Entries from: September 2007
Hey, some long delayed art!
September 6th, 2007, Comments (21)
Capturing and cropping and posting art is such a pain in the bum! 
But here we go. I've got an 8"x8" encaustic piece above. This piece was done by spreading wax on wood panel, doing a transfer from a photocopy of an old lace pattern and then carving into the wax to make the tree and then using oil stick in black to define the lines of the tree and darken some of the background. This is the second piece in a Memory Tree series I'm planning to make about Alzheimer's, which my grandmother suffers from. In the first one, I had images of the brain and the tree which relates to a family tree and also reminds me of the neural pathways of the brain. In this piece and some future ones, I'm planning to use transfers of lace patterns which make me think of my grandmother and also relate to the intricate patterns of the neural pathways in the brain.
While super busy with wedding stuff, I haven't always had time for involved art projects, so my solution for everyday creativity has been lots of drawing in pen or pencil on big pieces of watercolor paper or little pieces of scrap. I'll post loads of sketches later on.
Today, worn down with a cold, I felt pretty crappy, but my spirits were raising by the evening. With some good chats under my belt, I was starting to unwind more and more. And I'm also very excited about two retreats in my future. One this weekend is a mini art retreat at Jes of Junque Revival's farm in Maine. I was so lucky to meet many wonderful women at Mindy's open house a few months ago and right off the bat we made plans for a mini retreat complete with art making, good food, wonderful company, and antiquing! Yay! I think this will be just the getaway I need.
And on top of that I sent off my registration form for Artfest 2008. I've never been and since I'm missing out on Just Be Connected in October, I was really itchin to do a creative retreat too! I would have been teaching at Just Be, but the venue we picked for our wedding left us with the same weekend open, so I couldn't do it. I know Just Be will be a wonderful time and I wish I could be in both places at once! I will certainly be thinking of all the Just Be people on my wedding weekend and I hope you'll all send good wedding wishes my way while you're out having fun on the Cape! Artfest isn't til April, but apparently it books up mad quick, so it's good I was paying attention this year. I'm super excited as I know I'll meet some great creative folks and take some fantastic classes and I may extend my trip a little bit and make a full week of retreating out of it. I've never really done anything like this for art, so it's exciting and special. People get crazy with swaps and stuff at Artfest and there are whole discussion boards made for planning these things. It's a little overwhelming, but still I think it will be fun. Ok, time for bed. Ciao for now.
Whine, Whine, Whine
September 5th, 2007, Comments (14)
It doesn't do any good to get annoyed with myself, but every year when the days begin to darken, I feel a sadness creep in. I get annoyed with my depression (very helpful, I know.) I hold out hope each year that I've been "good enough", done enough exercise, taken enough vitamins, done enough self-care and art-making, so that this year I won't feel that heaviness. I don't want to accept it as just the way it is, just in case I'm fooling myself into thinking I have chronic depression.
I don't complain to the people in my life. Constant complaining annoys me in others, why would I want to do that to anyone else? Today the fiansor was encouraging me to whine. We both have a cold, stuffy noses and such and he's quite a whiner when he gets sick. He's told me often enough that if I don't complain, he doesn't know how badly I'm feeling. You know that thing about how the squeaky wheel gets the oil? It's so true! I've spent my life trying not to squeak. So, we literally practiced whining to each other with me resisting the whole time because I felt ridiculous doing it. He made me laugh though with his descriptions about the nuances of whining, what the different intonations meant and then he quizzed me on it. Heh. We snuggled and fell asleep on the couch before having dinner. Thank goodness for the fiansor.
Earlier today, I had a quick, but helpful chat with my best friend. I haven't had anyone, but the fiansor to talk to about all that's been going on recently with family crises and it's been really heavy stuff. The fiansor said he was surprised that I hadn't been more upset, but I was upset, I was just containing it, like you need to in a crisis when other people need you to be the calm voice of reason. But when the best friend called, I just started crying. I guess I was ready to release some of the crapola.
I want so much to vent about what's been going on, but I don't think this is the place to do it. In one of the situations, there is actual legal action being taken, so I can't lay it all out here. I'm thinking about using my vox blog which has that setting so only friends can read it to release some of this tough stuff. I truly appreciate your support and love in response to my last post. I needed it, so thank you. I'll be posting all the recent art soon, promise!
Quiet
September 2nd, 2007, Comments (14)
I'm a bit preoccupied. Someone I care about deeply has been hurt and while I can't go into details, I feel sick about it. It's such a bad feeling when someone you love is in pain. You stand in and listen and be the person they need you to be, but at some point, the caretaker needs support too, so I'm glad the fiansor is returning from a trip tonight. Despite having to step in and be the calm voice in a difficult situation, I've still been making some art. Last week I did a small encaustic piece and the rest has been mainly drawings on paper. Possibly they'll become something more, maybe not. Pictures will come eventually, just not sure when! Tonight though, I'm so tired, so I'm going to relax and spend some time taking care of myself...and snuggling kitties, which is kind of the same thing.
