Entries Tagged as: dis/organization
No, No, No
August 27th, 2007, Comments (8)
...nothing gives me that
sinking feeling quicker than
that split second when i
hear NOOOOOOOOOO
in my head at the same time
i hear my my mouth saying yes...
-from Marilyn's August 26th poem
My mind is all over the place. Marilyn's poem of the day from yesterday struck a chord with me or something more like a resounding gong. It makes me a little sad that it seems so hard for me to say no sometimes. This fear of hurting people's feelings at the expense of my own feelings, safety, and well-being is upsetting. Last week I said yes to something when I wanted to say no and while it all worked out o.k., it was not the right decision. I let the possibility of hurting someone's feelings overpower my gut instincts and I put myself in an uncomfortable and risky situation. I'm embarrassed about it now, but it has made it more clear to me than ever that I need to stick up for myself, say what I mean, and say no way more often.
I'm procrastinating a bit. My studio is a ridiculous sight to behold right now, like a tornado blew through it. Overwhelm central. O.k., so, I'm taking stock and taking into consideration Jessie's interesting combination of techniques for listing 5 things I'll do and 5 things the Universe will provide. Then I'm going to take some baby steps towards my goals for the day.
Art from today and yesterday to be posted later on. Toodaloo to you!
Unlucky or Lucky 13?
July 13th, 2007, Comments (2)
I always thought the superstition regarding Friday the 13th was kind of odd. And I was amazed to learn about some of the reasons why 13 and Friday were seen as unlucky when doing some reading about it a few years ago. 13 was considered lucky in many cultures, including among the ancient Egyptians. In pagan times, 13 was associated with the 13 months of the pagan calendar (relating the the approximately 13 cycles of the moon each year). Friday was also once considered quite lucky. It was associated with the goddess Freya (for whom Friday was named) who was associated with fertility and love. In Christian times, all things feminine were made out to be dangerous and evil, therefore the number 13 became very unlucky and even unluckier on the luckiest of pagan days, Friday. Incidentally, Freya was also associated with cats which is why crossing the path of a black cat is now considered unlucky (it used to be considered lucky!) So, if you get all spooked around Friday the 13th, take a breath or even celebrate it!! Ever since reading about the history behind the 13th, I've taken a special liking to it. The poor day has taken a lot of flack. 
I'm feeling loads better today. Thank you for the well wishes!! I spent the day doing some cleaning and organizing, sanding and gessoing, and working on a painting that I really like. I'll get it up here once it's dry.
Last night, the fiansor was out taking his employees out for their monthly dinner excursion, so I got cozied up in bed with my sketchbook and pencils and paper and all sorts of other stuff. And I ended up getting to work on my own special life binder. I mentioned earlier how I'd been wanting to create one. Well, on the plane to Boulder (plane rides are a wonderful place to brainstorm I've found), I sketched all sorts of ideas of how I wanted it to function. I determined some of the categories to separate my binder into (art ideas, business ideas, blog ideas, calendar with to-do lists, quotes, misc) and how I wanted to make my calendar (weekly spreads with room for to-do lists and inspirations as they arrive), and what other things should be included (a plastic sleeve for business cards), a folder for each category, and a plastic sleeve for bits and pieces that would fall out of an open folder, etc... I happened to have these colorful dividers and folders left over from massage school, so I emptied out my old notes and filled the sections instead with various types of paper that I punched holes in. It still needs some work. I'm currently using post-its as tabs to find the sections as the current tabs, while colorful, all kind of blend together. I used it today and it was great for catching and organizing the random thoughts I was having. I didn't have to track down the five thousand places I normally write little notes to myself when I was trying to remember what I was going to do next or the different sketch books I put art ideas in when I sat down to paint. So far so good. We'll see how it goes.
p.s. As a reminder, the Angels for Brianna auction ends tomorrow, the 14th, at 6:30 p.m. PST.
Destruction/Construction
July 4th, 2007, Comments (13)
I spent most of yesterday digging through my studio space, moving furniture to make room for a new scanner, and throwing away loads of trash. I've been avoiding this job, but it had to be done. A studio space outside the house hasn't yet worked out, so I decided to let that go for now (it'll show up when it's right) and fix up the space that I have right now. I'm so grateful to have this space in our apartment. The room I have now, is a decent size, it's main fault being that it is the holding space for many different things such as files for business, all my life files (health insurance, car insurance, warranties, tax info, the cats' veterinary stuff and so on), rubbermaid containers of old journals and stationery, a big bookshelf full of books, photo albums and all sorts of paraphenalia, my nicer clothing (dresses and formal stuff for the obligatory events), my shoes (not a very big collection, but enough to take up space), desk with computer and printer, my sewing machine, and then there's all my art stuff...finished and unfinished art, full portfolios, art in frames, art on the walls, art supplies in boxes and rolling plastic carts, and an easel. Pack this all into a 10'x10' space and there isn't a lot of room left. But with some arranging and purging yesterday and some more to come, I know I'll have the space in enough working order to work in, which is very good. Plus, there's something very satisfying about a newly reconfigured, organized space. It's a good feeling. I'm only half-way there and I already feel a good bit of that satisfaction.
I've been at a loss lately as to where to keep my lists and calendar info. I have a nifty calendar thing on my computer, but for me it's out of sight, out of mind, and I forget to look at it. Plus, I like being able to physically write on a calendar, to doodle and play in the margins. For a long time, I used a sketchbook as an all-in-one organizer. It was my journal for morning pages, keeper of to-do lists, and sketchbook for ideas and inspiration, plus there were great little pockets to keep bits of paper, postcards, or whatever I came upon and wanted to hold onto for later. I haven't been using my sketchbooks for this in quite awhile, they've only been used as places to draw and doodle, and my to-do lists have been spreading all over the place from my mini-calendar and moleskin that I keep in my purse to my computer calendar to the little sketchbook I keep by my bed, to the bigger sketchbook, to scraps of paper. As you can imagine, this isn't the most efficient process. I need more organization in my life.
All this was rolling around in my brain when I came upon Mindy's fabulous post about her homemade life book. She put together a binder with a calendar that suits her needs with loads of space for catching inspirations. I love, love, love this idea and perhaps I'll try and put something like this together. I don't know what it is, but my mind doesn't think three dimensionally. I can't see spaces put together (which shows in my lack of interior design sense in my own home. It's rather frightening.) And this leaks over into how I organize things. I can't see in my mind how to arrange things. I need to see a layout. I can't picture how things will go together. Another example of this: I took wheel throwing in college and was so hopelessly bad at it. (I still loved it, but I made the ugliest teapot known to man.) So, for things like this, I really need to lean on those organizational innovators like Mindy to get inspiration from. So, thank you to Mindy and all the great 3-D designers for helping me out! Later, I saw a similar type of binder, this one for organizing fabrics, at "Cut Out and Paste" which reminded me of Mindy's binder a bit, but more specialized. Very cool. I've got some more organizing and mailing out of art to do tomorrow and then we're off to a wedding in Colorado (Boulder and Denver) for one of the fiansor's childhood friends. This summer has been full of so many fun adventures and I'm looking forward to traveling to a new place.
p.s. Ladders is up for sale on my website now (update: It has sold. Thank you!), Wind in Her Hair has already sold, and I should have prints of both available next week. The above kitty helpers are Emma and Tabbers. Happy 4th!!
