A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk

catching up

Trying to get back in the groove after an unplanned break from the computer. A week and a half with no computer, no internet, and no blog surfing is not something I would have thought I could have done before now! And I have to admit, I didn't miss it a bit at the time. But now that we're back home and back online--there's so much to catch up on!

So, here's a few journal pages I've needed to post, even before my break. Just as a warm up, getting back into my blogging groove. And journaling groove! Apart from a little doodling and some crochet, I haven't done anything creative in a week and a half. Unless you count coming up with creative justifications for one more plate of thanksgiving leftovers (It is morning and breakfast is the most important meal of the day; It would be such a shame for all those chicken 'n dumplings to go to waste; Who knows when I'll get to enjoy mom's homecooking again; Vegetables shmegtables!).

Hope you had a wonderful holiday or weekend or whatever! Now I've got some some green tea and vitamins to catch up on, fruits and vegetables to buy and a studio to get reaquainted with. Ah, there's no place like home!

ten cent pistol

finished painting, 1 am

And we have yet another collaborative painting--our seventh painting so far. It looks like we're sufficiently in the groove and have things down to...well, an art.

When we first started these paintings over a year ago, we didn't like to think too much about the outcome, but just to enjoy spending time together doing something we both loved. That was really the only goal; a finished painting icing on the cake. But after getting a few paintings under our belts as the idea of someday actually selling them danced in the fringes of our minds, a few worries began to surface. Do we continue to use the same tools and techniques we naturally gravitate toward (scraping paint, stenciling, spray paint, etc.) or force ourselves to try something new with each painting? Is it a bad thing to have hearts and flowers in every painting you make or should you deliberately limit certain repeating motifs to have a more varied body of work? Do we force ourselves to work through the dry times or continue only when we are in the mood and can fully enjoy the process? In other words, do we stick to what works just enjoying our time together for what it is, even if the output is sporadic, or challenge ourselves to push a little harder and maybe do something with it someday?

For the most part, these questions have answered themselves somewhere along the way. As we have gained a little confidence in our ability to actually produce something good together and have streamlined our process somewhat, we've decided to work a little harder, a little more deliberately, and see what happens.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

2 pages, or what to do when you make crappy art

Proof that I show you everything I've got: I hate these two pages. Maybe hate is too strong a word. I really, really don't like these two pages. There. That's better.

I don't even know what it is exactly that I dislike, but something about them seriously rubs me the wrong way. When I flip through my journal, I barely glance at them. It's like pretending they're not there.

Things I do like about these pages:

-The colors on the "Starting Over" page (below). And the collaged bits peeking through the paint.

-The words 'starting over again' running off the page.

-The oh-so-appropriate song lyrics on "Anxiety & Pain" (above). Rediscovering a band I loved in college.

-Journaling on "Starting Over" thanks to Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" which we heard on XM Radio on the drive back from Reno and which I promptly looked up when we returned home. Lyrics I can relate to a little more than I might want to admit. Not necessarily the obvious drug references, but the longing to escape.

Things I don't like about these pages:

-The photo from Black Canyon in "Anxiety & Pain". WTF?? Usually a completely irrelevant image doesn't bother me at all, but this one just makes me twitchy.

-The green background. I don't hate many colors, but that shade of green is pretty close to a hate. What was I thinking?

-The collaged bit on the top left-hand corner of "Starting Over," cut from a Pier 1 catalog. I like it, but hate it there.

-The doodled bit coming off the Pier 1 collage piece. <Shudder>

-The pink inside of the collaged flower piece. It needs something inside but I don't know what and I can't stand to look at the page for over 10 seconds in order to figure it out. Better to just cut my loses and move on.

-The doodling around the outside of the pink collaged flower piece. Bad choice that only draws attention to the mute pink inside.

Now, I didn't go through this exercise just to tear my work apart--what would be the point in that? And the point is certainly not to elicit sympathy from you wonderful people so that you'll send me emails assuring me that my crappy art isn't as crappy as I think it is. Actually, I'm happy to let these pages occupy their space in a journal that I otherwise love. I'm not about to rip them out or even rework them until I'm satisfied. They are a reminder to me that it is okay not to love everything you make. It's seriously okay. And what's even better is for me to share my two crappy pages with you so that the next time you feel completely bummed out by your own crappy art (and you will), that you'll cut yourself some slack, pat yourself on the back for even getting in there to make the--albeit crappy--art in the first place, and keep on working  never looking back. Will you do that for me? Let's do it together.

color therapy

Color is like food for the spirit--plus it's not addictive or fattening. ~ Isaac Mizarani

We were always intoxicated with color, with words that speak of color, and with the sun that makes colors live. ~ Andre Derain

Among the several kinds of beauty, the eye takes most delight in colors. ~ Joseph Addison

I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red. ~ Alexander Calder

Drawing is of the spirit; color is of the senses. ~ Henri Matisse

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. ~ Claude Monet

today's outlook bleak

Another snow day today. I guess winter is settling in early this year. It feels like winter. Sad and desolate.

Depleted and grey. Barren - adj. unable to sustain growth.

Forsaken and forlorn.

"Lonely adds to solitary a suggestion of longing for companionship, while lonesome heightens the suggestion of sadness; forlorn and desolate are even more isolated and sad."

What would life be without a good thesaurus to help describe your mood perfectly?