Sarah Jane Szikora
I wake up every day and consider myself very lucky not to have the kind of job that requires leaving home early and commuting to an office somewhere. A typical day starts when my partner has left the house and I potter around doing household jobs until starting work, at around 9 am. If I am on day one of a new painting I maybe visit the library or gallery and spend some time generating ideas. If I am lucky this can take a matter or minutes or, if the horrible spectre of artists block threatens to set in, I may need a whole day or two.
I absolutely love what I do and have no problem with my own company, my 3 cats provide enough companionship while I am working, although essential to healthy production is a steady stream of tea, biscuits and radio 4.
On a good day I will work through to 5 or 6pm, then do the usual leisure things, cooking, seeing friend's etc. However what is more likely is a series of distractions including phone calls and visitors who consider me fair game for coffee and a chat. If I am at a difficult point in a painting, I can find myself weeding the garden or 'organising my draws' and generally getting stuck in work avoidance mode. You have to be reasonably self disciplined if working from home, so on these interrupted days I usually work late to make up the difference, this means I will finish working at 8 or 9pm (luckily I am not the type of artist who suddenly gets inspired at 3am in the morning). At this point I reward myself with a large G&T, then vegetate for the rest of the evening. Cheers!
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