1. Get out of bed, make coffee, search for coffee filters. Find an old wrinkled coffee filter in back of cabinet under a can of peaches. Dust it off and un-wrinkle it. Drink coffee.2. Go out to studio. Realize it is too hot in late July in South Georgia. Open garage door of studio. Yup, my studio could be called a garage by someone who doesn’t understand. All artist types would of course refer to it as a studio. Make entry on shopping list to buy an oscillating fan.3. Get sketches from vacation for inspiration. This involves finding correct suitcase, unzipping it. Survive the resulting explosion. Sort through dirty laundry, hiking gear, semi-muddy boots in nasty Ziploc bags, and several pounds of art brochures and catalogs from Santa Fe.

4. Look at sketches. Drink coffee. Try to remember the orange, tan, brown, red colors of the southwest while sitting in my studio immersed in humid greens of South Georgia.

5. Try to think of what to paint. Drink Coffee. Think some more. Realize you have no water. Get water container and fill it up at the outside spigot near garage door. Get bitten by mosquito. Decide to find DEET to spray on legs. Walk back inside to exploded suitcase to find DEET from hiking trip. Search suitcase. Remember that DEET was left in motel room on last night due to fullness of suitcase. Resolve to paint regardless of mosquitoes.

6. Look at canvas. Decide to use a smaller canvas to get back into the groove. Go upstairs to find smaller canvas. Realize that air conditioner upstairs is either not turned on or not working. Fiddle with thermostat. Look for canvas. Find old half finished painting up there. Look at it awhile before deciding that now is not the time to finish it. Search for smaller canvas. Don’t find it. Go back to studio.

7. Get more coffee from kitchen. Go back to studio. Get brushes out, get paint out. Get paper towels. Ooops, no more paper towels.

8. Go to kitchen. Use long fork like thing from grill to push paper towels out of top cabinet into arms. Fail to successfully catch paper towels, thus allowing them to knock over water glass from last night. Clean up water with paper towels. That was convenient.

9. Back to studio with paper towels. Think about sketches some more. Remember the great inspiration you had while on vacation to come home and paint rocks.

10. Go outside to look for rocks. No rocks, South Georgia red clay only. I knew this already but thought I would look just in case. Go to Internet to find a mineral store in which to buy rocks. Look for pictures of rocks on Internet. Check email. Check website. Realize for the one zillionth time that going to the computer is dangerous and a time waster when I am trying to paint.

11. Back to studio. Now humidity and heat are really rising. Decide it is to hot already. Need ponytail. Go inside for elastic ponytail holder and shorts and cold drink.

12. Back to studio. Resolve to self that these preparation steops are bull and make myself paint and quit making excuses. Remind self that no one has to see it if I don’t like it. Remind myself it is just a piece of canvas. Remind myself that I feel this way almost everytime I start painting. GET OVER IT. Finally begin to paint.

Boys and Girls, do you have a process you use to get yourself motivated to create that you would like to share with the rest of the class?