I adore seeing objects being repurposed….
Thank you, Facebook, ThinkGeek and Instructables!
All posts by lisabolender
Empty Nest Blues
I have been in a funk.
This last year has been a study in transitions and change. Kids off to college, husband busy with projects, my “empty nest plan” in tatters. Creatively, I crept into my cave and labored in the dark. I was exhausted. I was consumed with job hunting. I worked to envision what was next for me in my life.
So I journaled a lot. I experimented with watercolors and modeling paste and bookbinding. I cried while I painted. I sorted through the clutter of my life and decided what could stay, what could could be reused or repurposed, and what could go. I read books about other people creating, and wished I could be brave enough to show my work. I wondered if the funk would go away. I wondered if I was ever really creative, or if I was just good at following other peoples’ instructions. I doubted everything.
Around Christmas, I decided to learn one thing in the new year. I was going to become comfortable with drawing faces. They didn’t have to be good. They just had to be done. I got Jane Davenport’s book, Beautiful Faces, and joined her online class. I posted my work sometimes. No one said that I sucked, so that was a plus! I keep practicing and it’s becoming more comfortable.
Today I’m sitting just outside my cave, enjoying the sunshine. Drawing outside could be fun. Maybe tomorrow I will share something. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to believe in myself again, even if it’s just a little bit more.
Yeah. That sounds like a plan.
Quilt 2.0
Well, I successfully added some strips to make my quilt top match the size of the backing I pieced. I managed to find a time when cats and dogs and people weren’t tromping around the living room area and I laid out the backing. Hmm….not as square as I would like, and it’s not as flat as it should be. I layered the batting and then the top. Pretty good match for size, I needed to make some adjustments for the skew of the back layer. Fighting my perfectionistic streak with all of my being, I pinned.
When I was all done, I flipped the quilt sandwich over to see how it looked. It was bad. The skew of the backing was just too much, making some giant puckered areas. I tried to see if I could live with it. It’s not like I am planning on selling it. In my heart I knew I couldn’t leave it like that.
I folded the whole thing up and put it on the shelf. I’m going to give it a week, I’m setting myself a deadline. I will see if I can adjust the backing somehow, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll make a new back.
Color me disappointed and frustrated, but not beaten.
Go With the Flow
It was a long day. The latest in a series of long days. All I wanted to do was crash on the couch and wait for it to be time to go to bed. I was almost ready to let my brain relax when a bit of color on my storage shelf caught my eye. Shoot. It’s the quilt again. I might not have given it a second thought, but I’ve posted pictures of the silly thing up in social media now, and I’m feeling a little extra pressure to get it done.
I pulled out my cutting mat and rotary cutter, and sliced off some new batik to extend the top, as I had planned. Even though most of the construction of this quilt had been “stream of consciousness”, I figured a little measuring at this point would be a good idea. Measured the top, no problem. Started to measure the backing, and it became The Most Interesting Thing in the Universe to Savannah the cat. Foolishly, I tried to remove her. Foolishly, I tried to roll up the extra-long measuring tape. Finally, I gave up, and rolled around on the floor with her. My daughter thought I’d lost my mind (again…)
I set the pieces aside, picked up my silly stripey cat and went to bed with a smile on my face.
Sometimes ya gotta go with the flow.
Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit
I am enjoying Jennifer Lee’s 4th edition of The Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit. We are just starting week two, so if you want to get in on the awesome information, connections and fun, take a look here. It’s free, the speakers are outstanding, and Jenn has packed it with giveaways. She also offers a paid Premium Pass with lots of extras.
Speaking of giveaways and extras, I just applied for one of three scholarships that are offered to win a Premium Pass spot. It’s always interesting to me how these applications are structured and how I find myself responding to them. This one was actually fun, and I found myself answering the questions with more candor than I sometimes do. (You want to make the correct answers, right?) I decided to let my words just fly this time. Yolo, as my son used to say, you only live once…
Community
There is nothing like hanging out with a bunch of friends to shift your energy. Every Monday morning, Marney Makridakis‘ ARTbundance alumni(ACT) have an opportunity to hang out together in her hosted chat room. Usually moderated by the wonderful Paula, she sets up the space for us, and off we go!
