Monday
5.35 a.m. Woke. Initiated beast mode and blasted into free chiseling at marble to overwhelm my mind with creative energy. Tried to switch off my editor’s brain and let sculptor brain takeover. The only rule is to keep that chisel moving. Keep the chunks of stone falling. Stopped after an hour to review without judgment. A couple of ideas spring to mind but thinking it could be a seventeen-foot tall statue of David ready to fight Goliath in a contrapposto pose.
11.15 a.m. Swished my quill across the paper and ideated a mindmap of new fresco ideas. Crushed out a rough etching while still riding the productivity wave. It’s only a first draft, but at least I’m not staring at a blank sheet of olivewood anymore. There are a lot of Sibyls but don’t think I overdid it. Played with the arrangement and now I think it’d look totes dope broken into nine panels and painted across the forty-one-meter expanse on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
1.00 p.m. Scooted over to the Ponte Vecchio co-working space for a change of pace. Nothing beats surrounding yourself with leather merchants to get your baller brain muscles buzzing. Hustled a gig to carve Pope Julius II’s tomb which’ll have me rolling in the florins in no time. Can already feel those sweet fiorino d’oro burning a hole in my pantaloons.
2.30 p.m. Rolled back into the studio. Summoned a lute player from the palazzo to strum out some atmospheric soundscapes and submerge me in deep focus. Spanked out a cheeky di soti-style portrait of God looking upward from a low angle. All in one sesh. Thinking I’ll call it something moody like Separation of Light from Darkness. Pushed it heavy with the foreshortening. Whatever. Still an epic giornata! I should write a poem about this.
4.00 p.m. Mindfully recognized the procrastination monkey was telling me to send Niccolò Machiavelli a message. Resisted the urge to see if he was done at the ufficio yet. Instead, focussed on my values and moved to the standing easel. Turned over the sand-timer and smashed through two pomodoros of designing the world’s largest dome for the Vatican. Pretty hype for fifty minutes.
5.30 p.m. Cruised down to the bi-monthly Disrupting Sculpture Meetup. Always be mingling. Donatello rocked it with his hacks for letting go of your stifling people-pleasing. He’s right. Need to stop caring what the Medici think. Inspired me to go with my heart on the Creation of Adam. Fuck what the clergy think. I’m doing the version without the fingers touching.