Put the 1st layer of stain on today. SCARY. But GOOD scary since the fear comes from being attached to the piece in its current beauty and because the 1st layers of stain are never even close to the vision in my head – thus they are usually pretty ugly. The color is weak, not rich and it shows ALL blemishes previously hidden in the blonde wood. The feeling is similar to the feeling I get the first ½ hour of any rigorous outdoor adventure when my body hasn’t warmed up to the idea of whatever I have just gotten it into. The monkey’s start chattering in my head – telling me I’m not fit enough, experienced enough, fueled enough etc. to complete the adventure ahead. The monkeys pipe in with screeching jittery doubts throughout the creative process in the studio too. Years of experience have taught me that the monkeys are always there. If I ignore them then they just chatter more loudly. So I banter with them much like a bartender would. Thus this morning I cranked the tunes, chattered with the monkeys, took more than one deep breath and kept staining.
Tomorrow I can fix the blemishes and continue the layering process – building color upon color.
(The above blog entry was actually written a few weeks ago - I'm playing catch up)