Lucid Pursuits

Okay, so how far is just too far, lol? Not long ago I was going about my day as usual, when the memory of a dream I had had the night before came to me. You know how that happens... hours after you get up something triggers a flashback to your adventures in dreamland. Anyway, I remembered a dream where, clear as a bell, I could see some of my materials. I was looking over different components that I have in real life, and designing things. Seriously. Actually working out how stuff should be made in the dream. Great, so I found a way to get more done, even while I'm asleep, lol! And I didn't even sleepwalk (as I have been known to do). Now if I could figure out a way to harness this and decide which projects to to delegate to dream Renée... Maybe if I tucked some tools under my pillows...

Things I Make for Me

It's true, as an artist, I spend a lot of time making things for other people. But I also find time to make things just for lil' ol me. Sometimes those things go on to be copied to sell or give as gifts, but the point is, they started out made by me especially for me :o). Here's the latest item of note:

A bunch of wool I had
laying around...

Plus a bar of soap...

Equals a scrubby wool felted soap.

This little bar with its new wool jacket is great for scrubbing paint, glue, etc. off of my hands when I finish a session in my studio. No, I wouldn't make this to sell- there are oodles of folks who already do, but since I knew how, and the materials were around, why not do a lil' something just for me?

Wordless Wednesday

I'm in Love with a {Wonderful?} Soy...

natural goodness or not so much?

Okay, here's the thing.  I must be the last person to become conscious of the whole soy craze sweeping the nation, because apparently it's old news and people have been talking about switching to soy products for years.  I stumbled onto it late in the game in a search to decrease the dairy in my diet.  I am a generally healthy person who prefers preventative measures over drugs and hospitals.  I also like to try to eat and conduct my life on the healthier side, but I'm no health nut.  Anyway things like persistent sinus problems and other minor annoyances, drove me to consider what changes I could make.  Dairy it was.  I love dairy in all its cheesy, creamy, sweet, savory manifestations, but I was willing to try something different.

soy froths so nicely!

In walks soy.  It was obvious from the start that we would be close, considering that soy can be and do so many tasty things (one of my favorites being vanilla soy milk).  It sorta... got under my skin (biting my knuckles dramatically like one of those noir film ladies from the 40's talking to a Bogart type).  But then while doing some researching online, I found discussions speculating about whether soy was actually good for us, or if it was a horrible low cost government machination to fill the void in capitalism created by people who don't wish to consume hormone-laced cow's milk.  AAaarrrggghhh!  What's a girl to do, eat her corn flakes with water?!  (noir dame grabs guy's shirt dramatically, shaking him hysterically)  Anyway, the jury is still out on soy, there's more research to be done before I can decide, and I'm finding so much conflicting info all over the web ... anybody got any good advice?

Wordless Wednesday

Thrift Score

As an artist, I see potential projects and ideas everywhere I look.  Everyday things can be transformed into art.  It's a sort of double vision I think most artists possess.  I think it has to do with how we associate shapes, textures, and colors in different contexts and subconsciously identify like qualities in different things.  ANYway, the point, lowly though it may be, is that one of the places I go for ideas and for wierd and wonderous things is my local thrift store.  I can go there and find things that can be taken apart to become parts of sculptures, rescue old books for new paper goods, find amazing furniture for refurbishing projects.  One of my most visited spots there is the "metals" aisle (for lack of a better term - I think it's got a big number 4 hanging over it, but that doesn't help you, does it?).

There I find all kinds of misfit things missing parts or just needing some love and a new purpose.  Wire baskets, brass cups, metal tripods that once held vases or bowls.  These can all become part of new pieces for me.  Today I stopped in between other errands, and while I found what I went in for, I didn't make it out with that alone, cuz walking up to the register, a few other items called out "Renée!!!  Wait!  Take me too!  Fix me and find me a new home!!!"  So here's my score:

 1. a metal tripod  2. a mini glass apothecary jar  3. an embellished

metal tripod with a cup  4. a letter or file sorter  5. a really cute top- perfect with short shorts!

I often pick up metal tripods to include as stands for sculptures I make.  They create a great finished look.  I couldn't resist the apothecary- I have a thing for pretty glass jars.  The sorter will feed my obsession with organizing and being efficient so I can get more done, and the top, well, why not?  Yeah, I'd call this a successful trip, since on top of the things I carried out in my bag, I came away with a little fresh inspiration, which is always on my list.

One Down...

Okay, so you'll act like you didn't see me slink in and start tapping on the keyboard like I haven't been otherwise occupied for weeks.  But I have a good excuse.  I've been otherwise occupied.  Meanwhile, blog posts and rants have been pressing and straining to get outta my head (or that could be my seasonal allergies taking another crack at me), dripping into lists of topics onto sticky notes laying around, waiting for me to get around to getting my two cents off my chest so I can move onto other things.  Writing is becoming like my other forms of creating- an idea or a thing just haunts the mess outta me for weeks, months, sometimes years (don't judge me), and the only way for me to get peace is to sketch, paint, sculpt, write, whatever to get it out of me. 

