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Timing is everything
Oct. 4th, 2009 03:53 pmThe santana winds have kicked up hard today—even blew the screen out of the porch window. Not a good bit of weather to do outside tiling in. First because the winds dry out the mastic (the sticky stuff) too quickly. You can't get the tiles on fast enough if the wind blows hard enough. Added to that, bits of windblown matter adhere to the sticky stuff. No mosaicing done today.
Also this week, the weather at night turned decidedly fallish—at least here near the coast. After sundown, the air has gotten chilly and a bit damp. I had my first hot chocolate of the season last evening. Also not good weather for drying mastic. It's the kind of weather that keeps it wetter and adds to the possibility of the mosaic pieces falling off. That's probably not going to change, even if the santanas calm down. The rainy season here in the South of California is generally between November and about March. It sometimes lasts into April but rarely beyond that. (And we do need the rain, so I'll be glad of it if we get a really drenching winter.) Therefore, I have called off the Great Cinder Block Wall Mosaic Project until the weather gets hot again in late spring. Am sad, but resigned.
I knew it was something of a gamble starting this project so late in the year, but here in SoCal the months of September and October are often the hottest of the year. That was not the case this year, so my gamble—and the delays in September, plus having several Saturdays eaten up with other events—didn't pay off.
This mosaic has taught me many lessons about the creative process. I think if you're doing it right and taking chances like you should, every creative process does teach you lessons, even if it's just a reiteration of concepts with which you were already familiar. And so the final lesson of the Great Mosaic Project in one I can readily apply to writing or any other creative endeavor: timing is everything.
Also this week, the weather at night turned decidedly fallish—at least here near the coast. After sundown, the air has gotten chilly and a bit damp. I had my first hot chocolate of the season last evening. Also not good weather for drying mastic. It's the kind of weather that keeps it wetter and adds to the possibility of the mosaic pieces falling off. That's probably not going to change, even if the santanas calm down. The rainy season here in the South of California is generally between November and about March. It sometimes lasts into April but rarely beyond that. (And we do need the rain, so I'll be glad of it if we get a really drenching winter.) Therefore, I have called off the Great Cinder Block Wall Mosaic Project until the weather gets hot again in late spring. Am sad, but resigned.
I knew it was something of a gamble starting this project so late in the year, but here in SoCal the months of September and October are often the hottest of the year. That was not the case this year, so my gamble—and the delays in September, plus having several Saturdays eaten up with other events—didn't pay off.
This mosaic has taught me many lessons about the creative process. I think if you're doing it right and taking chances like you should, every creative process does teach you lessons, even if it's just a reiteration of concepts with which you were already familiar. And so the final lesson of the Great Mosaic Project in one I can readily apply to writing or any other creative endeavor: timing is everything.