This is a wonderful article! I couldn't have written it better myself! I love when a writer can put something so simply, hitting the nail on the head and I have that "Exactly!" moment!
Here is the link for anyone with fibromyalgia , anyone who suspects they have it, and employers, friends and family of people with fibromyalgia.
http://livingwithcfs.com/fibromyalgiacfs-friendship-seeing-through-invisible-illness/
By the way, I have a new painting I finished this week. I shall post it tomorrow.
I did well this week. What I did really worked. I felt "normal". The kind of energy I should always have. But yesterday I went shopping in Wal Mart and with it being the holidays more and more people were cowing around the halls. I say cowing because people tend to get in each others way in these places. Lastnight my sleep was more disturbed than usual and I got to sleep later than what I finally got myself to get to sleep at.
To sum it up? Shopping in a busy mall at Wal Mart during the holiday season triggers me! Today I was tired, soar and feeling overwhelmed by nothing. I think I hate the overwhelmed by nothing bit more than anything else. It's a feeling of really really needing nothing else but to be still, think nothing, do nothing but breathe. I did that today as much as I could but today the guilt set in some as it does for all people with fibromyalgia. I do much better when I don't allow any guilty feelings to come in. People with fibromyalgia simply need a day to do nothing or sometimes more after a day of a lot of stimuli and activity. At the mall there is just too much bright light, too many people and too many things to see. Today I simply did Tai Chi and Restorative Yoga. And a nap in the afternoon.
I played guitar a little tonight but I have found over the years that music takes more energy than any creative activity. Music is the most sensitive to the amount of energy a person has. It's why musicians have such amazing energy and why people throng to them. Music expresses the subtlest of energies in our world and the next.
But I truly had many blissful moments this week as I painted in my front room or while doing Zumba.
Over the years and this week I have learned and will share my tips with you.
1. Get to sleep by 10pm and rise at 6amish or no later than 7:30am
2. Pace yourself during a "bad day" which means no guilt, no pressure, gentle activity such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Restorative Yoga, hot baths, tea and nap in afternoon. Work your way up to doing short durations of cardio activity. Everyone is different. A particular form of movement will help you while it will flare symptoms with someone else. And don't knock a certain activity if it does. Simply try it in a gentler and less intense version. Pilates is beneficial once you work yourself up to it if you start gently and only for 20 minutes. Pilates works because it elongates muscles while strengthening your support systems. You will beable to walk easier and feel lighter and taller after only a few sessions! But remember start off with Gentle Yoga,Tai Chi or Qi Gong first.
3. Slowly build up your activity gradually either from day to day or week to week as you need,
4. Get Massage!
5. Have another Hot Bath!
6. Keep a diary of what creates flare ups and what works for you in what way and how. Be detailed. Use this diary to create greater quality of life and health as well as to schedule down days in bed the day after a busy day.
7. Slowly take out of your diet things that may be contributing to bad days. Such as caffeine from coffee but allow yourself a once in a blue moon treat of your favorite coffee. Mine is Just Us Espresso Blend.
8. Incorporate gentle dry skin brushing in circular motions with a natural bristle brush before bathing/showering.
9. Important! Reduce exposure to chemicals and toxins as much as possible!
10. Be particular about the scents you allow around you. Take note of any natural scents that do not bother you and the ones that do.
11. Wear shades in the sunlight.
12. Drink lots and lots of water!
13. Laugh and laughing with friends over dinner, board games and simple activities can help a lot!
14. When you are fatigued and in pain get yourself as comfortable as possible and then do nothing but breathe and be with the pain. Most often people will do something to take their mind off pain which works sometimes for most people but in specific cases such as Fibromyalgia the best thing is to be still, breathe and be with it. Oddly enough, not fighting it allows some relief.
At least these are things that I have found to help me. All of these things have helped only because I have been consistent but as with anyone with Fibro I will need to continue as best I can and allow for down days after a day or days of great activity. This can include a day in bed simply laying and breatheing, napping, favorite movies and good books.
And number fifteen and sixteen?
15. Be as vigilant as possible with your thoughts. Simply stop thinking about the things or people that make you feel guilty. Stop rehearsing what you will tell the people you know about why this, why that. Be supremely compassionate with yourself allowing yourself peace. Sometimes being vigilant with thoughts means being vigilant about who you allow around you. Some people will make you feel like you are in court being accused of a crime and can make you feel guilty for a crime that doesn't exist.
16. Meditate but do it in a position that works for you. Seated meditation can be hard on the back muscles for people with fibro, at least it has always been for me. Meditation works with the combination of knowing the technique, doing it consistently, compassion for self and others, a comfortable position while meditating and setting an intention of exploration to get to know you. This means allowing your mind to be open even as you feel pain and even as you do "nothing." It means being a compassionate witness to your experience and simply being aware of the moment with your breath. Then sometimes you can include other people in your meditation.
I have thought more on what this culture expects. The ultimate sin is being sick or taking rest. You must not be seen at any point faltering from the great ladder of achievement and success. To me or to anyone who has met with great challenges success is a day of doing what you love doing. No high marks, no flashy fame, no titles or pieces of paper. When you strip away cultural conditioning what you have left is quality of life. But there is a fear there that if people valued quality of life over everything then nothing would be done or accomplished but I don't believe that to be true. If one persons quality of life is found in retail instead of being an artist or craftsperson then there you go.To each there own. We are a very judgmental species. Very high in ethics and morale but quick to make mistakes while lacking in observing capabilities to see and feel the mistake that was done and the effects it had. It would be nice if at this point in evolution people would rise above their judgements of others and themselves. There is no need for it when it only causes more harm and damage. People aren't perfect. That very odd and sublime ideal that humans have created called "perfection" only leads to our demise. It is the reason for much of the worlds damage in Gaia and in our cultural infrastructures. Can we not put down the gun of perfection finally? Just let it go and say that the war on our mortality is off? Could we please?
Friday, December 20, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
The Phobia of Being an Independant Artist and Craftsperson
First of all I would like to share a great on-line resource that I have come across recently. I have stumbled upon quite a few others so I will share those in future posts as well. What is ravelry.com? Ravelry is a great on-line resource for people interested in all things related to fiber. There are groups you can join where you can comment or start topics of discussion, ask questions just like on the old and familiar tribe.com. You can do a multitude of other things such as explore businesses such as woolery.com. And you can keep track of your projects and track your progress. I haven't explored the site completely yet but I feel more reassured as an independent now that I am on this site. Check it out!
http://www.ravelry.com/
Now onto my big schpeel about how people tend to be afraid of being an Independent anything, especially an artist/craftsperson.
