Recently in personal Category

Art and art projects are always an ebb and flow for me, sometimes I get stuck in the eddies of life.  The flow can be unpredictable and intangible not unlike the creative process.  What might happen to the ever fractioned world that I seem to be living?  The online presence, home life, inter personal relationships, work life, etc. all have a pull that is not currently beneficial to the overall creative process.  De-fractioning life and pushing things back together as they once were must be the focus of living, only adding things that can fit such a model of being...

Nurturing self, and loved ones...

Finding balance...

Enjoying the things...

Removing the others...

Writing to find...

Organizing for sanity...

Exploring to renew...

Creating for joy...

Encouraging to teach...

Reaching out for help...

Solitude to recharge...

This weekend was not quite as productive as I was hoping.  I did get some things done and feel good about what I did get done but I learned a bit about what has been holding be back.  I will be writing about my ideas of artistic blocks soon but for now I want to focus on what I found I was doing or not doing and what was actually accomplished.

Let's start with the good news, I did a drawing with a little bit of watercolor in my deconstructing the box sketchbook.  Nice to get some real drawing from life done!  I spent about a half an hour drawing a head of garlic and it turned out nice.  In hind sight I think I should have warmed up with some gestures drawings, next drawing session I will include at least ten quick drawing.  Setting up a sketch book just for that will be helpful. 

I also worked on a long narrow piece of printing paper and drew the same head of garlic but it was on its head and some lemon wedges in pen.  I am going to be adding some acrylic paint and maybe some collage elements to the drawings.  I will be also adding one more element to it, not sure what yet and I am not sure if I will be cutting the piece up or leaving it whole.  At the moment the composition is not great but as I add elements this should change.  Go figure, I am drawing food, but I am planning on using these drawing as illustrations on my food blog at some point!

Now to lessons learned, I have a feeling this will be hard to write but here it goes.  Biggest problem is distraction, or allowing myself to be distracted.  Everything from internet to dishes seems to distract me at the moment.  I tried to get most of the stuff I feel I need to do before I start my art making but there always seems to be more to do.  I am not sure if this is procrastinating ploy or I just am being A.D.D. or what.  I have a feeling it is a bit of both.  Problem is I don't have a neutral place to create art at the moment. 

I also find myself wanting to do to much at one time, gets overwhelming and paralyzing when that happens.  I need to look at the task at hand an run with it until I need to move on. Work on a piece until it tells me it needs to live and only then move on to other projects.  I think work is the culprate that gives me this problem because I am always multi tasking at work, putting out fires and doing things that need to get done NOW NOW NOW for this reason or that. 

There is more but I think I will leave it at that for now, more fodder for future posts!

I am realizing that I have been saying a lot about what I want to do, not what I have done or am doing.  This will be changing as soon as the next post.  I started some interesting new works today and got some stuff and ideas for more works to come soon!  I feel like I have all these ideas but no time or energy to follow through, but I am now changing some life style stuff to make it more conducive to GET SHIT DONE.  Some of the projects that I have been working on have already really been inspiring me to do even more. 

As a testament to this, the amount of posts that I have been doing in the past few days should indicate this new movement, and I am committed to continue with the direction no matter what.

So I was going to state what is in the pick then I thought better of it so wait and you shall see!

I thought I had a lot to say today, apparently work had other thoughts and make all my thoughts dribble out of my head through my ear and it is now all puddling up on the floor.  (this was writen on Thursday)

With that said, I am trying to have more quiet time lately, especially in the morning.  I am making a point of not turning on the radio, which can be a huge distraction and directs my thoughts to the stories that are being covered, yes, I usually listen to talk radio (MPR).  I have a 40 minute drive so I would like to utilize this time as idea generating time and to enjoy some of the natural sites that I encounter.  The mornings are often beautiful with the sun rise and cloud formations and fog on occasion in the outlying areas that I have to go to but I digress...

What does one think about?  I wonder that a lot, when people think, what do they think about.  As for me, I like to think about the projects I am working on and projects ideas for the future.  Meaning of things I see and what I hear.  Inter-relationships of seemingly unrelated objects, ideas, events etc...

I do bounce around a lot though, it is a problem I have and I have talked a lot about it over the years, that one word that is ever allusive "focus"...  I guess I get bored easily and find myself jumping around.  Even this post seems to be all over.

I am curious though, what do you think about?

I am feeling richer in money but poorer in time, will have to work on finding time for my needs and my passions!

more soon...

