Follow your bliss...: The Prototypes...

Sunday, March 30, 2008

The Prototypes...

I am always partial to the pieces that "started it all", the first of the latest thing that I'm doing...or whatever...the "prototypes", I always look to them to see where I should go next, or where to improve...sometimes they're not that great (another reason to keep them to myself), but sometimes that doesn't matter and I hang on to them...well, you know, just because...

This little skinny drawing, pencil and colored pencil entitled Sense came from a productive period of time last spring...the drawing itself was going nowhere as a black and white piece, so I said: "What have I got to lose?" and dove in with colored pencil to tint it...there's parts of it that I love to pieces, and parts of it that are still not so special...but it put me in a better frame of mind creatively to go on with the pallet and play around with adding color...

The next one that came along is better, I see them as "sisters" or "stable mates", their colors are the same, their shape and size are the same, they came out of the same pad of paper...and the spirit of creativity that made the first, urged the creation of the second...

May Night, which is currently residing at the Delavan Gallery is a far more interesting drawing using the same pallet of colors and scratching the paper surface with a hard #6H pencil...I know I've posted this image last year, but I adore this piece, she's so lovely, there's nifty layers and textures happening...there's a little Art Nouveau look to it that I like a lot. I really loved the act of making it at the time, so whenever I see it I remember the day it was made and how content I felt...I fear there's no way that anyone can see that when they look at her, but...I always hope when someone sees my work that they can rest their eyes where they please and come away with something special...

This is one of the few that I've considered translating into larger scale as a painting on canvas...summer projects to come I believe, the outdoor studio at the picnic table will be busy this year...but what I always fear the most about this step, is losing the spontaneity of the drawing by "copying" something already done...you know what I mean? I can almost see it...but right now, the picnic table is covered in three inches of heavy snow...there's a lot of April Showers ahead...

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Me and Fibromyalgia...the good news is, it's not going to kill me.

I was finally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2007 after years of being told my illness was all in my head. My Fibro is everyday fatigue with body aches, mostly tolerable, but when I have a flare-up, which can be triggered by stress, hormones, or being over tired from over-doing it, I get the full body pain, including chest pains (yes, these are scary, like an elephant standing on my chest.) Thankfully, it doesn't hurt to take a breath, but I feel breathless, I just do yoga and breathing exercises to stretch and breathe to ease through the worst of it, NSAIDs help to cut the pain, and naps are always a necessary thing when needed (but hard to do while at the day job!) It's a balancing act to manage, I take advantage of the good days, lay low on the bad ones, and very often, push through in spite of the bad days...some mornings I wish I could stay in bed, but I'm glad that I get up and about, very often 'the kinks' work themselves out. I refuse to take the recommended pharmaceutical band-aids on the market, I tried one once, and I don't like feeling like a zombie. I keep active with my creativity, I think that's the key to my overcoming this obstacle every day...and I have my Fred and our son, five cats, and one dog named Max.