It has been a while since I last posted. Whew! Busy, busy, busy. I get the 'funk' from November until January - don't want to talk to anyone, don't want to see anyone, don't want to be seen by anyone. Then - January comes and the world is a little bit brighter (okay, it IS brighter because we have passed the winter equinox /solstice and so we are tilted just a smidge closer to the sun.
2011 is going to be a really great year - maybe because it is always wonderful before the the you-know-what hits the fan - 2012. But I think that 2012 is going to be equally as great. It is like when you went from middle school to high school - you thought "man, this is IT, I'm grown up and an adult and I am sooo close to being FREEEEE!! Okay, we were really wrong on that one. Who knew that free would cost so much: time spent working to earn the money to pay for the apartment that we would have to share with 3 or 4 other people in order to afford something in a not-so-nice but better-than-that-bad-neighborhood? Who knew that someone named FICA would take so much out of the poultry sum that represented 40 hours of working somewhere we were just another robot on the line? Then, if you found a job that you liked it was because you liked what was in the store that you worked at.....I probably donated 7/8ths of my paycheck back to Barnes and Nobles. To be fair, they gave me a hell of a deal with the discounts. It became an addiction. Want something you can't afford? Part time work at a place that sells what you want - who cares if you aren't sleeping? You don't have time to do something like go food shopping or eat 3 squares a day so you were getting skinny AND getting that couch that really didn't fit into the neighborhood you lived in. You didn't even notice that you didn't have any time to sit on the couch, you had it all the same. And so it continued into the 20's, the 30's and the 40's before life became a time when I had what I wanted, lived where I liked and pretty much enjoyed going to work. So that brings us to retirement - and the 50's - as a matter of fact - 56 in a couple of days.....and life still isn't that bad!
I defy the powers that be to get me to move out of my comfort zone so I went browsing - or surfing - whichever you want to call it, and came across a site called "Creative Souls." Lo and behold - there is ART out THERE!!! Truly, I have not seen a site with so many talented souls. Really - and they are generous too. You can find tutorials, inspiration and invitations! And that is what happened. I was invited to participate in an ATC swap - that is artist trading card exchange with another artist. The theme was dogs. I thought, I have dogs, I have 2 wonderful, cranky, smelly, lovely loving dogs. I can do this. Then the fear set in - but - - - being an artist myself and knowing that having a deadline and making a promise to someone that I will do what I've said I would do - I dragged my feet until 4 days before it was due. And not to make it easy - no that would be too easy - I signed up in November for the Sketchbook Project 2011 as well. Both deadlines are on the 15th of January!
I managed to get the Sketchbook out yesterday in spite of the snow falling all over everything and everyone - YEA! Here are some of the pages. This great project (the Sketchbook Project - not my little book) is marvelous! They are going to take all these sketchbooks that were sent to artists (for a small fee of course) and they labeled them, bar coded them and sent them off to be filled up by the participating artist. Now, I have alot of the little sketchbooks (Moleskine - check out their web site) and I've filled my share of them. BUT - when you HAVE to fill the book with illustrations and words and 'stuff' let me tell you - those 79 pages are ALOT! But, I did it. The greatest part of all is that I have a daughter who lives in Chicago and I have only that one original book - hmmm....how to get it to her to see and then get it off to Brooklyn to the homebase of Sketchbook Project 2011 in time to make it for the deadline? Easy, peasy - the Sketchbook project 2011 is going to be traveling across the country and it is going to stop in Chicago! So - - - SHE can go there and see dear old mom's book and lots of others. I sent one for her to fill in - I hope that she has finished it and sent it in so that I can see it when and if it comes to Michigan! It was alot of fun too
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