Hydration, and other ways to serve your stronger self

Waiting for the first train - the station at Wemyss Bay, Scotland.

I took a train to London to sustain my artist self. In fact, the journey involved a taxi, a ferry, two trains and the underground. In London, I walked, and looked, and listened, and talked, and thought myself into deep tiredness. Now I’m back home and the wonderful ideas I had seem to have shrunk to almost nothing.

I want to be busy and doing - I want to work from my stronger self on that big project I conceived in the Tate Modern - and it’s like wading through treacle. Once I moved past being cross and accepted that this is how it is today, I found some positive things to do while I wait for my energy to return. Here’s the strategy I used:

I imagined myself being restored to that stronger self and asked what would help to get there.

Answers:

Hydrate - drink lots of water to wash out the city dust.

Choose the least demanding task on my list and do it as slowly as I need to.

Hydrate - have good clean water nearby at all times

Sit on the floor and sort one shelf to find the paper I need in the studio for that big project.

Hydrate - and wash down some vitamins

Let the project idea marinate in all that fresh clean water. There is no rush.

Below: two images from the inspiring Olafur Eliasson Exhibition at Tate Modern

Left: The expanded studio - a wall full of ideas and projects

Right: “I grew up in solitude and space” installation