Kate, Author at The Rest of my Time

Working toward Resolution

August, 2023

So I made a little reel and posted it on Instagram, showing the lead up to a series of 10 paintings I working on right now – six out of ten finished, I think. The project started years ago as the last assignment in my Composition class, just before I moved from Atlanta to Chicago, and languished for quite some time

I joined the Creative Strength Training this year, and also one of the focus groups focused on creating in a series, and it finally pushed me to get the original sketches transferred to paper and then to get to painting.

They won’t be perfect, of course, but working through the puzzle that is resolving a painting is a frustrating joy, and since “resolve” was my word of the year, it’s appropriate that they will finally, literally, come out of the closet.

Here, take a look, I start with the “still life”, which I made 30 drawings of , each 20 x 30, from different angles. Those were layered over one another, three at a time, rotated and flipped until I got a composition I liked. Then, I was inspired by the color palette of our favorite Italian villa, which led to the mess of paint tubes and pots full of mixtures – now I’m fully in to the mixed media layers of it all!

Thankful Thursday – Lucie Duclos

August, 2023

Time for #ThankfulThursday again, and a shout-out to another one of the artists that the COVID crisis brought in to my life. Thanks to @lucieduclos who, through the @winslowartcenter led the #paperpalscollageclub, inspiring and challenging us every month with examples and prompts. When you check out Lucie’s work (photo is my work, not hers), and I hope you do, you’ll see a really distinctive and memorable style that is instantly recognizable as hers, something I aspire to someday – I think.

Meditation on the Road

August, 2023

As attached as I might be to my little nest at home, one of the great things about having a regular meditation practice is that you can take it with you anywhere. Having travelled quite a lot in my life, it’s nice to have a practice that really doesn’t need any special surroundings or any special equipment.

I’ve meditated on airplanes, often during the time between takeoff and when they make that “10,000 feet clear” announcement. Clearly these days, there is plenty of reason to seek some internal peace if you find yourself in travel chaos. I’ve meditated in more hotel rooms than I can count. In fact, I’ve just finished a nice little sit in a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky.

Wherever I am, there I am.

Thankful Thursday – Bel Mills

July, 2023

Bel Mills of @scrap_paper_circus is my Thankful Thursday this month. She was one of many lockdown-era sanity savers who came to us via Zoom with great projects and skill builders. This paper wallet made the 3 year old girl who got it very happy (and contributed to my inability to throw anything away without great scrutiny)

Focus

July, 2023

I’ve gotten up and down three times since I started to compose this post. Isn’t meditation supposed to help me with focus? Or maybe without it, I would have gotten up six times by now, scrolled a little, and washed my hair. I’m going with that theory.

There’s a lot competing for our attention these days, a lot of noise for even the most focused of us to contend with. One of my favorite writers on the subject is Tim Wu, the author of “The Attention Merchants”, a long but engrossing account of the forces that are designed to make us look where they want us to look. Add to that the many studies showing our attention spans are measurably decreasing. So, really, isn’t it a triumph to just be able to sit still for a bit? And maybe tomorrow a bit longer?