We have the motto “Stay home – flatten the curve”, we have the time of “Social distance” , time of shut down of useful and/or entertaining events in the outside world. I am very happy the Spanish government took a hard decision and I do hope that it was taken in time and will succeed saving many lives!!!
News from an artist in a closed down country
Here in Spain, where my husband and I spend the winter time, its a very severe close down. To leave the house is only allowed for: shopping food and medicine, medical appointments, going to work or other urgent and to be proofed matters. Allowed only one person in the car, only one person going out with the dog. Not allowed to use the fitness room in the urbanisation. We have high fines when not respecting the rules and there is quite some police outside to check. So it is a very serious “Stay at home”. After our first not yet fulfilled two weeks, we got prolonged house arrest; Stay at home till 12th of April.
How is your situation? How do you make the best of your of your time in the house?
If you aren’t busy in entertaining children, that have to stay home ( which will keep you very busy) but with grown up family or all alone, wouldn’t it be a chance to have all that time at hand to try something new?
There is so much new to do in the house!!!!
Internet courses can be something new: The internet is a great resource for so many things. You can learn practically everything when you go to You Tube. You can make photo books, which you always had in mind, you can visit the metropolitan opera (who offers everyday one opera for free to watch in the internet!), you can start reading all the books you didn’t read, join a library online, visit a museum (most of the known museums now offer virtual walks through their exhibition) you can clean out the house or finishing to knit all the pieces you started ( I think I have 4 waiting for me :-). Its also a great time for cooking and baking and much much more. From friends in Italy and here in Spain I hear they cleared out their wardrobe, painted the apartemente, cleaned the kitchen in depth, took perfect care for their garden and more.
Art could teach you something !!!
I focus more on the pleasant side of this time:
I made a list……what is your list?
Clearing out the wardrobe or doing a daily yoga practice were on my list, but I concentrate on other things in the moment. I want to go for the most attractive things I always wanted to do but didn’t find the time to do.
I am taking this “Time out” as an opportunity to change the speed of living and working, to sleep and play a lot. For me its a great opportunity to “walk slowly”. Can you share your list with us?
My list for the “Stay home and flatten the curve” time is:
- I decided to experiment with painting – do things, I normally don’t do. I work on paper, I try new styles, I experiment, I copy artists I like and want to learn from – to have great fun and not head for achievements.
- I sleep long
- I booked an online Spanish grammar workshop
- I take a lot of time for social media without feeling wasting my time
- I try new recipes – I love to eat but never really take the time to cook with attention
- and with my fellow artists from Costa del Arte Collective I think about new ways to present our planned exhibition “Sun and Shade / Sol y Sombra”
which is planned for April and we are not at all sure that it may happen …27.03.2020 Now we know: it will not happen in April!!! We postponed it to October. If you want to be informed, let me know!
I am quite happy at the moment, but….
I enjoy to have time, nearly no duties and the opportunity to (re) discover my own rhythm there is an interesting BUT in self discovery: my own little devil. Most enjoyable, I am getting lazier and lazier….I can feel the stress that I was having in the last months slowly falling off. Becoming lazy for me is a good sign – at least I know it is.
Can you stand the feeling of being lazy, not achieving something? Let me tell you, it is a healthy sign. And you see, I am an achievement – addict. That’s why I thought of a method of painting that would give me a different and not achievement oriented go. We are only on day 4, so we will see how it goes….
