Painting isn’t everything. And it’s certainly not the only thing. (Apologies to Vince Lombardi.)

The other part of being a visual artist, at least an artist who wants to show her work, is the part that involves not paint, but a screwdriver, tape measure, possibly pliers, wirecutters and a certain level of patience.

This is the “putting on the hardware” part – D-rings and hanging wire.

I spent most of this morning at exactly that kind of work, mellowed a bit by listening to jazz as I did it.

I started with the soundtrack for the movie “Corrinna, Corrinna,” one of my favorites for the acting (Ray Liotta, Whoopi Goldberg and Tina Majorino), the story, and the jazz score including Sarah Vaughan with the best version ever of “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.”

(Tina Majorino, by the way, who was the delightful child star in this movie is 37 years old now. Where does the time go?)

The music was fine company as I worked in my now cozy little studio with all the aforementioned tools, getting everything ready for the solo show coming up July 20. More good news is that we’ll have live jazz for a reception on August 5. My “Colors of Jazz,” paintings, inspired as they are by straight-ahead jazz, are happiest in the company of the music.

“The Colors of Jazz” evolved from my early collage work, sample above, which was a lot of fun but didn’t quite satisfy what wanted to come out. At some point the collage work, which had a certain whimsey, began to feel kind of smart-alecky to me, and that’s not what I was going for.

As soon as I began to explore paint instead of already-created pictures, I knew I was home. A few months ago when I was between studios, I tried to assuage my longing for a studio with collages again. It was fun again, but it was not me, not where my heart and my whatever you might want to call it – creative spirit – were lurking.

At a time with so much dishonesty, disinformation and distortion swirling around us every day, the least we can do is be honest with ourselves. I want to get back to work.

I have ideas flying through my head these days for more paintings, new work I want to do, and I’m ready for it. Eager for it.

Today, though, today I’m doing hardware. And gratified with the work.