I’ve never met any of these women in person. I know them from their chat room conversations, blog posts, and interactions in the ACT community. I feel closer to some of them than I do to some of my blood relations. We share so many interests and parallels in our lives. This creates a sense of safety and belonging for me. What is really cool though, is the way we learn through exploring our differences. Information and questions are handled with respect and a sense of gentle inquiry. I have never felt pressured or attacked for my thoughts or opinions. I hope I have returned that favor in my interactions with the others. I know that has always been my intent.
My wish for you on this slightly murky Monday morning is that you find, or visit, your favorite tribe/community. We are so much stronger and wiser and happier when we travel together.
Ten Things a’ la Effy Wild
Here is my April 10th edition for the blog-a-long(thanks for the idea Effy!)
1. I had a ton of things I needed to do, but only did laundry because my husband’s workout clothes were really stinky…
2. I made chicken fajitas out of stuff I found around the house, so I didn’t have to run to the store and ruin my art day.
3. I worked on expanding my batik quilt top.
4. I am learning kumihimo braiding.
5. I didn’t have bobbins, so I made some out of cardboard.
6. My current practice braid is going to tie my current art journal closed.
7. I wrote a proposal to teach this little braid at the local adult school.
8. I was gifted with some awesome papers by a friend, and I’m going to put a selection of them in my steampunk scrapbook journal tonight.
9. I tried to help my daughter make a Catwoman hood for her Cosplay project. We have had to retreat and look for new solutions.
10. I bought myself a new little roll of washi tape. It was on sale….
Romance Heroine
We’re working on our romance novel. In pursuit of humor, we planned to explore a number of romance tropes, but boy we weren’t prepared for the variety of themes we could tap. The idea was to keep this light and easy and yet this little project is taking on a life of it’s own.
Our intention still is to provide a strong female lead character. So we picked up this>
Who could resist such topics as:
- How to Win a High-Speed Chase in High Heels and a Bustier
- How to Fend off the Undead
- How to Deal with a Gorilla in the Mist
- How to Subdue your Opponent with a Whip
- How to Maneuver a Raft Down Class V+ Rapids
Now, I’m not saying we’re going to use all of these, but who wouldn’t love a character with some mad skills?
Back to the computer. Gotta throw some conflict at our girl….
Completions
I’m notorious for starting projects and not finishing them. The reasons for not finishing: boredom, a mistake I can’t figure out how to fix, running out of materials, busy with other stuff, learned the technique I wanted to learn, process over product, you can guess some more I bet…
This is one of those projects. I started it about a year ago and > got busy, ran out of materials, got bored. I’m finishing it now so I can have a lightweight quilt for the summer. Front view is all the stripes, back view is pieced from stuff I could find around the house. I made the backing too big and liked the size so I decided to add to the top. I had to go buy more batik, of course….
The plan is to extend the top, and get the quilt sandwich pinned before I go away this weekend. Wish me luck!
I bought myself a present!
I’m going on a trip this weekend, a mini-retreat of sorts. I have all sorts of things planned: catching up on art journaling, meditation, writing up class proposals so I can teach stuff, napping, maybe a bit of hiking. Did I mention napping?
So packing the essentials is easy. Clothes, toiletries, some snacks. But what books to take? What art supplies? I know some people will look at that and shake their heads, but there are others who will get it. I want to take alot of books with me, just in case I need them. I have three full days to do as I please, what if I really need some eye candy from one of my faves?
I’m laughing a bit at myself as I write this, (maybe I should delete that part?) but I’m going to leave it. We’re going by car, so I’ll happily overpack and enjoy myself.
Oh. The present? You might have guessed. It’s a book…Joanne Sharpe’s The Art of Whimsical Lettering. I love this quote from the introduction:
“Look at your own writing and you’ll see that it has a distinct look; it shows your personality. Your handwriting is your identity; it is as much a part of who you area as your voice, your laugh and your walk. It’s how you show yourself to the world and how you respond to the universe in visual form.”
Here’s to happy experiments!
LisaB.Creativity 