March 21

This is how I spent the majority of my day.  On the clock.  As a wrap up for some in-house professional development we were given a scratchboard and a couple tools and asked to represent what we had learned in the program.  It focused on inquiry and getting kids to use deeper thinking skills.  I chose to make a spiral staircase.  Of course I chose to make a spiral staircase.  We were given a smaller board to practice and experiment with, and I destroyed it.  I didn't understand how to make things "look right".  So as with all new mediums, I went to the interwebs and looked for tutorials.  Yes, I had to have someone explain that drawing with a scratchboard is like drawing in reverse.  When you draw, you put on the page what you want, where you want it.  With a scratchboard, you have remove what you don't want.  The project took me six house to complete all told.  It was more exhausting to use creative energy that long, than it is to chase my preschoolers for nine hours straight.  I'm really happy with how it came out.  I'll be really disappointed if I don't get to keep it.  I'd like to frame it.  I'm not sure I'll do scratchboarding again.  It was an interesting exploration, but this one really drained me.



Here it is in -progress with a lot more scratching still to be done.

March 20

Man perspective is a bitch.  It was really hard to capture the curve of the tiara in the design.  I don't think I did it very well.  The left side is better than the right.  The right almost looks mangled or dented.  It's been a while since I sketched.  Additionally, I did this without using my thumb as a guide, this was all free hand, no measuring with pencil.  I'm not sure if that's progress or just a different method.

March 19

I spent some time cleaning out more in the studio, working towards the finished product.  I think I decided that instead of painting it I wants to, tastefully, decorate with framed examples of work, either my own or pieces that inspire me.  So after that I didn't have a lot of time to create.  I worked on the applique a bit since I haven't touched in in about a week I think.  It always looks so messed up in progress.  Eventually it's going to be usable.  I'm anxious to get it done and use it!

March 18

 

This is based off a doodle I did in a meeting today.  The black on white was a little frustrating because too much white kept being drawn up.  But I like it.  Here is the original sketch:

P.S.  My new studio is fantastic!

March 17

I've lived in my apartment for almost 5 years now with the second bedroom set up as an office.  Any time spent in there was spent cleaning because when you have a room you don't use (at all) you tend to dump stuff in it to deal with later.  This was only a place for things to live, I never used it as an office.  Recently I was thinking that I should just downsize to a one bedroom.  Then I realized, it didn't have to be an office...what if it was a studio?  I started having grand plans for how wonderful it would be.  Then the instant gratification issues started.  This is going to take a lot of work and I want a studio NOW! So on a day I set aside to clean the house, I instead spent hours in the office working towards a studio.  The above pictures are the before.  Here are the afters:

It is in no way shape or from done.  However, it is usable.  I was looking around for a new desk for my art table because I do need to store office-type things in here, and realized my desk would be perfect if not for the hutch.  Taking the hutch off took and hour because you have to take the desktop off to get at the screws that hold it all together.  Halfway through, as I was wrestling with the heavy desktop/hutch assembly in an area I had not given myself enough space in I admittedly thought, "Doing this alone might have been a stupid move.  Can't reach my phone if I get stuck.  I'll have to be extra careful not to get stuck."  I'm not sure these are the thoughts of a sane person.  Anyways I did get it off and the desktop reattached.  Got tons of things cleaned out and have many many books to be donated to Open Books (a literacy charity).  I want to repaint, get shelves for over the desk, move both bookcases to one side of the room, and there is more cleaning out to do.  But it's a start!  Hooray for creating creative spaces! (And for restoring dining rooms to their original functions.)

March 16

Every time I think I got the hang of seed stitch I come to a place where my brain clearly wandered off and I did the wrong stitch and I find myself having to undo one or two rows to fix what I messed up.  The problem is that knitting, like crochet and embroidery creates a very zen mood in me.  I relax, and I do zone a little.  Maybe I need to make sure I'm not choosing a stitch that alternates if I'm going to zone out while doing it.

March 15

My creative moment was really random today.  While waiting for the bus, I noticed a puddle in which I could very clearly see the reflection of a street light.  I couldn't get the camera to capture the amount of detail that I could see on light part itself.  There were several rings in the light cover and varying levels of light through those rings.  I started playing in the puddle with my foot.  I tapped in various manners (quick, slow, hard soft, different distances, splashing, pushing, etc) and watched how the resulting ripples played across the reflection.  I was so fascinated by the puddle, I may have neglected to signal the bus driver and missed a bus.  So I went back to playing, but watched a little more closely for the bus as well.