Heading South...

Path Through the Trees

We had another Deparment meeting today, so that meant, of course, I got to doodle another Department Meeting Doodle. Pretty tricky to doodle and listen at the same time but I'm beginning to master the process. And sometimes I even appear "engaged" in the topic. I'm always engaged in the doodle...

I'm heading South tomorrow - to Atlanta - for a professional meeting (Art Libraries of North America) and, from the way I "read" my doodle I'm ready to go! See the path going through the pine trees and over the waterfalls? No? Hmmmm... looks pretty clear to me!

Another Doodle of Note: this will be the first time that our 11 month old Labradoodle, Jake, will be boarded while we go away. (We'd leave him with the person housesitting, but they are cat people...go figure!) I'm happy that he will be boarding where he goes everyday for Puppy Day Care. And he should stay pretty busy since I've signed him up for Macrame 101 and a digital photography class called Fido's Fotos. Seriously. Ahem.

Off I go...I hope Mint Juleps are in season in Georgia...wheeeee!!!

Going, going, gone...(!)

I went back last night to take pictures of "Going Post-It" and someone had already taken the post-it covered pedestal away...At least I got to record the work on the walls:

Compostion#1:
Compostion #2:
Composition #3:
All that was left of the sculpture:

Ah well.

Got Post-Its?

Ten (10) Easy Steps to Creating an Impromptu Show About Color (?) Consumables (?) Spontaneous Creativity (?):

1. Take a small, empty gallery (empty except for a long, low, wood pedestal left from the previous show), 3M Post-It Notes (in this case yellow, orange, red-orange), and 24.3 minutes that would normally be spent staring at your computer.

2. Enter gallery and start Post-It-ing. Just do it. Figure it out as you go along. Stick 'em on the pedestal. Stick 'em on the wall. Compose two more "works" on opposite wall.

3. Stand back and critique. Edit. Adjust as needed.

4. Turn on gallery lights.

5. Return to office to scan Post-It stuck on paper with show title and place. Save as jpeg.

6. Attach "poster" to email and send to co-workers.

7. Document with photos.

8. Add show info to the "Solo Exhibitions" section of your resume.

9. Smile!!!

10. Return to work.

(I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow...)

Lillianna Bluestockings, Pocket Faerie

Time is quickly approaching for Lillianna's debut at the Fairie Festival, and she needed to submit a bio to The Powers That Be. (Lillianna will be at the festival 11-1 on 5 May and 11-3 on 6 May if you want to meet her.) Any way, here's what we came up with:

Lillianna Bluestockings lives far away in the Land of The Midnight Sun. Born without wings, she made friends with two butterflies who flitted around the fields of wildflowers she frequented as a child. These very same butterflies, whom she named Goodness and Mercy, can be seen perched on her shoulders in suspended animation, ready to fly her wherever she dreams of going - all she has to do is recite the magic word when she's all alone. They have flown her around the world many, many times! Lillianna loves to read and study about places and people just like the all the Pocket Faeries in her family before her - hence the term "bluestockings" which she proudly took for her surname (a tradition with the Faeries in her homeland). Most of the time she even wears blue stockings...but if it's too hot she'll just wear whatever is comfortable. She loves to be comfortable and wears layers of hand-me-downs that she's collected in her travels; a jumble of blue and green patterns and textures that changes to suit her mood. She has been heard to say, "One can NEVER wear too many patterns, textures or POCKETS, for heaven sakes!" She certainly needs lots of pockets to carry the special treasures she makes and collects; ribbon-like pieces of rainbow that she weaves after catching their colors on her loom, droplets of water from waterfalls and fjords that are frozen in time - they look just like glass! - and the stringy feathers of the Blue Crested Twinkle Chirper who resides in the deep dark forest of the Land of Magic.

Lillianna may look older than the other fairies, and she's not as fancy and sparkly as many faeries are, but she's Kind and Good and full of Inner Sparkle and Wisdom. If you ask, she will happily share some as she rubs her special brand of Faerie Dust onto your palms and forehead: May Your Heart be Full of Love. May Your Heart be Full of Peace. May You Always Remember the Magic of Today. And May Your Eyes Always Sparkle With Joy!

Just two little things, please...

