Two days from now the yoga studio I bought at the beginning of the pandemic is closing. It was the first business I’ve ever purchased or run, and boy did I not know what I was doing. Still…I took a chance at a time when other studios were closing their doors, I hated my retail job, I was finishing up my yoga teacher training, and I thought maybe I’ll get lucky.
I purchased it from two experienced, well-to-do women who knew way more about yoga and leadership than I did. Even further back there had been a third owner to share the responsibilities. So it went from three to two to one: three minds, two minds, one mind. And a very full single mind it came to. I’m in my 40s, a single mom to two kids, no financial security whatsoever, was trying desperately to finish up yet grieve the longest divorce ever, started a new relationship, and in therapies to work through the rawness that is my existence.
I’m sad I couldn’t make the yoga thing work for me, the yoga teachers, or the students. BUT, if I zoom out a bit, I’m actually relieved to be done with it. With my boyfriend Mike’s support I’m turning toward my illustration. It’s painstakingly slow-going, I’m super undisciplined with my time and attention, loads of self-doubt hangs in the air, and I am prone to impatience. Great start, huh?
I’ve created a little space by a window in our bedroom for my wobbly drafting table that I got secondhand from my Pappaw, some shelves, drawers, a cork board, and several lights. Someday I’ll have a proper studio. For now, this is good.
On my table at the moment is a sketch based on a typo my mom’s friend wrote on a Facebook comment. The person meant to type “Heart wrenching” but instead wrote “Heart ranching.” So my mom commissioned me to draw a scene depicting “heart ranching.” It’s taking me waaay too long to work on it. I had to look up all sorts of images of ranching, ranches, corrals, cowboys, horse breaking, rodeos, Texas ranches, prickly pear, and 2 point perspective. I’m using a blue non-photo pencil for laying it all out, and I’m not even sure what I’ll use over that. Ink? Colored pencil? Marker? The only thing cartoony about it is the hearts, which I’m drawing in place of horses in a corral. Otherwise I’ve chosen to be somewhat realistic with the look of the fencing, people, barn, trees, and landscape. Hopefully it translates well, and my mom likes the end result. It’s just for fun though, then I need to return to my Minnesota bird series, of which I’ve only completed TWO.
RedTwerp 