When I had another look at the actual pebble that I painted on yesterday evening, rather than a photo of it, I kind of re-evaluated my view of it. The photo distorted my view of the size of it and, in the photo version, the blocky-ness of the blue was very evident.

The pebble is pretty small in reality. Here it is in my hand, and compared to an egg.

When I looked at it in its proper size context I kind of wondered how I got all those dots on it. Then I realised that, when I was painting it, I was in some sort of zone. The pebble, the paints and the brush were all there was. No other thoughts. So, I’m happier about it now. It’s not disappointing. I’m quite pleased with it really. Some of the things I do end up looking crap. But this isn’t one of them.

I’ve mentioned sleep before in this blog. Sleep and I have an uneasy relationship. I’m a light sleeper. Noise, temperature, light and my bladder all potentially wake me up. Most of the books and articles I’ve read about sleep talk about trouble getting to sleep. I don’t have trouble getting to sleep. I read a bit, get sleepy, turn out the light and I’m gone pretty quickly. Staying asleep is my problem. If I wake up during the night, my mind clicks into action. It could be an art idea, or a work issue, or a ukulele chord, or any number of other things. When that happens, it’s very difficult to shake myself out of it, stop thinking and get back to sleep. Often, if I can get my head around it, I’ll read a bit and that usually does the trick after half an hour or so. Sometimes, if it’s after 5, I’ll just hang on in there until the alarm goes off shortly after 6. I’m less worried about it now than I used to be. Age rather than shortage of sleep affect my energy levels but the more active I am (physically, mentally and/or creatively), the more energy I seem to have. Although, sometimes I just crash and have to do nothing or go to bed. But that doesn’t happen often.