Recently I was a student at NBCCD in Fredericton NB enrolled in the Fibre Arts Program. I never handed anything in late and all of my marks were high. I even put my foot forward to be a student rep for my studio. I had big and long drawn out plans for what I was going to study at the school. Over the semester I pushed myself to do everything. Some days were harder than others. I had been experiencing this for years. Being very soar and tired and sometimes foggy brained enough that even if I really wanted to do a lot in a day, the energy just wasn't there to self motivate and organize a plan of action. This over the years always led to guilt. Of not knowing why symptoms would mysteriously appear with more stress. This wasn't just a little stress. And over the years I have started to notice a pattern developing. Of wanting to do many things but the above happening various times throughout a week. I believed that it was must me but when it got worse I chided myself for being lazy, undetermined, weak etc because anyone would say the same thing. I had blood tests taken years ago when I wanted to know why I was so tired, so thirsty, soar and why I had such a low immune system. I always caught colds. There was a span of time where it was bad enough that I was catching colds almost every week during the winter. At this time I was a student in the YTT program at TAYS in Halifax N.S. It was thoroughly confusing that my yoga practice was not strengthening my immune system and that I was very exhausted after yoga classes and teacher training.
Looking at my life I have seen many phases where I motivated myself to keep up some kind of exercise practice whether it be yoga or dance etc but would be cut short by a low immune system or by being very tired. The pain I experienced physically in all of my jobs and the other symptoms I have had including IBS makes sense. Before I thought it must be what everyone must be experiencing and I am just lazy etc. I had wondered if it was Fibromyalgia but I was never diagnosed. When I had blood tests done they did the regular search for the most obvious illnesses such as a dysfunctioning thyroid. But when they all came back fine there was no more talk about it. It seems like I have always been tired and in some kind of pain in some way. It's never easy to explain or describe to anyone. I always feel silly trying to make the reality of it known but when the words come out it just sounds like I'm making excuses.
One minute something can be very important to me and then the symptoms hit and suddenly it's all in perspective. It has always been that way. Then I get back on the horse with drive self motivation and praying for stamina to keep with it to finally see it fly, whatever it may be. Whether it's dance, music, art.
At school we were coming to the end of the semester and I was noticing that the "home-work" was getting to be more so. I had already been pushing myself through the days and weeks. I needed time to not rush, time to sit and just be, time to do yoga, time to take care of my body. I had been very good at time management because I knew I had to in order to conserve my energy and to be as productive as possible. I did this because I wanted to save myself stress, time and energy. But it was getting so my usual way of managing time and energy wasn't affording me the time I needed. Up until a few weeks ago when I had stronger symptoms come on while I was trying to push myself through to the end of a project I hadn't dared to call it Fibromyalgia. But before the year started I had worried that my energy and muscle pain would get in the way.
That night I went home with my project unfinished crying and feeling defeated. My husband wondering what had happened when I walked through the door. Suddenly everything changed. I couldn't stand not just the pain anymore but going on as if it were normal and expecting myself to just "toughen up" I looked at the courses and realized that I had already learned a lot that I could do on my own. Because after the first semester I would mostly have been on my own anyway because specific courses would be through such as spinning class. That weekend I did two tests on-line and both said I have Fibromyalgia. One was an updated test with the new protocol for diagnosing people who have it. I do not have a family doctor in this province so I did what was accessible to me. I did not believe that if I went to an after hours clinic that I would get a diagnosis or any real treatment.
At school I did pay attention and managed to keep my brain from being foggy but admittedly the pace to which we covered techniques in some of the classes overwhelmed me. And I supplemented my energy with caffeine like everyone does. At the time I didn't remember that people with fibromyalgia can be over stimulated. From what I knew about Fibromyalgia I had trouble applying it to myself that everything I was experiencing was very very similar. It's hard enough to be diagnosed. But for me it has been that I have done a lot to manage my health. Eventhough I decided years ago to treat myself as if I have Fibromyalgia I lacked the process that people have to go through in order to really deal with the illness. Acceptance was sorely missing. Without acceptance you have denial and only partial results. Not really having a complete understanding that yes this is not normal and this is why it's happening and this is what you need to continuously need to do about it. Because I have taken care of my health and have done a lot physically I have never healed myself but I have kept myself in a state where my symptoms would not be diagnosed because I was managing them. So fibro which is already a phantom illness is even more so with people who manage it. People find it hard to understand how managing Fibromyalgia is possible with yoga, exercise, sleep and diet but what is even more confusing is that there is never a formula or one size fits all approach for even that one person. Only the person themselves can really say this is how such and such effects me and this is the lifestyle I have to live, no other. From day to day, hour to hour. Time and energy is precious to everyone but even more so for someone experiencing chronic pain. Many things get put into perspective. Suddenly you see the things in your life very clearly that hurt you, drain you, dishonor you, toxify you, and all the things that are a waste of time. Including relationships, goals, belief systems, thoughts etc.
So my decision was to become Independant. I realized it was what I really wanted. To work in my studio and to create my own goals outside of a school structure. At one time I held onto going to school and making high marks and I did. I proved to myself that I could do it and I know that I can handle "the real world" To put things in perspective I know that there are many many people out there who have never stepped one foot inside an art school. And yet they are painters, fibre artists of all kinds. People in another day and age may have not had a school. My husbands grandfather for example would get his own clay at the beach! And he set up his own studio, made successful pottery, learned glazes and kiln firing techniques all without a school and living in a small rural community. And he did it at a time where there was no web-sites, no on-line shopping for books, no networking sites. So that story has been an inspiration to me.
My other reason for this choice is to save money. Though the school has a very good tuition price compared to other schools it is still a few thousand every year. So that was my other reason. I did not want to get more student loans. It is a viscous cycle where students go to school so they can get skills for trades and or more hireability but then once they are done, they have debts and can't live. And another reason was that though there is a fume hood at the school there are chemicals floating around and though there is a fume hood some people don't use it. It has been found that people with Fibromyalgia are sensitive to chemicals. But really who isn't??? Honestly?
Somehow I believed going to school would give me more credibility. It was like I had made a pact with myself that if I went to school I had more of a right to be an artist and craftsperson. Ahhh there is the guilt again! Some people make the pact with themselves that they will accept a life a poverty as long as they could do what they love and what they were born to do. I didn't see the pact i made with myself at the time but it was a pact. Most artists would say, "You're going to school and following you heart." etc. Most artists would see it as a good thing that your following your dreams. I was but at the same time there was a snag there that had a message tied to it. That I'm only worthy as an artist and craftsperson if I achieved a piece of paper and made high marks. That I wouldn't be "accomplished" without it.
So, aside from leaving art school for my physical health it was also for my health mind and spirit. Since leaving school my mind has achieved a silence, a quiet. Sometimes it gets loud but my priority is my health. My health allows me to make art and to develop my craft. So I have been extra vigilant with creating peace and health for myself. The belief that I am only worthy of being an artist if I have gone to school and made high marks no longer applies. Especially because I did it already. I went to art school and I passed everything in on time and I made high marks. Every artist needs to understand that they are just worthy being who they are and doing what they need to do just because. Just because. No pacts, no deals. That I am an artist and you are an artist whether you or the world likes it or not. Credible with or without training. There are an amazing amount of Outside Artists that create AMAZING work without ever having gone to an art school.
Yes it's scary being an artist in the real world but there are great things about it too.
