Sunday Ramblings

Even after a *play day*, lazing on the couch and a good night's sleep, I still feel physically exhausted and non focused artistically. I tell you, finishing a large commission is like losing a job. Suddenly there is all this time on your hands and you don't know what to do.
So I chose a long nap yesterday afternoon and the beginning of a scarf kit I had ordered and been itching to knit.
Well.
After two shots at enlarging the Fair Isle grid to blind-old-fart size, I got about two inches knit last evening and since it is supposed to be around 76" long, I'm thinking I will be wearing it next year. I also am not crazy about one or two sections of color combinations, so I might switch things around, to further complicate the matter. Hey, if I run out of yarn, I'll buy another skein of something else. No big deal. But I did have moments when I wondered what screw in the head had finally popped completely loose to start that pattern.......
This morning I sit in the beautiful quiet of the country with only the sound of an occasional car on the road or the furnace kicking on, a cup of good coffee and my soul completely at rest. I'll be catching church service on the web later and have no pressure today. It is a nice but odd feeling. I am still decompressing from the banners, and as I have talked with other artists, they go through the same struggles I did with these. It is not that we hate our work, and we certainly don't hate being paid! Oh no!
But the striking individualism that makes us what we are makes it hard to lasso all that focus into one *something* when our brains are going elsewhere and the inner child is throwing a fit to go play. Sad but true...eh?  ;-)   I am, for the most part, fairly disciplined when I start work but that doesn't mean I don't want to say to heck with it and do something else. In fact, when I am not in serious crunch time, I usually have something going in the wet studio to be able to sneak down for a few minutes and then come back to the job at hand. I've found that works well.....when I have the time. I did not  with this last project, and I think that is why I am so discombobulated about what to do now. (I knit all winter, so that doesn't count......)
Yes, I worked on the felted sweater parts yesterday, and yes I enjoyed that but it requires a lot of heavy hand guidance so it is a project that will get attention as the body agrees to it.
I still want to paint or collage, but am at a loss.
Maybe tomorrow, when the banners are hanging in the church, when the photos are taken of them and I have put them up on here and feel completely done---completely---maybe then the path will open up. I have learned patience with the process, though I am most impatient to DO art.
Now.
Right now.
But I think I will wait, and refresh the coffee instead, and enjoy just sitting.....doing nothing....in the quiet.

Pax.

Lazy, Rainy Monday

........sigh........

Sleeping in is a wonderful thing, especially when you have needed it, and the sleep was good sleep. Of course, getting up and remembering that the blog post you were going to do the evening before is not up and you can't remember what it was, well, is pretty much life as usual around here.

Normally I am very meticulous about this stuff; I may even have the next day's post in the can by afternoon so I don't have to try and type AND think too much in the a.m. I like coffee and comment replies....there is something relaxing about it.

However, today is a numb-brain day; it's raining, I have a mess of work that sort of got pushed aside yesterday due to too much time spent watching a movie, starting a new pair of socks and then seeing the Yankees win. GO YANKS!!!! Then I wandered off to snoozy-poo land, never once giving a thought to the blog. Well, I did, I was going to post the Noro socks that are done but I had to try them on and couldn't get my leg hoisted up into the usual *sock photographing position*.

I am a sinner indeed.

Forgive me.

Frankly, I need forgiveness for a lot of omissions of late---people I forgot to include in something, blogs I haven't made comments on, e-mails I have not properly answered, you name it. I've sort of gone into this zone of blinders on and too much to do.

I guess, although I hate to admit it, the thought of surgery in December is weighing heavy and worse than that is the work that must, has to, absolutely NO CHOICE, needs to be out of here by the end of November.

And I am in the normal *Mid-October-Funk*, which I am sure all artists have a time of year they go through this. I should schedule it on the calender.....it would make life easier, eh?

So this is a desperation post; maybe tomorrow there will be some gleaming tidbit of humor or knowledge or fantastic art. (and where are you borrowing any of that from Anne? Hmmmm?)

Never mind......

It's the start of a new week--go enjoy it, go be creative and take advantage of the fading days before the cold of the year!

I bid you....

Pax.

P.S. And I have done it again...forgotten official WELCOMES to new followers...I am just TOAST! Welcome! Normally it's not this disorganized in blog-land....my studio? That's another story!

Is it just ME......??????

....or is anyone else not enjoying this hotter than Hades weather that is going around?
Yesterday was a complete nothing done day. Even though I am in the A/C, it's sort of like the barometric pressure that comes with the heat saps any strength you might have left. Oh I've done little odds and ends:

Found the pack of poster board for banner patterns
Once again made myself blind trying to find items for trim on line
Slept off a mild headache
Didn't learn the first time and was back again looking for trim on line (stupid!)
Ignored all the housework other than minor cooking
Laid on the couch watching a bad movie and was too lazy to get up to change to something else (though the ending was an interesting twist)
I even turned the computer OFF.

Yes, you read that right----O-F-F.

