Dirty Laundry Blog by Jennifer Hynes

The beginning of No Nap Days

June 5th, 2017
Maybe I should work in my studio first. Jack and Fiona are in their room, not taking a nap. This is my official first post of my new work, I made my final First selection of writings for Naptime Paintings-The Book- (Still don’t know the full title). I finished selecting round one yesterday. I have almost twice as much as I need, my paintings are getting photographed for the book as we speak. I want to go paint for a minute. I paint over two paintings I painted yesterday. (I like them, but maybe they are too ambiguous.) I leave my studio after forty-five minutes. Jack and Fiona are done watching Peppa Pig, I leave dark grey and purple paintings. I added whites to lighten them, they become beings from another planet or faded out graffiti. They need more work. I worked on my Note Books too. I feel like I’m free, at least from needing any more images or writing for my book. I can write or paint anything now. I start thinking about conceptual projects I want to start. I work on my newer notebooks, the ones that will be finished next year. I have less time to work in my studio now that Jack and Fiona aren’t taking naps.

Fiona and Jack are naked now. Playing in the yard with the water hose. My house is a mess. I feel like there’s garbage everywhere. The sink is piled high with dishes. An empty milk carton fell to the ground and I just left it there. Something prevented me from bending down and picking it up. I just left it there. Maybe it is because If I pick it up and put it in the trash I am acknowledging all the other trash on the floor and the counters. I would have to start cleaning up. I’m not ready to commit yet. My neck is sore from moving Jack and Fiona’s beds yesterday and moving heavy chairs around the yard. They are playing nice, only occasional fighting over who’s turn it is to hold the hose. It’s ten minutes to five, only two and a half more hours and bedtime. I better start the cleaning before then.
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Sounds of Sunday

June 4th, 2017
Daisies; So many green stems, yellow and white flowers, crows and hawks talking to each other. Children’s voices in the distance. Jack wants to watch a show. Alan wants us all to be together in one location. I want to go with the ebb and flow of the children and my creativity. Sit outside, listen to the birds, chimes, and the slow rustle of the leaves in the wind. The gentle sky soft and blue. Sounds of Sunday. I bring outside to the deck for Alan, Jack, and Fiona, ice cold waters, gummies, and cheddar ducks. I go back in the house to get toilet paper from the garage, go pee, get my sun hat and shades, make a few marks in my studio. I hear Jack call my name. I go out, peek my head out the door, “What are you doing? Are you doing art?” I am questioned. I lie to my husband, “No, I’m not doing art, I just need to do a few things, I’ll be out in a minute.” What a strange thing to lie about! “Jack was wondering where you were”. I think lots of things in my head, like, I can’t even step away for a minute, I don’t need to be tracked because I won’t even be gone for very long. I got everyone so many wonderful things, I needed to do the same for myself. Now those water bottles and glass of fresh cold water are still sitting outside, everyone is inside now. I just try to grab a few private moments to myself here and there when I can now. Without the naps and only one day off a week I need to use a different strategy to get my work done. It needs to be incorporated into my daily routine, like exercise or breakfast. I’m trying to teach the children how to entertain themselves for thirty minutes at a time. Most of that is letting them watch T.V. so I can do my things. Thank god for T.V.!

When I went into my studio today, I was excited. I worked fast. The first time I had seventeen minutes. I put on one show for Jack and Fiona. Alan was still working in the office. I worked in my notebooks with ripper canvas collage and journal entries, I painted over some canvases in white. The second time I went to my studio, after I had delivered waters and restocked the toilet paper, I added silver and charcoal. I want to go down again now to check and see what I did. To add or start some new ones. Everything is quiet in the house right now. Alan is reading his I-Phone on the couch, the babies are watching a show quietly in their room. The afternoon wind just blew the door shut. It’s 1:30 PM. I am going to sneak down to my studio one more time. I sit and contemplate how to do it, without needing an excuse or reason. Without being questioned. Without sneaking. I just need a few minutes here and there to myself. In my studio.

Getting Buzzed. Listening to Tears for Fears. Drinking Zin.
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Do You Know Me Yet?

June 3rd, 2017
Drinking Sake from the bottle,( I snuck it out of the new Japanese kind of fast food and Udon Noodle restaurant in San Rafael. ) Alan’s down stairs playing with the babies. I can here older kids outside yelling, “I can see you”. The neighbors hung balloons at the entrance of Baywood Terrace. When I drive by tonight I say, “They’re having a party and we weren’t even invited” I had the strangest day with the babies. We stayed home all day. It’s been a crazy week. Alan had to work on the black mold in the garage bathroom; a copper pipe on our water heater corroded, water seeped though the sheetrock. It stunk. But me and the babies laid low. In the morning they watched cartoons(way longer than pediatrics recommend) I work on my book. Read through all my pieces from the past four years. I only used pieces from the past two years in my new book, since Jack and Fiona were born. I wrote pieces for graduate school, where I found my writing voice in Afro-futurism and Contemporary Art classes. Then in the 2013’s I wrote about going crazy, infertility, and the twitch. Most of those pieces were in journals that I have incorporated into several collages. I think I should use those in my remaining notebook entries. They are crazy and raw, but paint has splattered on them now, they are all torn up. I am 46 years old, I have three year old twins. My mom’s death in 2008, Christopher, my miscarriage, and infertility came up a lot since I started my blog two years ago. With the birth of Jack and Fiona letting information that I had to share pour out of me. I use the internet, Facebook and WordPress to share my work, communicate with the world. I have been working in my studio like crazy. I think Jack and Fiona actually respect me Being an artist. I have been trying to teach them about writing. I showed them a paperback and showed them the computer screen. I said that’s what happens first before it’s a book. I can show them the printing of some pages next time. But they respected it. Drinking Sake straight from the bottle is not bad, not bad at all. Nigori. I want to go check out my studio. I am so excited about getting my pieces photographed. It’s gonna be cool. What else can I say? I’m a painter and a momma and a wife. I have a dog and live in San Rafael. I’m a dreamer and a drifter. (in my before kids life) Do you know me yet?
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The beginning of No Nap Days

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Sounds of Sunday

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Do You Know Me Yet?

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