1. You get to manage your own time!
2. You get to manage and create your own goals!
3. You get to develop new skills at your own pace and in your own way!
4. You get to really spread your wings and let your own unique style fly!
5. You get to see that there are a multitude of resources out there for Independents and so you are not so very alone after all.
6. You get to do and develop the skills that really matter to you rather than wasting your time and energy to fulfill a credit requirement to achieve a piece of paper!
7. You get to see that you can do it outside of school!
8. The work feeds you rather than it being a chore to achieve marks, piece of paper or to please a teacher and or parents etc
What it really boils down to is this.
Your time and energy is precious
You are a worthwhile human being worthy of love and respect with or without marks, education, money, job etc
Artists are master creators and the true masters create new rules, discard them, make new ones, ignore other ones all the time! Make the rules that create the masterpiece life!
Health, Peace, and Well Being are every living beings birthright!
My studio isn't complete but I have things to work with. I have brushes, paper, canvases, watercolors and acrylics plus texture paste, modelling paste and gesso. I have a spinning wheel but it isn't up and running. I need a few parts. I also need buckets and I need a hot plate for dyeing wool.
In the future I will be posting my practices and their results on here.
My goal is this. 10-6 am sleep
Followed by breakfast, shower/bath, meditation/chant
And then followed by a variation/ some kind of combination of a style of yoga, bellydance, zumba, pilates, tai chi, qi gong( not all in one day!)
Then rest with book
Sketching or spinning or dyeing or weaving.
Walk
Supper at 5pm
Read or hang out with friends, etc
I am hoping that by creating a balance in physical activity and health that I will achieve this productive schedule which looks pretty damn good!
My New Years Resolution before the New Year begins!
I will continue to write about Fibromyalgia and how it affects me as an artist/craftsperson as well as the things that I have found to work and the books I have found to be helpful.
http://www.ravelry.com/
Now onto my big schpeel about how people tend to be afraid of being an Independent anything, especially an artist/craftsperson.
Recently I was a student at NBCCD in Fredericton NB enrolled in the Fibre Arts Program. I never handed anything in late and all of my marks were high. I even put my foot forward to be a student rep for my studio. I had big and long drawn out plans for what I was going to study at the school. Over the semester I pushed myself to do everything. Some days were harder than others. I had been experiencing this for years. Being very soar and tired and sometimes foggy brained enough that even if I really wanted to do a lot in a day, the energy just wasn't there to self motivate and organize a plan of action. This over the years always led to guilt. Of not knowing why symptoms would mysteriously appear with more stress. This wasn't just a little stress. And over the years I have started to notice a pattern developing. Of wanting to do many things but the above happening various times throughout a week. I believed that it was must me but when it got worse I chided myself for being lazy, undetermined, weak etc because anyone would say the same thing. I had blood tests taken years ago when I wanted to know why I was so tired, so thirsty, soar and why I had such a low immune system. I always caught colds. There was a span of time where it was bad enough that I was catching colds almost every week during the winter. At this time I was a student in the YTT program at TAYS in Halifax N.S. It was thoroughly confusing that my yoga practice was not strengthening my immune system and that I was very exhausted after yoga classes and teacher training.
Looking at my life I have seen many phases where I motivated myself to keep up some kind of exercise practice whether it be yoga or dance etc but would be cut short by a low immune system or by being very tired. The pain I experienced physically in all of my jobs and the other symptoms I have had including IBS makes sense. Before I thought it must be what everyone must be experiencing and I am just lazy etc. I had wondered if it was Fibromyalgia but I was never diagnosed. When I had blood tests done they did the regular search for the most obvious illnesses such as a dysfunctioning thyroid. But when they all came back fine there was no more talk about it. It seems like I have always been tired and in some kind of pain in some way. It's never easy to explain or describe to anyone. I always feel silly trying to make the reality of it known but when the words come out it just sounds like I'm making excuses.
One minute something can be very important to me and then the symptoms hit and suddenly it's all in perspective. It has always been that way. Then I get back on the horse with drive self motivation and praying for stamina to keep with it to finally see it fly, whatever it may be. Whether it's dance, music, art.
At school we were coming to the end of the semester and I was noticing that the "home-work" was getting to be more so. I had already been pushing myself through the days and weeks. I needed time to not rush, time to sit and just be, time to do yoga, time to take care of my body. I had been very good at time management because I knew I had to in order to conserve my energy and to be as productive as possible. I did this because I wanted to save myself stress, time and energy. But it was getting so my usual way of managing time and energy wasn't affording me the time I needed. Up until a few weeks ago when I had stronger symptoms come on while I was trying to push myself through to the end of a project I hadn't dared to call it Fibromyalgia. But before the year started I had worried that my energy and muscle pain would get in the way.
That night I went home with my project unfinished crying and feeling defeated. My husband wondering what had happened when I walked through the door. Suddenly everything changed. I couldn't stand not just the pain anymore but going on as if it were normal and expecting myself to just "toughen up" I looked at the courses and realized that I had already learned a lot that I could do on my own. Because after the first semester I would mostly have been on my own anyway because specific courses would be through such as spinning class. That weekend I did two tests on-line and both said I have Fibromyalgia. One was an updated test with the new protocol for diagnosing people who have it. I do not have a family doctor in this province so I did what was accessible to me. I did not believe that if I went to an after hours clinic that I would get a diagnosis or any real treatment.
At school I did pay attention and managed to keep my brain from being foggy but admittedly the pace to which we covered techniques in some of the classes overwhelmed me. And I supplemented my energy with caffeine like everyone does. At the time I didn't remember that people with fibromyalgia can be over stimulated. From what I knew about Fibromyalgia I had trouble applying it to myself that everything I was experiencing was very very similar. It's hard enough to be diagnosed. But for me it has been that I have done a lot to manage my health. Eventhough I decided years ago to treat myself as if I have Fibromyalgia I lacked the process that people have to go through in order to really deal with the illness. Acceptance was sorely missing. Without acceptance you have denial and only partial results. Not really having a complete understanding that yes this is not normal and this is why it's happening and this is what you need to continuously need to do about it. Because I have taken care of my health and have done a lot physically I have never healed myself but I have kept myself in a state where my symptoms would not be diagnosed because I was managing them. So fibro which is already a phantom illness is even more so with people who manage it. People find it hard to understand how managing Fibromyalgia is possible with yoga, exercise, sleep and diet but what is even more confusing is that there is never a formula or one size fits all approach for even that one person. Only the person themselves can really say this is how such and such effects me and this is the lifestyle I have to live, no other. From day to day, hour to hour. Time and energy is precious to everyone but even more so for someone experiencing chronic pain. Many things get put into perspective. Suddenly you see the things in your life very clearly that hurt you, drain you, dishonor you, toxify you, and all the things that are a waste of time. Including relationships, goals, belief systems, thoughts etc.
