Stealth Art

So here’s what we were talking about earlier today. Living within your means. You know, not buying things you don’t have to have. Small house. One small car to share. Enough, but not extra. Can we live like that? What about the occasional treat? And what about art and music? How life sustaining is art? How critical is it to make art? Where is art time on the “gotta have it” scale? I think I probably talk about art more than I actually do it. I always like to do art, but I don’t do it as much as I used to do. I used to spend maybe 10-15 hours a week in the pottery studio. Maybe even more. How come I don’t do that anymore? I can’t come up with a good reason. I remember hearing an addictions counselor explain one time that we don’t have to make up rules for things that aren’t a problem. We don’t, for example, say, “I’ll only have one glass of milk today.” The way we might say “I’ll only have one glass of wine.” Usually drinking milk isn’t a problem and we don’t need to set artificial rules about milk intake. I keep trying to talk myself into going to the art studio and finding reasons I can’t go and then feeling bad about not working on clay art. Sometimes I have to sneak art in under my own radar. I call it making stealth art. I can do it casually, on my lap. It can be knitting. It can be teabag imprints on paper. Later on I can go back over the tea art and doodle-outline shapes that present themselves in the dried tea blot stains. The ultimate teabag Rorschach. Yes! Stealth art. Wow. Looka that. Looks like Shamanic Power Animals to me.