Random Saturday Thoughts

view from Cassie's perspective, featuring funky '70s tile kitchen floor

and straight ahead: future dining room gallery wall

February can be a tough month for me. The blahs hit me every year, luckily with each one my toolkit for dealing with them becomes bigger and deeper.

I'd love to create a documentary or something in the style of a silent film.

Someday soon I will get on a plane because I want to go places.

The dog is making a "nest" with the blankets on my bed right now to find a perfect sleep position.

The house is a mess. It's serving me less and less that way.

There are plenty of things I'd rather do than clean.

But the dirtier the house, the smaller that list of things get.

I'd like to practice painting faces and figures. Maybe one a week?

When I was a kid I used to draw all the time, copying other photos or images. I could do that again now just to practice.

I might be more resilient than I think I am.

We're looking at purchasing an art hanging system to create a gallery wall in our dining room. It would house revolving exhibits, and maybe a play space for temporary vignettes. I can't wait.

I'd like to learn how to use the manual options on my point & shoot. Maybe when I clean I'll find my camera's user manual. That would help.

I'm considering writing a series of memoir-like pieces in the form of vignettes, snapshots or poems. I think it would be fun.

I love reading children's books about writing and art. They're usually much less intimidating than those written for adults.

One of the favourite corners of my home is my library nook, the one with the big round cushion with pompoms that I can sit on when I browse my favourite books. I could do a blog series on corners of my home - but only once I've cleaned it.

I think I've just about exhausted the thoughts I wanted to share here. It's time to start a load of laundry. Or write a vignette.

Art-making Mantra #2: Can't Be Too Precious

I spent some time at the art table yesterday and have a few new pieces in the works:

work in progress #1 (10x10 on canvas)

working title: raining hearts

It's an ongoing challenge for me to leave a piece unfinished at the end of a painting session and pick it back up again. Afraid of ruining a good thing, works in progress tend to stay shelved for months before they see the light again. Especially if I like what I have.

work in progress #2 (12x12 on cardboard)

I like the movement in this one, but I'm not sure where to go with it. Irony?

Enter Stephanie's art-making mantra #2: Can't be too precious.

(I credit my abstract painting teacher Beulah McLellan for this one!)

I can't let an unfinished piece become so precious that I won't touch it for fear of losing what I have. I mean, if it's unfinished I have to do something right? It's a matter of trusting the process (art-making mantra #3 perhaps?).

So today I will trust, pick up my two pieces and see what comes.

Wish me luck!