Good morning. Today is the big day where I will be shipping off the 2 shell niches to St. Louis. I tried to convince my client that I should fly them personally to St. Louis, but no luck there. I had to give it a try. I will probably spend more time sanding the surface (because I just love to sand!) It has been a fun job, and quite a challenge with the time pressure.
I don’t know if this is common with creative projects, but after a pretty intense push to finish, there is sort of a lull after the storm. Many times I have walked in a sort of daze for a day or 2 wondering “now what do I do?” Then I just get on to my next project and get back into it again. I know my father-in-law who is highly creative (www.3dstudiocreations.com) in many areas sometimes goes through weeks of that lull – could even call it a depression – after completing a highly creative piece where you put everything of yourself into it. Best at that point to dive into something else quickly. Fortunately, I don’t have much time to be in my “daze” because Thursday I will be heading to Savannah, GA to help Greg Guenther fix a table with some really beautiful carvings of acanthus leaves. I’m looking forward to that because Greg and his family are great freinds, and I absolutely love Savannah. My husband will be able to join me on the weekend.
I’d call it grief. But good grief.
Yes, I suppose it is a sort of grief or sense of loss. It is like having a child, raising it up, nurturing it, mentoring it, then letting the child go out on its own when he or she is ready. A sense of loss or grief, as you put it, mixed with a sense of pride of completing a job well.