I thought I would write more the week I did the reading deprivation quest (see past post) in hindsight I did not write very much at all. Well, except a few random tweets and my daily pages. I am not sure why I didn't write more, maybe it I was removing myself form the word altogether, to make it easier as it were. I found myself looking more to the visual aspect of my sensibility, I starting the Meditation Photo Series, something I have done several times before, and working on a web project. I also got a little bit of drawing done to boot.

I do have to come clean a little bit, I did not do a great job of not reading that week. I slipped up several times with twitter, some random emails and a bit of work related research, but I did say I would not count job hunting and work related reading as a real failure. I would say that I failed 25% (with the work research) which is a solid C grade, right, so I passed, yeah yeah, no flying colors or a gold star for me but it was hard. The one area that I was happiest with is that I really cut clean from Facebook for that week. Facebook is great in so many ways, but I find it to be a trap sometime, you know what I mean? I just get wrapped up with all on FB that I neglect other pursuits that are more important.

I am planning on doing it once again, just when I am not looking for projects that require reading to get it done right!

I am now to a point in my creative recovery (as it were) where the book that is my primary guide has put a seemingly strange restriction for this week <gasp> The exercise is reading deprivation for a week, yes, DO NOT READ ANYTHING!  This includes books, newspapers, emails, (assuming twitter/facebook/blogs) and the like.  The thought is that a lot of creative people are addicted to reading as such it is a crutch much like drugs/alcohol is to a more traditional addict and take away from other interests; it drains your time and can deplete the creative well.  So she suggests your time will be spent on other endeavors that need to be done, should be done and eventually every thing is done so the only other think you have left is play time.  Play is important even for us adults, clears the head and heals the soul.  I am not sure this will be the case; however she states that the people most resistant to the idea are usually the most rewarded if they follow through.  I am planning on trying it out <double gasp> so I will not be reading any twitter, facebook, blogs, books or newspapers etc... this includes numbing TV also.  I am going to take one exception, I will only read if it is related to the job hunt, but that is it.  <Yes I am a bastard that way, can't totally play by the rules>

I have a feeling that I will be writing a lot through the process, it might be interesting what little things come out of it!

I will report back next week, I really think it is going to be hard!

Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.

As a kid, I was a very persnickety person when it came to food, I was not easily feed because I did not like a whole lot of food. As I was talking to my mom this morning, she retold the story of how she tried to get me to eat carrots. She would tell me how rabbits had great eye sight and if I wanted to see as good as rabbits, that I have to eat what rabbits eat; carrots. In my little mind at the time, I thought I could get around this with a loop hole, I would just open my eyes as wide as I could and I would see better. Didn't like them needless to say until my teen years. I was a picky eater, in a meat and potato/non adventurous small town food tradition.

In the last fifteen or so years, my like for more interesting foods have increased exponentially. This is even more evident in the last five or so years. Now I am to the point that I think I am willing to try just about anything. Yesterday is a perfect example of this, we stopped at Lyndale Tap House to meet friends, while there Max got the happy hour Beer Mussels. Yes I have never had Mussels before, guess I am a bit scared that kind of sea food. Yes, very stupid of me, and I know that so I dived in head first and had my first every Mussel, and loved it even though I am still a little geeked out by shell fish. Will I have them again, yes and would I try to make them my self, hell yes.

Be brave, and expand your box is a great way to experience life fuller and for all my creative kids, doing things you never have done before is a great way to expand your creative well!

Pexa

p.s. I think I will be writing up some reviews soon too, I might start out with the Tap House, so come back soon to check it out!

So I have been thinking on the topic of "FOCUS" as of late.  I think I have been doing so because I fear I have lost what the meaning is to my own soul.  Focus, I will not define it, I think we all know the essence of the work and how it affects are every day, but did you know that the etymology suggest this:

Origin:
1635-45; < L: fireplace, hearth

According to dictionary.com I find this interesting since I really do not believe my earlier statement that I have lost the common meaning of the word, in hindsight, it is more likely that I have lost, no to strong, this is better, I put aside the FIRE of that I love.  The word I have been thinking of is just the place that the fire burns.  It has gone without fuel for a while and needs rekindling.  How does one rekindle the hearth of creative living?  Gets back which is his or hers? Feel the passion, become a beacon that lights the world and inspires others?  Well, this is easy and not so easy at the same time.  Personally I feel that it comes from doing, just doing, in a positive sense and by reaching out and giving back, all in a positive sort of way.  Finding and talking about the creative life, talking about creative ideas, by doing and being creative. 

I think I will leave it at that; will come back to this subject as I muse more about it, but in the meantime if anyone has some good insight for me, please leave me a comment or email me!