April, 2022
One of my favorite things in my studio is this gallery wall. I don’t really frame very much, like I said in the last post, but this lets me clip works in process or recently finished (or not so recenty finished) pieces. It’s adjustable up and down and side to side, and was pretty easy to install. The idea was that I’l look at the works in process and get some fresh eyes from across the room, kind of like a design wall for quilters. Truth be told a lot of the pieces hanging there have been there for quite a while, and I’m hoping they will remind me I can make things I actually like if I just bust out all the mixed media supplies I have tucked away and play a little more often.
If this looks interesting to you, it’s the Clear Tape system from www.Gallerysystem.com (not an affiliate, just a fan)
April, 2022
It took me a while to understand why so many of the artists I follow always seem to post pictures of their work beautifully framed and hanging in well-curated rooms. I kept wondering how they afforded to frame everything, how they stored it all, and where the heck those rooms were. It was almost embarassing when I realized what I’m sure everyone else already knew – there’s an app for that. The picture here is my first try at using Canvy – I know there are others, but this seemed pretty painless and the free version had enought options for an experiment. This is an older mixed media piece, and no, it’s not really that big. I think this will be a nice new toy to play with.
April, 2022
More than once the narrative in my mind while I try to find peace in my sitting meditation is a critique of my failure to find peace.
That’s not the best path to satisfaction.
Most of the advice I’ve ever seen says maybe the most important thing you can do while watching your thoughts is to suspend the judgement of them. How often do you really have the chance to practice tenderness toward yourself – what is called metta, or loving-kindness? When I have had conversations with people who say they have tried meditation, but it just doesn’t work for them, usually there is some kind of self-criticism attached. It’s not something you would do to other people you cared about, so it’s probably not a good idea to do it to yourself.
March, 2022
The picture I chose of March is a sampler piece I completed during an on-line workshop with Valerie Goodwin, a quilt artist. The workshop is called Map Haiku, and the pieces are abstract representations of places, real or imagined, rendered in transparent inked layers of silk organza and hand stitching.
Mapping seemed particularly apt this month what with all of the internal excavations I’ve been doing during my Artist Way program, my morning pages, and my Arthur Brooks reading. Turns out there are a lot of nooks and crannies in my mind and soul, and even some newly discovered territory.
March, 2022
I’ve been aware of Arthur Brooks as a “think tank” guy, and more recently as someone who writes for The Atlantic magazine. Recently, my husband came across an interview he did on the 10% Happier podcast for his new book From Strength to Strength, and we listened to it while on a road trip to Tucson. Then, we each got the book. Wasteful, perhaps, but he likes hard copy, and he likes to write all over his hard copy, and he likes to read his hard copy at the cigar bar, so that by the time he finishes, let’s just say, well-loved and stinky. I suppose I could have read it first, but neither of us wanted to wait.
Which is a long way of saying we were pretty intrigued. He and I have talked about a lot of these concepts before, but there was some great new language about the second stage of life – not a retirement planning book really, more about finding meaning as you go through life’s inevitable transitions, many of which are driven by simple biology.
Each of us really was compelled to keep talking about it. For my part, I reached out to three women that I thought might indulge me in some conversation. It’s hard to do any kind of book club thing when you are busy, and we are iin four different places in the country and three time zones, but we’re doing it – April 1 is our date. I didn’t even want them to have to bow out if there wasn’t time to read the book, so I created a little cheat sheet, and maybe I’ll do a video.
I especially want to talk to these women, because as much as I really liked the book, he does seem to me to have a man’s perspective, and a lot of the research cited only used men as subjects. That’s what my husband called a “Brene Brown problem”. She outed herself shortly after publishing a lot of her work on shame, and said she hadn’t adequately incorporated men’s point of view or experiences, something she has since worked hard to correct.
I’m so grateful to these women, that they would be open to my out-of-the-blue phone call asking them to indulge my craving for conversation.
Perhaps more later ….
