thankful gratitude...and close the door quietly, and yes, hook my keys onto my beltloop.