Of my Buy one Get One sale. On Saturday I am having an Open House in my studio in honor of Spring cleaning and will be shutting my shop down for the day. This might be the last chance for certain pieces. This woodblock print is just one of nearly sixty pieces that I have for sale now.
We enjoyed our Easter holiday with the family, but I think in the future we are going to ask them to visit a month or two later so they can enjoy good weather. They aren't religious so I don't see what the big deal about being here on Easter is. None of them joined us at church. Which is fine, but the weather will be so much nicer in May and early June.
Jon and I are making plans of our own for a nice little trip. We are finally going to make it to NYC in mid May. We got back into contact with some old friends and they invited us to stay with them in their spacious Brooklyn apartment. It will be nice to see them and other. I hope to make it to Etsy labs once, or at least see Anda from Etsy. I'm dying to meet her daughter!
The collage a day for a week went so well that I am doing it again, but with less restrictions. I just need to do some art daily. Yesterday it was a collage, today I'm not sure. I have a woodblock drawn on and ready to carve. It is quite small, but that is a good place to start.
Hope everybody has a great Wednesday. I miss the old days of blogging and reading blogs daily. I miss everybody.
Showing posts with label motherhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motherhood. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Working Through Pain
New work is coming faster these days. But I won't be online much as a result, and for a number of reasons. Not this week at least. I need some serious online detox time and today I kept them off all day until tonight because I wanted to scan this in and upload some photos. Expect this piece in my Etsy Shop soon enough once I get more pictures taken of it in the morning. Side shots and the like since it is a dimensional piece.
But I certainly kept myself busy. Today was a sad day, the last day seeing the woman who has been our visiting mother for the past seven months. She was linked up with me through this great program and has been coming over for an hour once a week for months now. But all good things must end, or so they say. And this is no exception. There are actually pretty strict rules in the program for her to now sever all ties. She can't contact me but she did give me her email address so I can write and send pictures. Also, because I started the program so late she is looking into being able to come back for a visit in the future.
I cried while she was here and then put blee on my back, put on some sunglasses and went out to meet a friend for coffee. I drowned my sorrows in a totally decadent Pumpkin Spice Latte and Chocolate Creme Cheese muffin. Eeeep! Not going to do that again. Until I do.
Got groceries, came home, put blee down for a short nap. The nap was short but I still managed to make this piece in the meantime. It consists of pages from an old french/english dictionary collaged with one of my woodblock prints onto stretched canvas.
Then I baked Sunrise Muffins. If you ask nicely maybe I will post the recipe. They are very tasty and pretty healthy too. My baking powder and soda are both expired so they didn't rise as much as they should, but they were still good. And will be better next time!
I'm sad. Looking at the pictures I took of them make me sad. But they are also precious. Blee is going to miss her. I think Maeby will too.
But I certainly kept myself busy. Today was a sad day, the last day seeing the woman who has been our visiting mother for the past seven months. She was linked up with me through this great program and has been coming over for an hour once a week for months now. But all good things must end, or so they say. And this is no exception. There are actually pretty strict rules in the program for her to now sever all ties. She can't contact me but she did give me her email address so I can write and send pictures. Also, because I started the program so late she is looking into being able to come back for a visit in the future.
I cried while she was here and then put blee on my back, put on some sunglasses and went out to meet a friend for coffee. I drowned my sorrows in a totally decadent Pumpkin Spice Latte and Chocolate Creme Cheese muffin. Eeeep! Not going to do that again. Until I do.
Got groceries, came home, put blee down for a short nap. The nap was short but I still managed to make this piece in the meantime. It consists of pages from an old french/english dictionary collaged with one of my woodblock prints onto stretched canvas.
Then I baked Sunrise Muffins. If you ask nicely maybe I will post the recipe. They are very tasty and pretty healthy too. My baking powder and soda are both expired so they didn't rise as much as they should, but they were still good. And will be better next time!
I'm sad. Looking at the pictures I took of them make me sad. But they are also precious. Blee is going to miss her. I think Maeby will too.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Waiting and Waiting
For something to happen. I think the title of this piece sums up my feelings pretty well. For the past month I have been waiting and waiting for inspiration to hit me. I was doing pretty well until around the time we found out about my friend's illness and the disagreement with family. Then I hit a wall and I have been banging against that wall trying to knock it down ever since.