And lately, it seems like somebody somewhere has turned the faucet on full blast, cuz projects are just pouring outta me faster than I can jot down notes on what they will be.  No figuring out how this piece is going to be painted, or that piece is going to be assembled-- just me running back and forth, from one thing to the next, finishing things as fast as I can so I can go on to the next.  And on top of my own ideas, the blessing of commissioned projects for customers.  Things that I'm enjoying creating for them, because I know I can make what they envision a reality.

Anyway, everyday I've been saying, okay TODAY I will find 5-10 minutes while something is drying or I'm waiting on something to upload to write some of these blog entries.  Well, here I finally am, and I feel like if I had the luxury of time, I could write five, but since I got some deadlines and I need a few minutes sleep this is gonna have to hold my place for a couple of days.  Alright, whew-- till, uh... let's say Thursday ;o).

Wordless Wednesday

 

Hanging Back

Okay, I know, I know.  I have neglected this blog in a horrible way.  I apologize to the 2 people who actually read it, lol.  I have (now as an app on my phone, to prove how crazy things have been in the last few weeks) multiple lists of things to do, one of them a list devoted solely to blog entries I've been wanting to write.  A growing list of things I've noticed and want to type my two cents on, but haven't been able to, because I've been trapped under a big rock and couldn't reach the keyboard.  Well, not really a rock, just swept up in the wave of everyday life and things that demand attention because they are piling up and I'm the only one to address them.  To make matters even more, er, interesting, I've spent the last two months battling a heinous sinus infection (or acute sinusitis, as my now growing body of research calls it)

awaiting my return...

and juggling that with a profound sense of burnout and apathy about my creative pursuits.  The likes of which I have not experienced since one other occasion way back in highschool, when I defiantly declared that I planned to stop the art altogether and be more "normal".  

parts arranged and abandoned :o(

For all of a week, I managed to keep all of my projects and ideas closed off in a little room my parents had allowed me to use as a sort of studio.  Somehow, I ended up creeping right back in there.  Or something drew me back in there, whatever.  I couldn't stay away.  And that was the longest I had gone without drawing, painting, sculpting, etc., ever.  Until recently. 

maybe later, siiighh

Fortunately, just like back then, after allowing myself a sort of hiatus to shut off the creative machine to just rest and get well physically, and to address some things in other areas of my life, it's slowly returning, the wheels of tireless inspiration are squealing back into motion.  It's funny how after a rest, it seems to come back stronger than before, lol.  And I earnestly hope, that with it I can get back on track with 1+ entries here a week.  I think it's good for me to write this, and I really hope someone else gets a little something from it, too.  Inspired, and I wish you inspiration...

Wordless Wednesday

Mmmmm is not a word, right?

Blogger's Day of Silence

I've been a bit of a busy girl lately, tending to aspects of my life and work other than this blog, but it's been on my mind, as I looked forward to a moment to get back to it and record my latest thoughts.
Another thing that's been on my mind and in my prayers is Japan.  I don't have friends or family there, except those in my giant human family, and anything I could say about it would only be an echo of the words and feelings of disbelief that have already been floating around as people directly and indirectly affected try to sort it out.
I've been silent here and haven't been able to post as a result of everyday responsibilities, but I'm writing this short note to punctuate that with an acknowledgment of a blogger's day of silence that's happening today, Friday, to signify that the people of Japan are in our thoughts.  Something of this nature defies explanation, but demands strength, and I pray they feel us sending it.     

Help Japan

Monday in Disguise

Okay, I've checked just about everything I could off my list for today, so the sane thing would be to wrap it up and go to bed.  I am going to bed.  I got plenty on my list for tomorrow.  But I couldn't go without saying what an uncharacteristically lovely day it was for a Monday.  Sure, I had lots of work to do, but I had plenty to stop and be thankful for, as well.  This morning, before things got rolling, I successfully took some quiet time to do some reading, prayer, and just being thankful for a new day wide open with opportunities.  That's big, because it's something I believe is important, but, in my crazy busy life, I have yet to be consistent with it.  But like exercise first thing in the morning, it sets an excellent tone for the day.  They say it takes 21 days of consistently doing something for it to become a habit, and it's worked for me on other stuff, so... it was a total bonus that I spent this time outside in the sunshine, where it was beautiful, quiet, and peaceful, with just a light breeze blowing and a woodpecker going at it on a nearby tree.  Siiiiiiiiiggghhh.
 Anyway, things kept on that track as I received orders and kind messages from regular customers.  People appreciating my efforts, especially the creative ones will never fail to put a smile on my face.  And the rest was just a blur of the satisfying pursuit of checking things off my list, finishing some pieces, adding to others, packing shipments, updating things online, etc..  That's how I like a week to start!  Didn't seem like a Monday at all.  Could'a been a Thursday, maybe ;o)