9 Moons Ago

This hat was a Christmas gift from Mom (aka Mumsy) & Dad and I love it! Ive got a couple of other winter ones that are also pretty kewel. Its a bit chilly in the ole stone cottage tonight, and I didnt feel starting a fire in the front room, so I layered some clothes and put my hat on. Then I did my self portrait in pencil. I liked the look of it, and didnt want to possibly ruin it, so I scanned it and dropped colour into it via photoshop. Glad I did because I like the original just a tad more than the coloured one.

Real watercolor wouldve been nicer of course, but I thought Id experiment. It was fun!
I want to thank my family and husband for the wonderful encouragement they have given me lately!! More than once its made me pick up the pencil when I might have otherwise avoided drawing.

Tomorrow I begin Vein of Gold and my 20 minute walks! Gus will be loving it. I am also going to start a 30 day grid of 1.5 squares to draw in, as a part of a group project started by the Everyday Matters (Danny Gregory) yahoo group. Well all be scanning our pages at the end of the month, so Ill post mine here. Wonder what itll be like to draw in such a small space? I find it hard enough to sketch in a 8.5 by 5 space! Havent done thumbnails in a while..
Anyway..that means its bedtime!
I can smell the weekend in the air!! Mmm..smells like we might invite some peeps over….you know who you are! Miss you guys! Still havent discussed Samoa!!! We shall call tomorrow!!!

The bookcase is clean! So much nicer to look at..even though its a little hard to tell the difference by the sketches. I wont be doing before and after sketches for it, but Ill be de-cluttering till Easter time or longer if I have to do so. Itll be a nice thing to free up some spaces and to be able to find things easily. Its amazing how clutter alone can keep one from doing things..Ive been fighting this kind of thing for most of my life. Its only the past few years that Ive started making headway.

I have a book on Feng Shui and it makes so much sense. Even if you dont believe in the whole philosophy of it, the rules are forms of common sense in a lot of cases. Yet its a way of holisitic thought/art/science that incorporates the environment you live in or work in with your inner spirit.
One thought that strikes a chord with me: messes made while in the act of creating are positive. Its only when you fail to clean up, to let paint and brushes dry, to stack papers, or leave things messy for too long that it becomes bad energy. The longer it sits, the less you want to deal with it. I know this too well.

Anyway, I felt much more energy today..did my walking while we were doing our bi-monthly grocery run. (More work in one day, but beats going to the store every week!) And so, with this energy, I drew an extra sketch. The potbelly stove in the library. Gus came in to have a lie down while I was drawing, and so I drew him in at the last minute:

**Mmm..good album! **
Can’t believe I left this behind in 2002! Glad to have it back. Go check it out!
Ooof..better scoot off to bed shortly!!
G*Damn right its a beautiful day..uh huh!

Soaking up lots of inspiration lately. So, even though exhausted after a long and busy weekend, I did a sketch tonight. I did take my sketchbook over to Mum and Dad’s on the weekend, but didn’t do any drawings. It was fun visiting and I really didn’t feel like doing artwork. I did do a couple of half hearted dog sketches on Thurs though:

Not sure if it’s better to do half hearted drawings, or none at all? Well, I guess it’s always better to draw than not to..I’m still getting back into the habit, and it doesn’t always come easily.
One thing is the fact that there is still clutter about that depletes my energy. So, I’m going to have a think about the best consistant way to tackle that without feeling overwhelmed.
Here’s my craptacular “before” sketch of the bookcase in the office, and tomorrow I’ll clean the bookcase and sketch the “after” version when I’m actually awake enough to care about putting some life & color into the sketch!

I’m also going to start up daily walks again, which Cameron suggested would help my energy, as it was working wonders last year. Perhaps this is a good time to try “Vein of Gold”, by Julia Cameron, again. Lately, I haven’t been the best about morning pages (3 pages of fast writing in the morning) and I find they really help me to meditate, get centered, set goals and clear any confusion. They also produce some memorable and strange dreams! Morning pages, an artist date per week (time alone to find inspiration by doing something special or going somewhere) and walking are the 3 main tools in this book to help get creativity going. The 1st of April would be a good point to start. Perhaps I’ll stop this habit of being negative about my art! I just realised that, despite my lack of effort or concentration while drawing, these sketches are important and don’t need to be judged.

On a hella good note: It’s raining!!!! YAY! And I got some pansies and impatiens at Bunnings today! Double YAY!!

p.s. Kaffy and Zach!!! WOW! AWW! YAY!! Yiddle baby foot!!

Spring has Sprung!!!
Well, in some parts of the world anyway:-) I’m enjoying the late summer/early fall season. Still some warm days left! Very nice indeed!

This is a picture of all the goodies I found on my walks in the Springtime here. I just scanned them, whenever I got back from ‘jaunts’, and I am going to be making some collages out of them & other objects on the computer. Or I may not. I tend to re-position the things so much that it’d be better to paint them.

I was amazed at the abundance of flowers along these country roads. Even wild plumeria..ohh..smells so good! We had vases of flowers in every room of the house well into summer. Now the only bright color, besides green, is the last of the fuchsias (thanks, bern!;-)) This week I am going to get a hanging plant for the front porch and maybe one for my studio too. Tempted to plants bulbs, if I can rabbit-proof things a little better. I owe my love of gardening to my grandmother, who taught me the basics of planting beautiful flower beds when I was young.

Going to bed soon. We’re getting up early in the morning … there’s a big family gathering this weekend..rellies from Brisbane visiting. (Mumsy..we may call you on your Friday night, if you’ll be around. Daylight savings ends for us this weekend..it’ll be 14 hours difference again, but not till your Sunday)

Haven’t drawn anything..I was re-charging my psychic batteries, clearing junk out, and hanging doors. Yes..hanging doors! More on that another time…love to you all. Thanks for all those funny work comments!!
Ames