Drawing pretty much stopped and so did everything else along with it. I tried so many things to get myself going again. From staring at pieces of paper to getting out a canvas and trying my best to make something beautiful all the way to pulling out Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain. And they have all failed. I still feel empty and it is hard to create out of emptiness. Of course I don't have a ton of time right now, but I have enough to do more than just spin my wheels. I can't take a break I'm afraid that I will lose everything that I have worked so hard for in the past three years. After art school I felt empty and ended up taking a three year break where I worked temp jobs and avoided art completely. It tortured me and I am terrified to go back to that space.
I've come dangerously close to burnout before but now I think I have hit total and complete burnout. Something has to change I need a break but at the same time it is so hard for me to take one, it is very hard for me to relax. Like the woman in the image I sit but not relaxed back in the chair but sitting up straight and anxious while trying to be calm.
I think I need really bad to take a class this summer. That is what got me out of my rut three years ago and it might help me now.
Drawing pretty much stopped and so did everything else along with it. I tried so many things to get myself going again. From staring at pieces of paper to getting out a canvas and trying my best to make something beautiful all the way to pulling out Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain. And they have all failed. I still feel empty and it is hard to create out of emptiness. Of course I don't have a ton of time right now, but I have enough to do more than just spin my wheels. I can't take a break I'm afraid that I will lose everything that I have worked so hard for in the past three years. After art school I felt empty and ended up taking a three year break where I worked temp jobs and avoided art completely. It tortured me and I am terrified to go back to that space.
I've come dangerously close to burnout before but now I think I have hit total and complete burnout. Something has to change I need a break but at the same time it is so hard for me to take one, it is very hard for me to relax. Like the woman in the image I sit but not relaxed back in the chair but sitting up straight and anxious while trying to be calm.
I think I need really bad to take a class this summer. That is what got me out of my rut three years ago and it might help me now.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Repetition - Sewing
Sewing can be very calming as it requires a lot of focus for me. It worked once before and liked it, I just kept forgetting to bring out the needle and thread and do it again. This time I had my composition all laid out without it but something was missing. So I dug around for my monotype printed and drawn bags and cut out a strip from it and then got out some thread and a needle. This time it is on an 8" x 8" gallery wrapped canvas. Once I stitched the strip to the backing woodblock print. From a woodblock print that almost worked but not quite, but I knew I wanted to keep it mostly intact like a stage for the rest of the image to come. Then I got out a brush and some gel medium and got to collaging.
I don't know how I managed to pull this off in between a troubled teething baby, but somehow my drive overcame and I used every moment of peace I had making this. I even did some of the sewing while I had her sleeping in one of the carriers against me. Very carefully of course! All sorts of materials are used in this piece. I'm putting together what I am learning about collage more and more along with the growing collection of sketches on various bits of paper. Some of these sketches get directly collaged, while others get burned onto a Gocco screen and printed so they can be collaged in multiple colors many times.
The day started off pretty rocky as expected after the Sunday night implosion. But it improved over time and ended up being not too bad. Especially for a Monday!
I don't know how I managed to pull this off in between a troubled teething baby, but somehow my drive overcame and I used every moment of peace I had making this. I even did some of the sewing while I had her sleeping in one of the carriers against me. Very carefully of course! All sorts of materials are used in this piece. I'm putting together what I am learning about collage more and more along with the growing collection of sketches on various bits of paper. Some of these sketches get directly collaged, while others get burned onto a Gocco screen and printed so they can be collaged in multiple colors many times.
The day started off pretty rocky as expected after the Sunday night implosion. But it improved over time and ended up being not too bad. Especially for a Monday!
Doing it All?
First, I hope everybody enjoyed their extra day. I did actually enjoy mine. I barely remember it at this point though. But I do remember that I enjoyed it.
But now trying to do it all isn't going so well for me. This is not a new piece.