So my decision was to become Independant. I realized it was what I really wanted. To work in my studio and to create my own goals outside of a school structure. At one time I held onto going to school and making high marks and I did. I proved to myself that I could do it and I know that I can handle "the real world" To put things in perspective I know that there are many many people out there who have never stepped one foot inside an art school. And yet they are painters, fibre artists of all kinds. People in another day and age may have not had a school. My husbands grandfather for example would get his own clay at the beach! And he set up his own studio, made successful pottery, learned glazes and kiln firing techniques all without a school and living in a small rural community. And he did it at a time where there was no web-sites, no on-line shopping for books, no networking sites. So that story has been an inspiration to me.
My other reason for this choice is to save money. Though the school has a very good tuition price compared to other schools it is still a few thousand every year. So that was my other reason. I did not want to get more student loans. It is a viscous cycle where students go to school so they can get skills for trades and or more hireability but then once they are done, they have debts and can't live. And another reason was that though there is a fume hood at the school there are chemicals floating around and though there is a fume hood some people don't use it. It has been found that people with Fibromyalgia are sensitive to chemicals. But really who isn't??? Honestly?
Somehow I believed going to school would give me more credibility. It was like I had made a pact with myself that if I went to school I had more of a right to be an artist and craftsperson. Ahhh there is the guilt again! Some people make the pact with themselves that they will accept a life a poverty as long as they could do what they love and what they were born to do. I didn't see the pact i made with myself at the time but it was a pact. Most artists would say, "You're going to school and following you heart." etc. Most artists would see it as a good thing that your following your dreams. I was but at the same time there was a snag there that had a message tied to it. That I'm only worthy as an artist and craftsperson if I achieved a piece of paper and made high marks. That I wouldn't be "accomplished" without it.
So, aside from leaving art school for my physical health it was also for my health mind and spirit. Since leaving school my mind has achieved a silence, a quiet. Sometimes it gets loud but my priority is my health. My health allows me to make art and to develop my craft. So I have been extra vigilant with creating peace and health for myself. The belief that I am only worthy of being an artist if I have gone to school and made high marks no longer applies. Especially because I did it already. I went to art school and I passed everything in on time and I made high marks. Every artist needs to understand that they are just worthy being who they are and doing what they need to do just because. Just because. No pacts, no deals. That I am an artist and you are an artist whether you or the world likes it or not. Credible with or without training. There are an amazing amount of Outside Artists that create AMAZING work without ever having gone to an art school.
Yes it's scary being an artist in the real world but there are great things about it too.
1. You get to manage your own time!
2. You get to manage and create your own goals!
3. You get to develop new skills at your own pace and in your own way!
4. You get to really spread your wings and let your own unique style fly!
5. You get to see that there are a multitude of resources out there for Independents and so you are not so very alone after all.
6. You get to do and develop the skills that really matter to you rather than wasting your time and energy to fulfill a credit requirement to achieve a piece of paper!
7. You get to see that you can do it outside of school!
8. The work feeds you rather than it being a chore to achieve marks, piece of paper or to please a teacher and or parents etc
What it really boils down to is this.
Your time and energy is precious
You are a worthwhile human being worthy of love and respect with or without marks, education, money, job etc
Artists are master creators and the true masters create new rules, discard them, make new ones, ignore other ones all the time! Make the rules that create the masterpiece life!
Health, Peace, and Well Being are every living beings birthright!
My studio isn't complete but I have things to work with. I have brushes, paper, canvases, watercolors and acrylics plus texture paste, modelling paste and gesso. I have a spinning wheel but it isn't up and running. I need a few parts. I also need buckets and I need a hot plate for dyeing wool.
In the future I will be posting my practices and their results on here.
My goal is this. 10-6 am sleep
Followed by breakfast, shower/bath, meditation/chant
And then followed by a variation/ some kind of combination of a style of yoga, bellydance, zumba, pilates, tai chi, qi gong( not all in one day!)
Then rest with book
Sketching or spinning or dyeing or weaving.
Walk
Supper at 5pm
Read or hang out with friends, etc
I am hoping that by creating a balance in physical activity and health that I will achieve this productive schedule which looks pretty damn good!
My New Years Resolution before the New Year begins!
I will continue to write about Fibromyalgia and how it affects me as an artist/craftsperson as well as the things that I have found to work and the books I have found to be helpful.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Autumn Themed Pieces
Monday, October 28, 2013
The Business of Art Research
Here I am on Monday and supposed to be at class this afternoon. I prefer not to miss time but this morning I have a mice situation and on top of that I feel unwell. While I feel unwell and waiting for the worksmen, I like to make some use of my time. I happened upon this great article. I love articles like these because it takes the mystery out of things that have otherwise been hard for me to visualize.
http://www.artnews.com/2013/09/30/a-guide-to-doing-studio-visits/
A lot of artists have trouble with the business end of being an artist and understandably so for a lot of reasons. But every bit you learn makes the waters easier to navigate because you know what to expect. It is a new culture to be involved in which takes adjustments when becoming involved in any new community.
Great Job Ann Landi! Great article!
http://www.artnews.com/2013/09/30/a-guide-to-doing-studio-visits/
A lot of artists have trouble with the business end of being an artist and understandably so for a lot of reasons. But every bit you learn makes the waters easier to navigate because you know what to expect. It is a new culture to be involved in which takes adjustments when becoming involved in any new community.
Great Job Ann Landi! Great article!
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Happy Halloween!
I'm posting Halloween related work I have done in the past and recently. Can you tell I'm totally ape over sugar skulls?
Here is a needle felted sugar skull I made a few years back. Unknown amount of hours went into making it. It is around three inches tall and wide and close to an inch in thickness.
This is a stoneware ceramic mask with a picture of a mythical character called Queen Morrigan as inspiration. This mask was done my FVA year at NBCCD in the fall of 2006
Another stoneware mask that I call my " Screaming Mask". The mouth was made with holes so that I could weave red thread back and forth to cross. Both of these mask I love but don't really want up on my wall!
Here is a one way block patter up close of sugar skulls I did for Principles of Surface Design.And here is the pattern in completion measuring 18x18. Each repeat is 6x6 inches
And here is the two way block pattern up close and in completion at 6x6 inches per block and 18x18 inch in total size.
This is the four way pattern with from a distance not showing the whole block repeat. I didn't want to lose the detail too much. And here is a pic up close.
The next pattern we're doing for class will be a tossed layout which should prove interesting with the motifs in my earlier designs.
This is an ink painting I did from a photo of Nosferatu. I added the red rather than it just being a black and white. No matter how aged Nosferatu is the creepiness factor is still up there today!
I did this drawing while I had a cold a few years back when I still lived in Halifax N.S. The drawing was done in my sketchbook with the cross hatching technique. The drawing was done off a picture with the expression in the eyes and mouth changed some intuited shading. I also added the pony tail. Vampire Lestat eat your heart out!
This painting was done as a present for Christmas toowners of Fashionably Dead Boutique in Halifax NS who spent Christmas Eve with us that year in 2008. I wonder if they still have it. Notice how my block repeat patterns are in remembrance if this design I did for them. There is the rose held in the teeth, the bow tie, the mustache and the dapper hat. In this one it is a top hat while in the repeat patterns I gave him a Bowlers hat. In this ink and acrylic painting he also has a pointy beard. Very dapper indeed! The painting was done on some kind of paper first. It was either canson or a hot press watercolor paper, I can't remember. It was then affixed to the canvas after I added texture with gel and pallet knife around the edges of a canvas and then added layers of acrylic paint, scrubbing the colors away each time and then adding more.