I am in the summer doldrums, right when I need to be hopping to it. Now, generally it means I whine for a few days/weeks (who's counting! well, besides my gentle readers....) and then I'm right back at it hard, but it is always---and I do repeat ALWAYS---when I need to get work done the most.
I've ordered most of what I need for the banner project, have the studio somewhat in order, and what isn't is only a matter of a couple of hours to fix, and half of me is ready to hit it.
The other more belligerent half is pouting and stomping about, kicking things, fingers in ears, refusing to respond. So it must be the weather.......really......it must.
I hope where ever my readers are today you have cooler temps than us and have a cooler approach to getting things done. As for me and my Southern Blood, I think we'll languish in the shade with some sweet tea and a smarmy novel, or maybe a medical text. That's my idea of a good time! ;-) Hey, keeps me out of the tattoo parlor!!!
Stay cool, stay creative!

Pax.

Holidaze......

Where is it written that every long holiday weekend you have to end up on your knees, working like a dog? Somehow, that's the weekend here. But this pic of me is sooooo humiliating that I thought for those of you also working yourselves to death, you could get a laugh and that might relieve a bit of the stress! Believe me, on Sunday and Monday, I am NOT working, unless it is art and I don't consider that work.
Or getting my hair back to *naturally blonde*.....ahem!
Hope you all are having a productive holiday weekend but not one to break your back or put you in traction. Have some fun and enjoy the days!
And no, I have no shame......yes, I am a HAM.
You knew that! ;)

What goes into the back of a piece......

......is not always an easy decision. I got my order from Manto Fev and there was this cool piece of yellow with red print joss paper, so that was a given. And for the sake of Wabi-Sabi, a small shell that has one side broken away so that the interior is perfectly seen. Those were easy. And the paint was fairly easy. It usually is simply because of the multitudes of layers. If I'm not happy with the original color, I start rubbing in others, and then a nice patina comes up and it's a go.
BUT.
I suddenly had this complete mind-block as far as the rest of the contents.
Yes, it will have the little string atop that looks like a string of prayer flags but what then? Is it just that I have been out of the studio a while and mind is not on auto-pilot? Is it that I have found myself exceptionally physically and emotionally tired for two days and that is showing up in my work? (hmmmm......listen to that one Anne.....) Or is it just a minor case of Artists Block.
Someone needs to invent an Artists Laxative. You know, it blows the blocks out. Then you're fine and you start doing wonderful, fresh work again! I honestly, truly, with my whole heart believed as I slowly descended those stairs that this piece would be finished today.
But it's not, and I have worked in the medium long enough to know there is a reason, and to sit back and let it stew. Work on something non-art-related, take a nap, do some computer work, look at the tiny green things bravely forcing their way into the still-cold air. But leave IT alone.
At least for now.
Or the next ten minutes.
Or after more coffee.
Dang.
Well, that doesn't mean you can't be having a deliciously, deliriously, creative day, now, does it???
Can you do enough for both of us? ;) I would really appreciate it!
***And by the way, this is what the worktable looks like when things are *in progress*. Actually, this is a pretty clean example. Sometimes I can't find the plastic cover, there is so much spread about. I need all the possibilities (in other words, JUNK) right where I can see them, even if there is only the slightest chance they will be included. Then I can't stand the mess and I clean everything up. I think I know how a Yo-Yo feels..........but it works!

Focus

It seems the past couple of days my focus has gone out the window. I have always assumed I was Wonder Woman, satin tights and golden lasso in hand to reel everything in. This morning, just from age and physical fatigue, I guess I will have to settle for being a woman par excellance and nothing more.

I have to read my blog to remember the past week, it has been so hectic. So then I ask myself the question; how does this affect our art? Is this why so much trivial work is swamping the market and the truly wonderful, spiritual work is pushed aside, or harder to find?

The day I took the posted picture was one of those days of wonderful, blissful focus---one I don't have frequently. Everything was clear and I could look about my studio and see compositions in any corner. Consequently, I have a few days out of the studio, and although I can see what I have accomplished, I feel creatively exhausted.

How about if we took a focus break? One day, one hour, or five minutes if that works for you, to zone in and focus on what precisely it is that ignites our art passion. What is it with you? What makes you swoon to paint/collage/photograph or otherwise memorialize that which you see? What is it that makes your brain suddenly click and you know you can't stay away from your work? What drives you?

Focus seems to be a fickle tart; first she's right there by you, then off in some haystack far away. If I could improve one quality of my work habits, it would be in the area of hard, serious focus.

I love my friends and love sharing and working and seeing good things progress. I would give the shirt off my back to see another person ignited with the fire of art---it is part of my psyche to do this. But do I have to allow myself the occasional studio focus day? Is this a dilemma that any of you face? How do you deal with it? Do you retreat to the work at hand or go out in the world and do something totally different? Does the same thing work for us all?

I know this is one of my more serious posts (sorry folks, no rants or funny birds today!) but I really would love input on this.

What is it that makes you focus, and find the zone?

P.S. Got a book on Wabi-Sabi......very interesting. Will post about it when I finish reading.