Two things I want to see put in elevators:

1. A "Do Over" button. I never seem to hit the right button on the first try so then I spend the rest of the day fraught with guilt knowing that the elevator traveled needlessly to the third floor simply because of my: Inattention To Detail. And I won't even go into the negative impact this failing on my part must have on energy consumption and global warming. I don't want to think about that. All I want is a simple button. Call it "Delete" or "Erase" if you want. I don't care. I just want to know it's there in case I need it. Which, as I said, I DO!

2. A "Warning: Pssssst! Pusher Error" announcement. To let me know that I'm not getting anywhere because I keep pushing the button for the floor I'm already on!!! Augh. I spend an inordinate amount of time needlessly fussing and fuming and tapping my foot in elevators. And my pointy finger is, well, becoming decidedly less, uh, pointy from all that Righteously Indignant Repeated Pushing. The announcement could, I suppose, be shortened to a terse "Idiot!" if my initial proposal is too lengthy.

(And, no, taking the stairs is not relevant to either request. Suffice it to say I have long skirt and fear-of-height issues I don't want to go into...okay?)

I just want these two little things. Anytime today will be fine, thank you.

We can address all the other items on my list tomorrow.

Surprises...

I took an online test at lunch to see if I was right or left brained. "Ha! Like I really need confirmation of my Rightieness," I thought.

Well, hmmm... I came out a Leftie!

Actually, I think what's happened to me is that my hemispheres have started to come into balance. That's what I can hear the left and right telling me anyway when I listen really closely to them... during one of those interesting Stereo Conversations my brain has w-a-a-a-y too many of. (Wait - yours doesn't have those???) Could be why, overall, I'm happier these days; one side isn't having to scream to be heard anymore. Or maybe it's the ol' pendulum swinging and in another ten years I'll be a Rightie again.

When I first took the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator Test I was, among other things, an Introvert. When I took it a number of years later, I had switched to being an Extrovert. Have the sure feeling if I took it today I'd be back to being the Introvert.

None of this concerns me. Matter of fact it seems kind of healthy. I like to think it indicates that I'm curious and engaged in the world and willingly change as I learn new things and move into new ways of being.

I love that I'm suddenly a Leftie after thinking I was absolutely a Rightie. Makes me see of myself in a new light - like getting a new short hairstyle or trading in a staid suit for a bright blue dress with ruffles.

Change is invigorating, don't you think? We are not always what we think we are. We have surprises inside! How great is that?!?!?!?

Composure...

I had wanted to go to bed early last night, but found myself watching "A Wayfarer's Journey; Listening to Mahler" - a PBS documentary about composer Gustave Mahler and how he used his music to heal. Periodically in the documentary, portions of Mahler's writings were read by actor Richard Dreyfus. These words rang true for me:

"One doesn't compose; one is being composed."

And so it is when I work. I enter a work in chaos. I listen. I do - and in doing and listening I find the answer; the composition waiting to be revealed. A simple process, but rich in the peace it brings to my harried soul. The healing grace of quiet composure...

Determination...

Fragile Dream I

I've been down with a bug for too many days, but I've been bound and determined to finish my pieces in time to get them off to be juried for the Fiber National show.

What a flail all this has been; the first attempts looked weak and flimsy and then the fiberglass screening I tried mounting them on gave off a horrendous moire effect, and all the photos I took with "professional lighting" were horrible. SO I re-grouped and re-thought the work whilst lying next to dead on the couch...I decided to use osnaburg for the background fabric - it's a wonderful rough sort of natural cotton with little flecks in it. It holds the cheesecloth well and it hangs nicely and the stitching I did works well with the humble quality of the fabric. I liked the idea of humbleness combined with fragile dreams...

I worked yesterday in 20 min spurts - alternating with 20 minute naps - and finished at midnight. I came home at lunch and photographed the pieces on my studio wall and in natural light; just needed minor tweaking in Photoshop. I mailed the entry with CD, etc. this afternoon - and it didn't need to be postmarked 'til the 6th!!! Yeah ME!!!!!

It feels wonderful to have honored the commitment to my work and to myself in spite of having the flu.

I should sleep well tonight. My work is done, and I can almost breathe through my nose again! Life is good.