Happy Halloween Everybody! I'll post Autumn themed works from past to present later!
Here is a needle felted sugar skull I made a few years back. Unknown amount of hours went into making it. It is around three inches tall and wide and close to an inch in thickness.
This is a stoneware ceramic mask with a picture of a mythical character called Queen Morrigan as inspiration. This mask was done my FVA year at NBCCD in the fall of 2006
Another stoneware mask that I call my " Screaming Mask". The mouth was made with holes so that I could weave red thread back and forth to cross. Both of these mask I love but don't really want up on my wall!
Here is a one way block patter up close of sugar skulls I did for Principles of Surface Design.And here is the pattern in completion measuring 18x18. Each repeat is 6x6 inches
And here is the two way block pattern up close and in completion at 6x6 inches per block and 18x18 inch in total size.
This is the four way pattern with from a distance not showing the whole block repeat. I didn't want to lose the detail too much. And here is a pic up close.
The next pattern we're doing for class will be a tossed layout which should prove interesting with the motifs in my earlier designs.
This is an ink painting I did from a photo of Nosferatu. I added the red rather than it just being a black and white. No matter how aged Nosferatu is the creepiness factor is still up there today!
I did this drawing while I had a cold a few years back when I still lived in Halifax N.S. The drawing was done in my sketchbook with the cross hatching technique. The drawing was done off a picture with the expression in the eyes and mouth changed some intuited shading. I also added the pony tail. Vampire Lestat eat your heart out!
This painting was done as a present for Christmas toowners of Fashionably Dead Boutique in Halifax NS who spent Christmas Eve with us that year in 2008. I wonder if they still have it. Notice how my block repeat patterns are in remembrance if this design I did for them. There is the rose held in the teeth, the bow tie, the mustache and the dapper hat. In this one it is a top hat while in the repeat patterns I gave him a Bowlers hat. In this ink and acrylic painting he also has a pointy beard. Very dapper indeed! The painting was done on some kind of paper first. It was either canson or a hot press watercolor paper, I can't remember. It was then affixed to the canvas after I added texture with gel and pallet knife around the edges of a canvas and then added layers of acrylic paint, scrubbing the colors away each time and then adding more.
Happy Halloween Everybody! I'll post Autumn themed works from past to present later!
Finding Time and Balance as a Multi Disciplined Artist
I try to create time for my other muses that have been with me for years. Yoga, dance, music, painting and poetry are among them. Some weeks are not as successful as others for making time for them. It's an ongoing process and I take what I learned working at Winners in my early 20s to save time. Their strategy was to do actions that are similar at once to save on time. This is why when I am at school I take lunches and leave some for supper so that I can stay and do my school work. This effectively frees up some time for me on the weekend. Usually I have something that needs to be done that only needs a computer like research, doing up a document or making a blog entry. It's not just important to practice but important to have forms of inspiration such as books or taking time to study vlogs on youtube about abstract painting.
Today I was skimming through a book called The Everything Writing Poetry Book and there was a couple of passages that were particularly interesting near the beginning on pages 12-14.
I enjoy the section talking about allowing time for ideas to develop as a way of building stronger images and concepts.
Then it goes on to talk about Freudian and Jungian Psychology and the process that a poet has to go through of balancing the super egos expectations with the ids needs.
The superego symbolizes customs, rules, and laws that are handed down to us by parents, teachers and societies at large. The id represents our survival needs including the need to be authentic and express our innermost selves.
I reflected that any artist of any kind or any person would do well to find a balance between these elements. They are both needed and necessary but one over the other creates imbalance.
It's important to listen and take advice from mentors, teachers, parents etc but it is also wise to take those words with a grain of salt because another persons point of view is simply that. It is "their" point of view and more often than not exists inside a box, a vacuum.
All visionaries in history questioned the status quo and butted heads with people who considered themselves to be masters in their field. Later on though the small artists who rocked the boat went down in history as making a major impact on how our culture grew to be what it is in the present.
Just imagine what kind of culture we would have if every single artist of every kind did nothing but lap at their teachers and parents feet for approval. Nothing new would result, nothing genuine with integrity. The culture as a result would not grow. There are artists that whether the teacher, parents or society likes it or not will stand behind their vision and keep expressing as well as marketing it as a gem of importance.
After awhile people stroke their chins and say "Oh I see...."
I love learning new techniques and I am also in awe of learning how people throughout history had done things. But every artist has a voice inside that speaks to them of how it is to be done. And sometimes it hasn't been done before. Sometimes it's similar enough to what has been done that it's readily accepted.
Everyone has their biased opinions and preferences. A person can insist that their opinions are not opinions but an educated fact.
In my opinion they are still working through their own particular filter of perception. Something in their lives said "This is what is most important in art history and these are the best techniques, and this is the best form of art." The person has developed an opinion. They may not call it such simply because they have academia in a specific sector to back them up. A person across the world no less educated or practiced most likely has a completely different "opinion" and approach.
And that is after all what art is about. It is about the artists vision, unique form of expression and developing their own perception rather than that of others. The definition of an artist is not someone who does things to make other people happy. They do not busy themselves running around doing what everyone has told them to do because their way is the best and right way.
Artists evolve culture by expressing the current form of evolution that they inhabit.
Today I was skimming through a book called The Everything Writing Poetry Book and there was a couple of passages that were particularly interesting near the beginning on pages 12-14.
Then it goes on to talk about Freudian and Jungian Psychology and the process that a poet has to go through of balancing the super egos expectations with the ids needs.
The superego symbolizes customs, rules, and laws that are handed down to us by parents, teachers and societies at large. The id represents our survival needs including the need to be authentic and express our innermost selves.
I reflected that any artist of any kind or any person would do well to find a balance between these elements. They are both needed and necessary but one over the other creates imbalance.
It's important to listen and take advice from mentors, teachers, parents etc but it is also wise to take those words with a grain of salt because another persons point of view is simply that. It is "their" point of view and more often than not exists inside a box, a vacuum.
All visionaries in history questioned the status quo and butted heads with people who considered themselves to be masters in their field. Later on though the small artists who rocked the boat went down in history as making a major impact on how our culture grew to be what it is in the present.
Just imagine what kind of culture we would have if every single artist of every kind did nothing but lap at their teachers and parents feet for approval. Nothing new would result, nothing genuine with integrity. The culture as a result would not grow. There are artists that whether the teacher, parents or society likes it or not will stand behind their vision and keep expressing as well as marketing it as a gem of importance.
After awhile people stroke their chins and say "Oh I see...."
I love learning new techniques and I am also in awe of learning how people throughout history had done things. But every artist has a voice inside that speaks to them of how it is to be done. And sometimes it hasn't been done before. Sometimes it's similar enough to what has been done that it's readily accepted.
