the creative life

a few weeks ago i took a big step toward living the creative life i have been craving. and then on saturday, david and i took a pole-vaulter's leap right smack into it. i'd been talking about the idea for months, and finally went to my bosses and made it happen. right now i work a regular m-f 8-5 job in the rehab unit of my hospital.  in about a month i will work only THREE DAYS A WEEK!  and get paid the same salary.  that's four days left to write, take photos, paint, volunteer, shave my legs...all the things i usually try to cram into two days and a few exhausted evenings. (okay, the catch is that i'm transferring to the ER position where i'll work sun-mon-tues 9am-9pm and carry the pager overnight each of those nights.)

now, for the second part...we had been tossing around the idea for about as long, but it wasn't until last weekend that it really gelled.  if you look at the above photo, and the one below, and get any type of "feeling"...you'll know exactly why we did what we did.  on saturday david and i signed a lease on an old classroom that hopefully with a little love and some serious demo, will look similar to the photos. this was the opening of iyollo gallery...our friend george's space, which is right next door.  the hope is that we can get a few more artists into the remaining wing of the old school building, which houses the multicultural center, MECA.

if you know any artists in houston looking for a vintage classroom turned art studio...send them our way! i'm beyond excited for this new chapter in our lives, i could never have dreamed this for my life when i started the blog nine months ago.  it truly is a birth...of my creative spirit, following my dreams, and sharing it with my incredible husband...who is finally realizing a life-long dream of showing his work in his own gallery.

i am just happy to have a place to go on those FOUR DAYS OFF to make really big art and write my stories and take photo walks around the historic neighborhood. (and get out of this teeny apartment we just moved into!) it's like the creative wings i've had locked up all these years have finally broken free. they refuse to be clipped...now i just have to jump out of the nest and pray they work.

i'm sure i'll be sharing much more about our studio renovation and business plans over the coming months...especially after may 3, when i start my new schedule. by the one-year anniversary of this blog (sometime at the end of june), i hope to be truly living the creative life.