What would be nice is to have both in one person, yeah?

A beautiful Sunday today. Painting on the docket.

Black Friday....eh.

I am not a lover of shopping, so no, I did not shop, begin my Christmas shopping, or even look at sales flyers today or any day preceding today. My kind of shopping is done right here, on the computer, in my comfy clothes and preferably barefoot or slippered. Click, click, click, done. Anything that can't be bought on the computer...and I mean REALLY CAN'T, will be taken care of in person, reluctantly. When I drove past the Outlets and saw the busses and the out-of-state cars, and the people running the red lights to get IN to the Outlets, and all the parking spaces gone and people parked in the grass, yeah....I thought, oh, I sooo want to do that.

Not.

B.A.S.E. was open all day today though. We decorated Gallery C with everyone's work, and there were lots of goodies around. It was a day to paint...all day....which was absolutely wonderful. Two more commissions finished, and another with much more progress.

Tomorrow is the Run for the Rose 5k, which I may do. Hopefully it won't be as cold or windy as it is right now. Very both. Then Sherry and I have two theatre sets to finish (not excited).

Tonight is chill-time. Maybe a few drinks, a hot bath and some company. Enjoy your Friday, Black or not.

Happy Thanksgiving.

A great day to be a vegetarian. Think about it...one meat on the table and TONS of vegetables. :)

Works on paper

These are a few pieces for a "works on paper" show at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria VA. They are 4 x 6's (requirement of show) on 400 lb. watercolor paper. The medium is art marker and colored pencil. These were just fun departures (complete departures) of what I normally do, and since the show is in VA, I feel that they can be entered under the veil of anonymity. A freeing kind of feeling.

Will post some of the finished commissions by this weekend.

Sunday

This made me smile, because I can totally relate to loving Christmas music this much.

I've begun to really look forward to Sunday mornings (even if I have to go teach a class at 9.) I love checking the new Post Secrets more than I love sitting down with the Sunday comics -- which frankly, are the only reason I look forward to the Sunday paper. I mean, they'e in COLOR! I have no idea why my kids don't understand this, or how anyone can read the paper (any paper) without reading the comics. I save them for last, like dessert. Oh, and I throw the sports section on the floor. Unless there's running results in there.

A pretty, sunny day here. Looking forward to getting some things accomplished.

So...

So is that Damien Rice song not beautiful? I didn't like the movie "Closer"....at all. Saw it alone a few years ago and left the theatre feeling morbidly depressed. (If you're not following, "Closer" is the movie that is featured throughout that video...a very dark, disturbing, make ya want to slash your wrists kind of movie.)

And speaking of movies, I guess "Twilight" is out in the theatres. I have a friend who is wayyy into the whole thing and has read the books more than once, and probably more than twice. My daughter will want to see it too, but her interest is not on the obsession level. I think she just likes the Edward guy because he's cute.

Focused on completing COMPLETING two commissions this weekend. Time to get rid of the feeling of being behind the eight ball.

Damien Rice

12:19

Strange week full of apologies and confessions and connections and disappointment. Life can be so mundane one minute and the next be imminently interesting. When it's mundane, it's so much easier to sleep.

November

I know the saying "time flies" is such an old cliche that it has totally lost any meaning. But every year, when this time of year comes around, I find myself stunned that the holidays are nearly here. It takes me so long to get out of "summer mode" (probably through a well-practiced study of denial) that when I look at the calendar and see November 18, and realize Thanksgiving is a week away, I am utterly amazed. Then I start hearing about people Christmas shopping, and all the good deals that are out there, and I think....uh....that hasn't even crossed my mind yet. In fact, I have thought for years that my current idea of a fantastic Christmas would be to spend the day with family/friends and say to each other "my Christmas gift to you is the agreement that we won't buy any Christmas gifts this year." Everyone is spared the craziness of the retail crap, people can stay relaxed, and we can just enjoy the decorations, the music, the food and each other. Ah yes...if it could only happen. Haley has been talking about Christmas quite a bit. She's anxiously awaiting the "25 Days of Christmas" on the Family Channel. She loves Christmas, but seems to be more into what I was just talking about - the ambience - than the gift giving.

Dusty comes home a week from today, and he is very ready. And of course, we are very ready to see him. (Not that I see him much when he's home...that pleasure goes to his girlfriend.)

Two theatre sets to check out tonight, and both need to be done asap. Sigh. This time treadmill is brutal, just no getting off to catch up.

Designers

I have gotten out of logo design, but really laughed when I saw this Post Secret. Sometimes it's very difficult to come up with an "original" design for a boring company. People get their inspiration from all different kinds of things.

This has been a good weekend. Got to see "Rumors" by Neil Simon at the Patchwork Theatre in Dover, and they did a fantastic job. Very funny show. Also saw 2 1/2 films at the Film Festival. Walked out on one because of some bad researching on my part - that's all I'm sayin'. Had sushi (twice) and now getting some painting done. I'll save the cleaning till later.

Reason Why

Mistakes

This came from a friend of mine - pretty good stuff.

Sometimes we learn very slowly. And sometimes, we are just hoping that a different ending will occur to the same situation. And sometimes, it does.

Sometimes we want something so badly, we don’t care if we get hurt as long we feel good while we are making the mistake.

Sometimes, we just don’t care because we want it so badly. It is worth the risk.

And sometimes we like to hurt ourselves.