Everyone has their biased opinions and preferences. A person can insist that their opinions are not opinions but an educated fact.
In my opinion they are still working through their own particular filter of perception. Something in their lives said "This is what is most important in art history and these are the best techniques, and this is the best form of art." The person has developed an opinion. They may not call it such simply because they have academia in a specific sector to back them up. A person across the world no less educated or practiced most likely has a completely different "opinion" and approach.
And that is after all what art is about. It is about the artists vision, unique form of expression and developing their own perception rather than that of others. The definition of an artist is not someone who does things to make other people happy. They do not busy themselves running around doing what everyone has told them to do because their way is the best and right way.
Artists evolve culture by expressing the current form of evolution that they inhabit.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
The Haunted Guitar Oct 24 2013
This is a poem that does it's best to express the effects of one song I first heard years ago done by a local musician, Scott Saad known as Void Ant.
The Haunted Guitar
A haunted guitar sings my soul back to me
She remembers where she came from
The haunted guitar was haunted by me
She knew how to express my deepest subtlety
My soul mourns the struggle and the loss
Twisted cavernous paths of dark I am lost within
Floating above the ravine, my feet do not touch
An unbearable soul pain this haunted guitar knows how to explain.
My soul was lost and resided within her and now she sings my soul back to me.
The Haunted Guitar
A haunted guitar sings my soul back to me
She remembers where she came from
The haunted guitar was haunted by me
She knew how to express my deepest subtlety
My soul mourns the struggle and the loss
Twisted cavernous paths of dark I am lost within
Floating above the ravine, my feet do not touch
An unbearable soul pain this haunted guitar knows how to explain.
My soul was lost and resided within her and now she sings my soul back to me.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Anyone Wanna just Give me A Good Camera???
I don't like taking pictures with my cell phone. It's difficult for getting a picture to be non fuzzy and angled correctly.
Eventually somehow I really would like to have a better quality camera.
Eventually somehow I really would like to have a better quality camera.
What I Do and Actually Did the Month of September and Early October
Here is a section of dyed BFL wool for spinning class which was about to be drum carded. The other half was spun onto spools on Friday the fourth. The wool was arranged in a layered circle and then zig zagged back and forth and then a circle again in the dye pot. The acid dyes used was Chestnut, Magenta and Turquoise!
Here is my second scarf still on the loom with the Walls of Troy pattern. The warp and the weft was dyed by me.
Here is the first scarf which as you can see has some of the dyed warp coming through the pattern. Looks neat!
Here is a watercolor life study done in class with Linda Kelley using warm and cool washes.
And here is the home-work watercolor study of warm and cool.
In class study of complementary colors
And here is my home-work study of complementary color washes. I think this kitty turned out quite handsome!
This is the most recent watercolor done on Oct.4th in class. It's a study for developing more attention to detail and representing colors from reality. They also happen to be cooling and calming to the eye. The magenta contrasted with the green are complementary. The blue with the yellow are also complementary.
This one was done earlier on in September as a home-work study for light and dark.
So far my favorite paper to work on is hot press but when I get into more abstract and textured pieces the cold press will probably be my favorite for working in that way.
I enjoy working with color combinations and contrasts as well as setting up interesting life studies. I do actually have a lot of practice setting up life studies from setting up ritual altars, christmas displays and other arrangements at home. I like my pieces to be displayed and shown off to best advantage in a way that attracts my eye as I walk through my home.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
The Mission of Art by Alex Grey Review
I have been slowly reading this book over the past month since school started at NBCCD and discovered the wonderful refurbished library in the barracks!
I appreciate how he places an importance on the spiritual in art but his opinion is one sided rather than being an integrative vision spanning a broad spectrum. His belief is that the ultimate mission or purpose for art is to always seek to express the spiritual and through the act of expressing it through art the artist achieves "higher" states. It's all very new age philosophy and is obviously a movement against the counter movement that has been going on for years about not expressing the spiritual in art.
I believe that the mission of art is for the artist to find their fullest potential and all that holds them back is the clarity or lack thereof, of their vision.
There can be a huge discussion about exactly what constitutes spiritual art or why it is so called better than a painting representing reality. My argument is in defense of my own spiritual belief system which seeks to include rather than segregate and compartmentalize god/goddess into one area of creation. If God/Goddess creates physical reality then why is physical reality not seen as spiritual? My experience making art that represents something from nature whether realistic or abstracted reality is that I feel closer to the life force, to goddess/god. Everything is a reflection of Goddess/ God but also is that God/Goddess all at the same time.
People don't have to agree with me. My argument is simply, but why would you see spiritual art more in the human form than a landscape painting or a painting of an animal for example?
I also question the labelling of art styles because abstract very often simply is something from nature. Everything created simply is re-created in a new form. Sometimes it may not seem like something we've seen before but again it is really how we are looking at it. An abstract painting can be up close details of minerals found in nature or even of toxic waste whether the artist intended it or not. Maybe if we could understand and accept this perhaps our egos as artists would be humbled by understanding that we are recycling forms into something new. That we are working with a very old language and evolving it in such a way that speaks to the current culture of people that inhabit the earth.
Back to The Mission of Art, I felt myself not wanting to finish the book when he begins to speak more about how great taking LSD and other drugs are for bonding with God and creating an artistic vision and style that expresses God. To me, it just sounds like a lazy excuse to get high and attaching an overly bloated meaning to it as a form of self denial and defense.
I appreciated his description about his own process of creating art and how he has even taken years to finish a piece. I also appreciate that he mentions his wife and how she plays an important role and influence in his work.
Overall it's a good read but please do not start believing that the best art is your version of god/goddess or higher spiritual planes. I do love the things he says about how Art can be a form of worship and service and of being aware of the beauty of creation. I am however not about to start saying that an artists realist painting or sculpture is low because I know them to be lacking in spiritual awareness. I might as well as go so far as to say that nothing good comes out of an atheists mouth which isn't true! Most art has it's place in it's mission and function. I say most because some art I don't get and will never get. Such as the documenting of decomposing animals or laying in excrement and calling it "The Fools Room"
I do love that he included the little picture book about "How To Be An Artist" by his daughter Zena.
You can develop all kinds of notions about what art is and it's mission but art always becomes stale even if it is new and shocking or weird if the intention and vision of the artist was simply to stand out. This means the art wasn't about the art. The art was about them and their ego rather than a pure form of expression.
Yet people can say art is art because people and the artist label it so.
Then again, our ancestors made what we call "art" but probably didn't call it so or attach so many superficial and egotistic meanings to it.
When we attach these meanings and high society labels to art, when art is simply a form of human language, art is then institutionalized and objectified in ways that are not only demeaning but draw it away from it's real purpose.
When people look at art, fashion, music, a person or a group of people and the only thought on their minds is " What can I get out of this thing?" not only are they not perceiving the reality of what they seek to use, they are failing to learn and grow as a human being. Cutting off their own humanity themselves they do not see the human reality in others or in works of art. The fact that human hands or that a human voice made the piece and breathed life into it means that this human has a story to tell that can reach deep into another human being if they would just listen.
