Bad Television, Good Writing and the urge to Create

Do you ever watch so much bad television that you find yourself thinking about writing just to see things turn out the way you want them to for a change?

In between all of the work I did on that painting the last few days I watched TV and ventured to some shows I hadn't seen before...and resolved never to see them again. Things that end badly leave me frustrated and depressed and worse yet, some shows don't really end, they just leave you hanging and wondering which way it went.

Yes, it's clear that I'm hard to please and usually stick to an assortment of old favorites that I can rely on to fill the hours and set a mood I'm comfortable with.

I'm too lazy to do any real writing and can't spell anyway so the thought fades and I go back to my paints.

and then there were sunflowers

When I wrote that last post I'd planned to stop painting for the night. I felt the images were beginning to tell my story and as those thoughts drifted and I began to go to sleep an image came to mind that just wouldn't be put off until morning. Every time I closed my eyes, there it was so back to the easel I went. 

My story just wouldn't be complete without the sunflowers that have become so important to me in the last few years, choosing the different varieties, planting them, growing them and watching the animals enjoying them as I draw and paint them.

The difficult thing about adding them was (and continues to be) finding a way to transition between the various areas of the painting so that the sky doesn't appear to be a blue puddle in the middle of everything.

Beginning to add some leaves around the edges seemed to help. After all this doesn't need to be art, it just needs to be me, my story in pictures in case I forget someday.

 Art can do many things, for many different reasons. It's always meant a lot to me and I'm glad that I've been able to share it with you.

Work will continue on this when I've had some sleep and the next idea comes. Thanks for joining me on the journey. I don't know where it's going but it's been pretty interesting so far...at least I hope it has been for you, there's no real way to tell you what it's been for me but I'm looking forward to getting back to it and trying once again to describe it all.

Writing Life

I love writing like I love painting. They both take you somewhere far away from your pain an troubles. People are often surprised when they actually talk to me or see me and find it odd when I tell them that they'd like me better on paper or e-mail. I don't think I'm alone in that, do you?

If you're going to write your day, wouldn't you want it to be somehow better and brighter instead of listing every ache or pain and problem? There are certainly enough people out there doing that and I want the focus here to be the art, gardening and crafts.

That said, I'd like to give you some further updates on projects:

I'm back to hand hemming that green tablecloth and finding it a bit boring so I keep switching between that and the sunflower painting.

I wrote notes on both of the backs of those blue and white paintings before I listed them for sale. I felt it was important to let people know that they can come to this blog and see the whole creation process from beginning to end of both pieces. Having done that I'm also considering making a disc so that I can watch the whole thing in my DVD player, a bit like a football player watching game footage to see where the game went right or wrong.

Yes, it's true "My projects have projects"

Big Hit at the Nursing Home

I have a lot of fun drawing flowers on the envelopes and more bits of flowers and leaves around the ones I clipped from the days"junk" mail . Now my cousin Susan tells me my "lumpy mail" is "a big hit at the table" in the nursing home she visits. It's been great timing too because this time of year there are garden catalogs in almost everydays mail so I promised I'd keep them comming and I'm already beginning to wear that new set of pencils down in the effort but it's fun to see the looks at the post office when I go in to mail them. For me it's the very best kind of art exhibit, more satisfying than "serious work" in a gallery setting and unlikely to be judged by anyone. Yes, I'm gutless but I'm happy and so are the folks that enjoy my letters and today that's all that matters.

The Art is in the mail

"playing" with an old sketchbook, pencils, and a garden catalog that came in today's mail to make the letters I write more interesting for all of us.

I may not have a lot going on to write about but I can make it fun to look at and sometimes that's enough and allows us all to spend the day together and keep our minds off our problems for a while.

Bag Lady

Well, I've been away from this blog quite a while. As you can see I've been sorting through fabrics and "playing" at the sewing machine. No one seems to buy art these days but everyone needs somewhere to put things so these bags should come in handy and of course I'm enjoying a little extra shelf space as I continue to sort things out. I'll try to write here more often as I do.

Did you notice that the handle on one of the bags is made out of a necktie ? Who knows what I'll come up with next. Be sure to keep reading and I'll try to keep it interesting. Bye for now.

Creativity in everything

I had a great time creatively when the daffodils bloomed with drawings, photo pages and several other projects and of course the same things are happening with my Iris. I was just to busy with the landscaping that needed to be done to get around to doing any of those things with my tulips or lilacs.

I love "biodegradable weed block"and enjoy the way each weeks newspapers and cardboard help mark various plantings as I cover them with gravel. Small progress, a few free papers each week and gravel recycled from other projects. Bit by bit things are beginning to take shape and there is a simple joy and satisfaction to be doing things this way that I don't think folks with the money to hire everything to happen at once could understand. I've always got the next bit to look forward to. Theirs is all done.