creative abandon

I had so much fun making this mess! I also learned something really important - I need to buy a timer for the studio so I don't have to carry the kitchen timer back and forth all the time. I did Julianna Cole's mail art exercise from Kaleidoscope by Suzanne Siminaitis. I really like this book - it's packed with great ideas and exercises and best of all, lots of advice on getting over perfectionism and just getting down to making stuff.

My hands turned out very pretty after my play session.

My postcards turned out very pretty too. This exercise involves gathering a bunch of supplies and then doing each step in a very quick, intuitive way. You have either 5 or 10 minutes for each step and you set the timer and stop when time is up. Ohmigosh is this liberating!

You actually aren't supposed to make anything pretty with this exercise, but I found that when I didn't have time to think, things just effortlessly fell into themes and pretty compositions. It actually would have been harder for me to make things unpretty. Hmm, wonder what that says about me?


I love how fresh these postcards feel. They seem so much better to me than something I spent a long time agonizing over, trying to be perfect.

I also learned that it's much easier to give yourself a short amount of time to do just one step rather than saying "I have one hour to make something." No pressure to make a whole piece, all I have to do for the next 5 minutes is slap some paint down. All in all, a great exercise and a really fun play session.

Hmm, blogger doesn't like titles these days. This little square is 5"x5". I've always been intrigued by the projects where artists make a small piece every day or every week. I've reached a point in my creative journey where I'm feeling the need to instill a bit of discipline in my working habits. I need to just do the work, do lots of it and quit being so precious about it. I tend to procrastinate because I want everything I make to be perfect. This is a really good way to not make anything and I need to get over it. So the idea is to make a little square every week or so, something small and simple that I can carry around and work on whenever I have a minute or two. And just go with the idea, make quick decisions and live with them, don't fuss and fret over it. So when something doesn't turn out like I want it to, like the beads in the center of the flower, just leave them and remember to not do it that way the next time. It was really hard to leave those beads there.

Yes I did have corn and raspberries for dinner. OK, I had some bruschetta too. With fresh garlic and gorgonzola. And I'm having raspberries for breakfast. Oh how I love summer!

The shoveling out of the house means access to lots of places that are usually closed off to the little cat. Here he is luxuriating on top of my shorts and t-shirts on a shelf in the walk-in closet. Wednesday he pulled everything on the first three shelves of the linen closet out onto the floor. And Thursday, when I organized the far-flung bead collection into those little compartmentalized boxes? A pile of bead tubes is one form of little cat heaven!

painting for sanity

I had to take a break from the endless shoveling out of the house. I was mentally exhausted. I needed to make something. I longed for the feeling of being in the creative groove. So I gave myself a few days off and started slapping paint around. For inspiration, I loosely followed the 2-for-1 backgrounds technique in the article by Chrysti Hydeck in the new issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. Except I painted one piece of fabric and one piece of paper instead of 2 papers. The fabric is the top photo. It was a good exploration of how different mediums behave on different surfaces. OK, mostly it was just a lot of fun. I think these 2 are done for now. Ready to line up some more fresh white and start again.

Strawberry Fields

Mom and I drove up to Siemer's Farm on Greenbluff Saturday to pick strawberries. Lots of other people had the same idea, but there was plenty for everyone.



Yummy.

Sunday I puttered, potted plants, watched Amelie, had a lovely lime dinner party to celebrate my birthday. Havana Garlic and Lime Chicken, Strawberry Limeade and Key Lime Pie. I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures.

It was a lovely, summery, strawberry and lime-y birthday weekend...

I am woman...hear me weed-whack!

I weed-whacked today! I'm so proud of myself!

OK, to really grasp the magnitude of this accomplishment you must know that the weed-whacker is a ginormous gas-powered super-duper weed-whacker. The better to whack Canadian thistle with, my dear. When we bought it I could barely lift the thing.

So when I say I weed-whacked, what I really mean is, I've been on a steady workout program for several months now and it's paying off. I'm strong enough to whack humongous nasty thistles with the Ginormo-Whacker. I'll be 37 on Sunday and I'm stronger and fitter than I was at 27. Yay me!

Ah, Summertime...

My very favorite season is finally here! I am loving the warmer weather and the beautiful flowers and the blue blue blue sky.



Here's my farmer's market bounty from Saturday. Well, most of it, I didn't think the hunk of smoked salmon would look very charming in the picture. The farmer's market situation in this area has improved quite a bit over the last few years. Now you can even get kittens. I was very tempted by an ADORABLE grey-striped baby cat at the humane society table, but cooler heads reminded me that I had an ADORABLE giant baby cat at home. They were right.



There's a little bit of art happening as I plug away on my piece for the Kress Gallery show. Mostly though, I'm busy with a major haul-out and clean up of the house as we get it ready to sell. For entertainment, I've begun house-stalking, looking for the perfect little place to turn into my bright funky cottage. Wish me luck!

Sometimes you get poppies...

Gardening up here on the West Plains is always an adventure. In addition to whatever you plant, you also get "blessed" with whatever comes in on the wind. Usually it's Canadian Thistle.



But sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you get poppies.