Ego, vanity and conceit are the large blockages in the ears of many people who have allowed themselves to become more fragmented in an ever fragmenting world.
In this age of technology we need to remember what art is and what it can offer us as a human language. Artists of all kinds from fashion designers, musicians, poets, fibre artists, painters, novelists keep what is human alive in us whether we know it or not. Even if we seek to use it for our own egotistic and selfish ends the art of others keeps what is left that is human in us alive.
It's a great book to read. Some backs are so weak in their statements and use of language you kick yourself in the butt for continuing to read it because you hope it will get better at some point!
This one you might get something out of if your open minded and have the ability to think for yourself rather than develop a form of new age snobbery towards "non spiritual" artists.
And I say this as an artist who is also spiritual, who makes art that is more traditionally considered spiritual and at others times not.
What I Do and Actually Did Oct. 3 2013
The Gods and Goddesses Dance of Courtship
Twisted dreams rolling across the languid skeins of white and blue
Follow the sunset with your mind
Twisted dreams percolate through rusty skeins of black and blue
Follow the sunset with your heart
Souls dance in between
Courtship for the next life
Given a dance of union
With God/Goddess in the beloved
of sweet delights
A soft and com fitted dream
A place to be lost and to roll with the currents
Deep peace surrounds you
Deep softness floats you
All one, around and through you.
Oct.3 2013
Twisted dreams rolling across the languid skeins of white and blue
Follow the sunset with your mind
Twisted dreams percolate through rusty skeins of black and blue
Follow the sunset with your heart
Souls dance in between
Courtship for the next life
Given a dance of union
With God/Goddess in the beloved
of sweet delights
A soft and com fitted dream
A place to be lost and to roll with the currents
Deep peace surrounds you
Deep softness floats you
All one, around and through you.
Oct.3 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013
What I Do and What I Actually Did Sept. 28 2013 Continued ( Creations of FVA Past)
While continuing to organize and find a spot for all kinds of things, all shapes and sizes I found an old cd that had pictures of some of my work from my first year ,second semester in Surface Design at NBCCD in 2007.
The first was a practice in assembling a new design by cutting up, piecing together and photocopying it. Then tracing the design on canson paper we were to make a monochromatic design using the photocopied design as a guide for levels of shading.
This one was to do half of the design from a wall paper in differing colors. The top left corner of wall paper sample is my painted piece and the bottom right corner is the wall paper.
Here is another wall paper sample. This time the wall paper is on the upper left while my painted piece is in the lower right.
This was an exercise in design and working with cardboard to create movement, structure and texture in design. The design was influenced from a picture in a magazine with the hair spraying out in a similar fashion. The class was Design Class as taught by Jane Guerts at NBCCD.
This is a piece that I called Tree Spirit which was an experimental work I made in the spring of 2007. Tree Spirit was made with two sheets of silk, batiked and then put through a process of stiffening laid across rocks and brushed with fabric stiffener. I used bendable wire wrapped and sewn around a coil of the same material that was sewn to stick out of the top. The metal wire was sewn at the bottom as well. Through travel and a variety of moves Tree Spirit lost her ability to stand.
This is an up close shot of Tree Spirits face. Through cutting down on clutter but wanting to keep an aspect of Tree Spirit I kept her face.
The first was a practice in assembling a new design by cutting up, piecing together and photocopying it. Then tracing the design on canson paper we were to make a monochromatic design using the photocopied design as a guide for levels of shading.
This one was to do half of the design from a wall paper in differing colors. The top left corner of wall paper sample is my painted piece and the bottom right corner is the wall paper.
Here is another wall paper sample. This time the wall paper is on the upper left while my painted piece is in the lower right.
This was an exercise in design and working with cardboard to create movement, structure and texture in design. The design was influenced from a picture in a magazine with the hair spraying out in a similar fashion. The class was Design Class as taught by Jane Guerts at NBCCD.
This is a piece that I called Tree Spirit which was an experimental work I made in the spring of 2007. Tree Spirit was made with two sheets of silk, batiked and then put through a process of stiffening laid across rocks and brushed with fabric stiffener. I used bendable wire wrapped and sewn around a coil of the same material that was sewn to stick out of the top. The metal wire was sewn at the bottom as well. Through travel and a variety of moves Tree Spirit lost her ability to stand.
This is an up close shot of Tree Spirits face. Through cutting down on clutter but wanting to keep an aspect of Tree Spirit I kept her face.
What I Do and What I Actually Did Sept 28/09/13
I have an AMAZING announcement! Yesterday I purchased an antique original Millville Loom and a Spinning Wheel! But that is not all! They were both given to me for.......wait for it.........$150!
I learned about the loom for sale from my wonderful Weaving Teacher, Jackie Bourque at NBCCD. While I was at school all day weaving I had my husband call her and negotiate. Later to my surprise she had offered to throw in the spinning wheel with the loom for $150. My husband rented a moving truck for the day and picked them up yesterday. She also threw in old weaving books, shuttles, threads, a warping bard and extra parts, including a picture of herself at the loom. I love that my loom is original and made of Bird's Eye Maple which is a rare and precious wood. I love that it was made in Millville NB carrying a lot of history within it's bones. And I also love the fact that the lady named Margery Acheson who sold it to me was one of the first graduates from my school NBCCD! WOW! I am so honored! Now my storage room which had everything in it and was a mess is pretty much put together and much tidier with my loom and spinning wheel set up. My husband also put it together with a few pointers from me about what should go where. I think I have my very own studio tech! I'm still not very familiar with looms and this one is a little different from the one I have been working on. For example it has a top beater rather than one that slides forward from the bottom. And instead of a peddle to roll up the back apron there is a metal handle at hand height to move forward and back to release and tighten. She also threw in a bobbin winder and a warping board!
On the warping board is an old sample scarf with sample patters that was in the bag of threads.
Here is the picture of Margery when she was young at the Millville Loom at the top. I think the bottom picture is of her also.
And here is my new spinning wheel which is missing a few parts and in the future will be receiving a coat of varnish.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!
While Brennan worked with the loom I had a lot of re-organizing to do with multiple closets and I'm still not finished! It''s always the way that everything always takes longer than you think it will! For me it is the most stressful, time consuming and tiring thing to do which is to organize and find places for those odds and ends. But my philosophy is that an organized space is essential if there are a lot of things you want to do. I don't like struggling to find things or to shove things back in a closet when I have a place to be. Normally I have everything organized except a drawer and one room.
In between running around and finding places for millions of things I took a break with a plate of aged white cheddar cheese, vinta crackers and a thick berry smoothie! While I munched I watched a dvd I got from the NBCCD library called Art & Design.
I loved that there were so many different kinds of artists who talked about their approach to making art and how they personally apply materials, not in a technical since, but emotively. This dvd fed my artistic soul and was just what I needed to escape the frustration of organizing all my crap!
