After feeling rather ground down by things, and lacking any artistic inspiration for some time, I’ve made a break for it. I have booked one of my periodic “art retreats”, in which I head with my art gear to some remote spot, on my own, for several days. It isn’t possible to manage the entire week I would like, but I have committed myself to four nights in a small cottage in Derbyshire. My wife tells me that the difference in my mood was instantly recognisable.
We were talking about this over dinner this evening, and it became shockingly obvious, the extent to which I have allowed life to become a rota of external obligations, in which my own needs are squeezed out. I had actually forgotten that tomorrow is actually my birthday!