And sometimes, we don’t care if we hurt ourselves as long as we don’t hurt others in doing so. And that is probably when we stop doing it.










________________________________________________________________

Estrangement and confusion and way too much thinking.

Why is it that the less time I have to do things, the more efficient I become in getting them done? If there's a spare half-hour and I need to clean, I will clean quickly. If I have all day to clean, I will put it off and maybe it won't get done at all. Same goes for painting, or grocery shopping, or whatever. There's something about a deadline or limited time for me that just makes things happen.

I had some comments about the "Breathing" post a few days ago. Just song lyrics y'all. Just like them. Same goes for the Post Secrets, just like them. Sometimes there's meaning behind them, sometimes they're just cool.

The Film Festival starts this weekend. I've been carefully making my choices. It's almost as fun as creating my Netflix queue.

So, I have several commissions that need to be done by Christmas, some by Thanksgiving. This week is going to be a week full of painting in the evenings. Looks like a whirlwind couple of months on the way. We are having a Black Friday Cash n Carry sale at B.A.S.E. where much of the art will be marked down for holiday specials. Truly a great way to get some fabulous art at a great price. But remember, we're starving artists and can only mark things down so much. We're already eating enough peanut butter and jelly.

So the question of the day - if someone makes a mistake, then makes it again and then once more and is punished for it each time...seriously punished...would that person make that mistake again? And if so, why? How many times does it take someone to learn from a mistake? And is it like the ancient yogis believe - that we are here to live this life, to make mistakes and learn from them. If we don't learn everything we need to learn, we are destined to repeat until we have learned. Only then can we move on to nirvana, to eternal life. I hate making mistakes, especially big ones, and will beat myself up for it, probably more than any punishment given by any outside party. If I make the same mistake again, look out....not only am I in great disbelief that it happened again, but Lord, I am impossible to be around for quite a while. Once is enough.

Namaste

This weekend I'll be in my 500-level yoga training with Silver Lotus. Susan Hamadock is the instructor and she teaches svadhyaya yoga. Hope I have that spelled right. It's yoga which focuses on the study of the "self" - crucial for getting in touch with spirit/mind/body. Susan is a fabulous instructor, and is who I completed my 250-level with. (Also completed a 250 with the Yoga Institute in Houston TX.) This is a pretty in depth study, and is one of four (?) weekends, I believe. Usually a very peaceful thing, and it's very disconcerting to leave the studio at lunch. Everything is so quiet in the yoga studio - lots of meditating and quiet talk, asanas, chanting...and then you go out on route 1 for lunch. :) Not so quiet. So another weekend with limited painting time. I am squeezing it in during the evenings and early morning hours with an occasional lunch hour carved out. Things get done. Eventually. Caffeine helps.

Breathing

I'm finding my way back to sanity, again
Though I don't really know what
I am gonna do when I get there
Take a breath and hold on tight
Spin around one more time
And gracefully fall back in the arms of grace

I am hanging on every word you say
And even if you don't want to speak tonight
That's alright, alright with me
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit
Outside Heaven's door and listen to you breathing
Is where I want to be

I am looking past the shadows
Of my mind into the truth and
I'm trying to identify
The voices in my head
God, which one's you?
Let me feel one more time
What it feels like to feel
And break these calluses off me
One more time

'Cause I am hanging on every word you say
And even if you don't want to speak tonight
That's alright, alright with me
'Cause I want nothing more than to sit
Outside your door and listen to you breathing
Is where I want to be

I don't want a thing from you
Bet you're tired of me waiting
For the scraps to fall
Off your table to the ground
I just want to be here now

Picasso

The artist goes through states of fullness and emptiness, and that is all there is to the mystery of art. - 1954

Working field trip

The trip to MD and VA was fantastic. Here are some photos:

Figure drawing class - The Yellow Barn Studio, Glen Echo MD.

Bill VanGilder's studio - works in progress. Beautiful.

Glen Echo Park - an amazing place, full of history.

bill VanGilder's beautiful home in Gapland MD. Could have spent all day taking photos. Incredible landscape.

Students work at Glen Echo

Glen Echo Park

A Mongolia "yurt". Now used as a pottery studio. Very, very cool.

Bill VanGilder's home studio

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I don't know how I got to be 45 and never saw "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Never knew how gorgeous George Peppard was either, but now I know. Loved the quote,"no matter where you run, you always run into yourself." Audrey Hepburn's face was great when he said that to her. A bit of an epiphany I suppose.

Speaking of running, I'm going to go run. Maybe I'll run into myself.

Quiet

Post Secret


Halloween - one of the best days on the calendar has gone by entirely uncelebrated. What a travesty. :) No trick or treaters at the new place (but I now have chocolate for emergencies) and plans for the evening fell through. The good thing is I went to sleep early and woke up to some sunlight because of the time change. The sky is beautiful at the moment, there are birds singing, and the house is quiet and peaceful. Not a bad way to start a Sunday.

I'm leaving today for a few days of work travel. Going to visit the Frederick Pottery School in Frederick MD, the Yellow Barn Studio in Glen Echo MD, the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria VA and the Lorton Workhouse in Lorton VA. I'm very excited about seeing all these places, it' like candy for my mind and eyes. What better to do on a work trip? Will also get to see one of my bff's while I'm there.

Now there's geese passing by, making a racket. A great fall morning, even if I did miss Halloween.