I also took a reading break with The Music Lesson by Victor L. Wooten
I'm only 53 pages in being so busy with school but already I am trying to change my mind about how I approach guitar practice and music. Over time I have absorbed a belief that the best musicians learn music theory and endlessly practice scales. Yet the musicians that reach me the most are the ones that never learned music theory such as The Beatles, who learned chords by watching other bands play in Liverpool! The best songs are felt out and listened to by the creator because that is how the best songs are made. It is the same as a write that holds the pen and the writer listens to the words to be written. The force is strong enough that even if you question those words and try to think of something else, more often than not the original passage of words will stick in your mind until you write them down. When I was 17, which was 16 years ago now, my musical playing style was simple but approached and played in heartfelt manner. Since then my writing poetry and song lyrics has improved from absorbing the wisdom in song writing and poetry writing books. But also over the years evolving musically has been frustrating in comparison to everything else I do. I am hoping that having a freer approach to my guitar and discovering melodies again that I will see the unfolding of myself musically. Creating music is something I always loved and something I can't ever give up. I'm looking for the dry period to end and for it to move into a lush and vibrant summer!
I learned about the loom for sale from my wonderful Weaving Teacher, Jackie Bourque at NBCCD. While I was at school all day weaving I had my husband call her and negotiate. Later to my surprise she had offered to throw in the spinning wheel with the loom for $150. My husband rented a moving truck for the day and picked them up yesterday. She also threw in old weaving books, shuttles, threads, a warping bard and extra parts, including a picture of herself at the loom. I love that my loom is original and made of Bird's Eye Maple which is a rare and precious wood. I love that it was made in Millville NB carrying a lot of history within it's bones. And I also love the fact that the lady named Margery Acheson who sold it to me was one of the first graduates from my school NBCCD! WOW! I am so honored! Now my storage room which had everything in it and was a mess is pretty much put together and much tidier with my loom and spinning wheel set up. My husband also put it together with a few pointers from me about what should go where. I think I have my very own studio tech! I'm still not very familiar with looms and this one is a little different from the one I have been working on. For example it has a top beater rather than one that slides forward from the bottom. And instead of a peddle to roll up the back apron there is a metal handle at hand height to move forward and back to release and tighten. She also threw in a bobbin winder and a warping board!
On the warping board is an old sample scarf with sample patters that was in the bag of threads.
Here is the picture of Margery when she was young at the Millville Loom at the top. I think the bottom picture is of her also.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!
While Brennan worked with the loom I had a lot of re-organizing to do with multiple closets and I'm still not finished! It''s always the way that everything always takes longer than you think it will! For me it is the most stressful, time consuming and tiring thing to do which is to organize and find places for those odds and ends. But my philosophy is that an organized space is essential if there are a lot of things you want to do. I don't like struggling to find things or to shove things back in a closet when I have a place to be. Normally I have everything organized except a drawer and one room.
In between running around and finding places for millions of things I took a break with a plate of aged white cheddar cheese, vinta crackers and a thick berry smoothie! While I munched I watched a dvd I got from the NBCCD library called Art & Design.
I also took a reading break with The Music Lesson by Victor L. Wooten
Sunday, September 15, 2013
What I Actually Do and What I Actually Did Sept.15th 2013
Today I am reading Collector's Edition Emily Dickinson Selected Poetry.
What I enjoy about her writing is that she ventures into mystical subjects such as the reality of having a spirit or the process of reincarnation. I also enjoy that she animates nature and explores nature as having an identity and life of it's own. Her vision is wide and far reaching, able to see even tree from multiple viewpoints from a farmer to a squirrel.
At NBCCD in the college store there was a big, lined and hard covered journaling book that was catching my eye and just calling me. I finally bought it even though it's price was up there and though I had a smaller and cheaper poetry writing book. But as I write in my new poetry book the experience is different. It feels more sacred and special. Having such a book to write in is a great luxury so the money spent was well worth it. Here are the first two poems written in my new hard covered poetry writing book.
At NBCCD in the college store there was a big, lined and hard covered journaling book that was catching my eye and just calling me. I finally bought it even though it's price was up there and though I had a smaller and cheaper poetry writing book. But as I write in my new poetry book the experience is different. It feels more sacred and special. Having such a book to write in is a great luxury so the money spent was well worth it. Here are the first two poems written in my new hard covered poetry writing book.
Whispers Of A Ghost
In the distance I saw him
There he stood on the empty highway, like a ghost in the trees
Mist passing between us as I watched his dark form approach
Whispering to me,
I heard him from across the expanse.
I heard him from across the expanse.
"Great dreams fly. Great dreams are born and never die."
Sept.13th 2013
Blossoms In The Mire
Blossoms In the Mire
Sunlight in the trees
Fore site bridges the expanse
Cross the stormy seas
A lamp lit in the window
And whispers in the night
A story taken out from under me
A living nightmare of fright
I live with encourage able hauntings
Strangled reality dreams
I struggle to voice louder
Over these bloody scenes
Screams of lonlieness
And yellow sickness
that threaten to follow me
The past a bog
The future nowhere
The present is all I see
The damaged goods of a nonperishable spirit
Are carried on
Into the Strength of Eternity
I Am The Blossom In The Mire
Sept. 15, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
What I Actually Do and What I Actually Did, Sept.13 2013
It's true people tend to have very generalized ideas about what artists do.
This blog, Art and Creationz is all about what I actually do now, the skills I am developing at NBCCD, pictures of inspirational pieces and pictures of my pieces that I have made in the past that deserve some lime light.
Here is a needle felted piece in the process of completion. The vibrancy of the colors unfortunately have been lost in the photo.
Here are ceramic pieces from my Chocolate and Creme De Menthe Series which I made at Turnstile Pottery Coop in Halifax N.S, August of 2011
Here are two pieces from my first year in the FVA program at NBCCD from the fall of 2006. The first is a ceramic relief tile and the next one is a slab and coil basket made by carefully pressing the pieces of clay and scoring the edges to mold to the next connecting piece on the inside of a newspaper lined metal waste paper basket.
Who says that you can only do one thing or that you have to choose right?
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Home
Corded muscles sway in the breeze neath the summer sun
Green fabric ripples and shimmers in the dance
Birds collect their echoing chorus to deliver onto generations
Strong and tall, ever standing
Red,yellow,orange,brown percolates down to the ground
The darkened grey, an autumn spray
The spirits dance neath the Blood Moon
Sparkled white glows blue in the night
Crunch and crackle the snow on the way to the cafe
Heady aroma filtering into my blood and bones
Soup warmth envelopes me
Everywhere is Home
Siobhan Russell March 2013
Green fabric ripples and shimmers in the dance
Birds collect their echoing chorus to deliver onto generations
Strong and tall, ever standing
Red,yellow,orange,brown percolates down to the ground
The darkened grey, an autumn spray
The spirits dance neath the Blood Moon
Sparkled white glows blue in the night
Crunch and crackle the snow on the way to the cafe
Heady aroma filtering into my blood and bones
Soup warmth envelopes me
Everywhere is Home
Siobhan Russell March 2013
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