How do you mums manage to balance everything so you can be there for your child while still having the time and energy to not only make art and or crafts? For awhile it seemed like I was doing it. Now just doing it but excelling at it. I felt powerful, I felt proud of myself. Sometimes I wondered even that people might think I was neglecting her because I was as productive as I am. Of course now I pretty much think the opposite. That people are watching me fall out of art and becoming simply a mommy. Not that there is anything wrong with just focusing on being a mother, but it just isn't what I want for myself. Am I being selfish?
I spend about five or more hours a day with my daughter strapped to me in some way or another. More during the weekdays. It is the only way she will nap and if she doesn't get her naps she screams. I'm able to do light housework and cleaning but that is about it. If I am wearing a certain carrier I can maybe draw. We just got back from one of our walks so I have a moment of piece. But mentally I am just not in a space to do what I need to do. I have all this canvas, gorgeous papers and of course blocks and inks to print with. Yet I have barely touched them in weeks. I haven't been sketching much and I certainly haven't been photographing my sketches for the 365 project. It just leaves me feeling like I failed already. Even going a week without making something feels like an eternity to me. I did some Gocco printing on Thursday but even that was too long ago. I haven't used any of the prints yet.
But now trying to do it all isn't going so well for me. This is not a new piece.
How do you mums manage to balance everything so you can be there for your child while still having the time and energy to not only make art and or crafts? For awhile it seemed like I was doing it. Now just doing it but excelling at it. I felt powerful, I felt proud of myself. Sometimes I wondered even that people might think I was neglecting her because I was as productive as I am. Of course now I pretty much think the opposite. That people are watching me fall out of art and becoming simply a mommy. Not that there is anything wrong with just focusing on being a mother, but it just isn't what I want for myself. Am I being selfish?
I spend about five or more hours a day with my daughter strapped to me in some way or another. More during the weekdays. It is the only way she will nap and if she doesn't get her naps she screams. I'm able to do light housework and cleaning but that is about it. If I am wearing a certain carrier I can maybe draw. We just got back from one of our walks so I have a moment of piece. But mentally I am just not in a space to do what I need to do. I have all this canvas, gorgeous papers and of course blocks and inks to print with. Yet I have barely touched them in weeks. I haven't been sketching much and I certainly haven't been photographing my sketches for the 365 project. It just leaves me feeling like I failed already. Even going a week without making something feels like an eternity to me. I did some Gocco printing on Thursday but even that was too long ago. I haven't used any of the prints yet.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
No cake for you!
Even though she is four months old today.
This is blee in her fancy smancy Baby Bjorn bouncy chair that a friend loaned to us indefinitely. I remember seeing it on Amazon before seeing it at her house and scoffing at the $100 pricetag. For a friggin bouncy chair I said to myself! And it doesn't even vibrate. And with the sleek design I just thought it was designed more for parents than kids.
Boy was I wrong. This thing is so much better than the standard Fisher Price one she had before. That was great but the vibration ate batteries and that got expensive even though it too was a handmedown and they are only $30 new. And she killed that bouncy chair as we watched it bow under her weight. And it honestly didn't bounce all that well. If it didn't vibrate it was pretty useless. So we kept shoving batteries in it.
This one on the other hand sways at every move and she has even learned to control the bounces by kicking her right leg. And she loves the bear. With four inclines including folding flat for storage and travel if I had to buy this I would. Man, I feel like such an uber yuppie for saying that. But I am very glad that I didn't have to buy it!
She did get a gift for her monthday. This activity center that I put together yesterday. Cursing up a storm the whole time. Evil, I tell you evil! It was given to us by one of Jon's co-workers but sent to the downtown office where it sat for months. Since yesterday the city was dead we were able to find parking and cart it home. It looks like she could have tons of fun with it and that it should entertain her for years. That is what his co-worker said about it. An awesome gift even if putting it together was a nightmare.
Anyhow, I hope everybody is having a great start to 2008. I am hoping it is better than 2007 big picture and small picture personally. It was a rather horrifying year in many ways and personally it was pretty terrible for me except for her of course.
Back to work while she naps!
This is blee in her fancy smancy Baby Bjorn bouncy chair that a friend loaned to us indefinitely. I remember seeing it on Amazon before seeing it at her house and scoffing at the $100 pricetag. For a friggin bouncy chair I said to myself! And it doesn't even vibrate. And with the sleek design I just thought it was designed more for parents than kids.
Boy was I wrong. This thing is so much better than the standard Fisher Price one she had before. That was great but the vibration ate batteries and that got expensive even though it too was a handmedown and they are only $30 new. And she killed that bouncy chair as we watched it bow under her weight. And it honestly didn't bounce all that well. If it didn't vibrate it was pretty useless. So we kept shoving batteries in it.
This one on the other hand sways at every move and she has even learned to control the bounces by kicking her right leg. And she loves the bear. With four inclines including folding flat for storage and travel if I had to buy this I would. Man, I feel like such an uber yuppie for saying that. But I am very glad that I didn't have to buy it!
She did get a gift for her monthday. This activity center that I put together yesterday. Cursing up a storm the whole time. Evil, I tell you evil! It was given to us by one of Jon's co-workers but sent to the downtown office where it sat for months. Since yesterday the city was dead we were able to find parking and cart it home. It looks like she could have tons of fun with it and that it should entertain her for years. That is what his co-worker said about it. An awesome gift even if putting it together was a nightmare.
Anyhow, I hope everybody is having a great start to 2008. I am hoping it is better than 2007 big picture and small picture personally. It was a rather horrifying year in many ways and personally it was pretty terrible for me except for her of course.
Back to work while she naps!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Goals and Such - My Schedule
Last Day for Domestic 1st Class Christmas shipping. Orders need to come in by noon so I have time to package them and get them to the post box before the 1pm pickup. I am doing free Priority Mail upgrades to orders $30 or over. But the cutoff for that is tomorrow.
Something I have learned is that it is very important for me to have some sort of a schedule that includes getting to bed around the same time every night. More than anything I can do outside taking medication a sleep schedule is important to managing bipolar. In fact even when on an effective medicine combo messing with my sleep can totally override it. It is that important, but also very hard for me to stick to. I failed last week when I stayed up past two printing and I paid for it big time for a number of days. Right now my goal is to be in bed by midnight which I have mostly stuck to (once was up until 12:15) but I don't think that is good enough. I really should start winding down around 10:30 and be in bed around 11 so I can hopefully be asleep by 11:30 since it is hard for me to get to sleep. Always has been. This gives me a few hours of sleep before blee wakes up between 1am and 3am for a feeding and changing.
Another thing I have been doing has been using a list on iGoogle (kind of like Widgets for OSX but better since it is web based). I set seven reachable but important goals for the day. And I always rotate at least one out and one in each day to keep things different and help me get things done. And if something becomes total habit I remove it completely. Right now I am working on making wearing blee and exercising habit and I think I am almost there. Thankfully the two often go hand in hand since I am able to do certain exercises like squats while wearing her and using her as a handy weight.
I think I may start posting this here since the problem with the widget is that there is no record after the day is over. This way I can go back and cross things out and see how I am doing week by week. And see what I am doing.
1. wear blee (min hour total)
2. art
3. exercise
4. tidy up
5. List 2 Items
6. blog/ Flickr
7. rest
These are good simple goals to have that keep me from stressing about everything thing that needs to get done and helps me get more done because I spend less time stressing.
Also, I recently joined a group called BostonBabywearers and was rather disappointed because they never seemed to meet in Boston but always well outside the city. Not locations friendly for my carless butt to drag my three month old too. Heck, they weren't even on the T line unless you include lots of bus transfers. No thanks. So I politely spoke up and asked about meetings in Boston and a number of interested women in my area spoke up and now we are planning something in JP early next year. I'm excited about connecting with other mom's that I hopefully have more in common with than the one in the mom's group through church. Don't get me wrong those women are all very nice generous and kind hearted people and I like them. But I seriously feel like the odd duck out in that group. Even though I am not much younger than any of them I feel very young and I think I am the only one that didn't grow up Christian and that seems to make a huge difference. The only one with any doubts, or at least will admit to them. I really have a hard time opening up to them. I mean none of these highly educated upper middle class to downright wealthy women knew what agnostic means! One of them tried to define it but failed miserably. A for effort I guess? Having been agnostic the vast majority of my life, borderline atheist I was shocked by this. I want to continue going to that once a month meeting, but I think these babywearers may be a bit more like me. Or at least balance it out.
Time to get to some since blee is actually napping!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Printing? Hah!
Too much housework babycare to do. Always.
Not a full day behind the HappyLight could get me feeling happy today. I thought today could be a me day. But not when the clothes are piled up, we (I) need to go through her clothes and separate stuff that no longer fits or doesn't fit yet or is weather inappropriate, dishes, vacuuming and lunch needs to be made.
It is not that he hasn't watched her and played with her but unlike me he isn't able to multitask and get stuff done while doing it. Watching a sports show while holding her isn't as helpful as carrying her in the sling and vacuuming.
I had high hopes for this weekend, but what is the point anyhow. Maybe I should be like those mothers that stop doing art/ making stuff when they have a baby.
Not a full day behind the HappyLight could get me feeling happy today. I thought today could be a me day. But not when the clothes are piled up, we (I) need to go through her clothes and separate stuff that no longer fits or doesn't fit yet or is weather inappropriate, dishes, vacuuming and lunch needs to be made.
It is not that he hasn't watched her and played with her but unlike me he isn't able to multitask and get stuff done while doing it. Watching a sports show while holding her isn't as helpful as carrying her in the sling and vacuuming.
I had high hopes for this weekend, but what is the point anyhow. Maybe I should be like those mothers that stop doing art/ making stuff when they have a baby.
Monday, September 10, 2007
This Week Will Have Art!
Overall it was a pretty good weekend. Very hot though, I hope people in the rest of the country didn't have the heat wave that hit us hard last week. Yesterday was a bit better, but that was the day that our little angel decided to show her horns. She wasn't that bad, but compared to her normal behavior she was a demon baby that just couldn't be pleased.
We had company over multiple times and of course she was perfectly behaved for them. Even when they stayed for hours she was good the whole time. Visits are great but quite exhausting. I'm pretty happy because my friend and his mother who was visiting from Maine gave blee some of her first books. We've gotten so many great gifts but since so many are handmade not too many books. She had assumed that we would have gotten so many that she steered away from the obvious choices like Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Now some art talk! I did not get to do anything other than some very light studio cleaning. While my studio is far from being super messy it could use a little work if I am going to carve and even more if I am going to print. I should probably carve since it is easy for me to stop and get up from that activity if baby calls. And while Jon is home today and basically for the rest of the month he has some work to do today. I put a sketchbook and some pens on my nightstand and have promised myself that if I don't do any art in the studio during the day then I will at the very least fill a page of my sketchbook. It seems like a good way to wind down as well as keep my creativity going.
But I have been listing pieces like this one from July fairly regularly in my Etsy Shop. I also have quite a few ACEOs that I need to scan and list.
Now that the little bug is down for what could be a long nap I think I will try to do the same. I did not get enough sleep last night.
We had company over multiple times and of course she was perfectly behaved for them. Even when they stayed for hours she was good the whole time. Visits are great but quite exhausting. I'm pretty happy because my friend and his mother who was visiting from Maine gave blee some of her first books. We've gotten so many great gifts but since so many are handmade not too many books. She had assumed that we would have gotten so many that she steered away from the obvious choices like Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Now some art talk! I did not get to do anything other than some very light studio cleaning. While my studio is far from being super messy it could use a little work if I am going to carve and even more if I am going to print. I should probably carve since it is easy for me to stop and get up from that activity if baby calls. And while Jon is home today and basically for the rest of the month he has some work to do today. I put a sketchbook and some pens on my nightstand and have promised myself that if I don't do any art in the studio during the day then I will at the very least fill a page of my sketchbook. It seems like a good way to wind down as well as keep my creativity going.
But I have been listing pieces like this one from July fairly regularly in my Etsy Shop. I also have quite a few ACEOs that I need to scan and list.
Now that the little bug is down for what could be a long nap I think I will try to do the same. I did not get enough sleep last night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
