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Monday, October 22, 2007

Taking Control of the Clutter

I'd thought I'd share tonight my newest prototype for some illustrations I want to do. I haven't quite decided if I want to do them in pencil, pen, watercolor, marker--or what so this is just a practice picture but one that I want to expand on in future "collections". I made this "Doodle Girl" using pen and colored pencil--but I really think watercolors would have worked too. Maybe working in every medium is just fine too, that's what I have been doing lately anyway!
I'd like to work more in collections or themes but not sure if that's possibe right yet as I'm loving trying everything. Most of the time you can spot a particular artist by the style of their work, a musician by the sound of her voice, a guitar player through the his unique riff, a drummer by his beat. I'm not sure if I have my voice or beat just yet but perhaps my style is evolving.
Jane commented (sooo sweetly) on my last post, that I should look back and see how far I've come in the 7 months that I've been doing this so I did just that tonite. I reorganized my pictures and uploaded them to flickr and I think I have them pretty close to the order I've created to them in my
collage set
. Please check it out and let me know what you think so far. It does make me feel better seeing how far I've come despite my own personal adversity.

Speaking of that--thank you all for the sweet and empowering comments you left me from my last post. It does make me feel much better to know I have several people out there that are cheering from the sidelines when I need it :)
This weekend I had a need to reorganize things a bit. I had a collection of boxes and packing material for my swaps and etsy sales sitting in a corner of my bedroom and that collection kept growing and growing. I'd lay down at night and it would glare at me from the corner it was housed so I finally broke the boxes all down and stashed them in a somewhat empty closet out of sight. Phew--major improvement. Your bedroom is supposed to be your santuary but it was become a warehouse!
I then moved on to my book shelves. I have a three piece built in with two cupboards in the center that sits in the corner of my living room. At yard sales over this last year I have bought a ton of books (I said bought...not read ;), I also had been given a bunch over this year between cookbooks and regular books, childrens books----books books books. EVERYWHERE. In addition, I bought 114 National Geographic magazines for my collages at a yard sale for 10 cents each. Those were sitting in a box by my couch and another box in my dining room. I had no where to go with them with only 3 closets here, no attic, no basement, no shed--so I had to figure out something. So..bookshelf cleaning I did. I tore out everything, put several up for a "future" yard sale and reorganized my knick knacks on the shelves making room for all the magazines. Phew--those two projects alone took me 4-5 hours. Then came Josh's room---did the same thing with his bookshelf and we got rid of a bunch of things, set some aside for sale, and reorganized what was left. 5 pm Sunday---finally done. What a blessed project! You have no idea how good I feel though now that it's done! Oh, I forgot, I also reorganized my "dining room studio"..LOL..Hopefully come Thanksgiving I will be able to see my table (because I'm having guests), I really have no choice which is a good thing. Sometimes I need a little motivation.
***
The moral of the story is, when things spiral out of control or you have a lot of negative vibes screaming at you, even if it's coming from inanimate objects, it may be best just to remove that negativity. Don't procrastinate because it will eat at you until it destroys you! Yes, pile ups of books, boxes, paints, papers, can destroy you....LOL..or at least hamper your creativity or dampen your motiviation.
I'm reenergized now--so much I even colorized my 12x12 paper tonight.. LOL Whooooohoooooo call me crazy!
*****
Have a great week!
lucy

8 comments :

I used to be Gigi Minor - but now I'm Annie Kight said...

Love this blurb! I agree about the clutter it cuts your imagination in half! BTW my camera is the HP Photosmart M425 (tiny little thing from WalMart I think we paid just a bit over $100.00 so not bad. I try to use the brightest light possible because the flash really does seem to over do it! Hope Santa spoils you rotten this year! Thanks for the feature on the home page too~ feels good to know you liked my garland :)

Jenn Maruska said...

I really enjoyed seeing all your collages together like that. And I do see a progression... as the final one is almost a complete figure of a woman. Only the artist knows for sure what their work represents, but as a viewer I look at that collection of work and see the evolution of a woman who is getting to know her true self.

I also think it's interesting that you've been re-organizing your physical space as well.

You're doing some changing, girl!

And it sounds like you are moving in a new and exciting direction.

: )

Heidi said...

Decluttering is always good. Love the new style of drawing. Very cute!

Paula said...

I really like the style of your latest drawing! You are incredibly talented, my friend!

Sheri said...

hey i love your little lady... very cool... i like all your art! i looked at a few of the other things! awsome... and thanx for your comments on my art!
sheri

Anonymous said...

I love your blog banner by the way...I think you'll look back on this year as such an important time of your life. You are clearing out the old to make room for new, and not new things but new experiences, ideas and even people...

The last post was really something. It must have been cathartic...

Jane said...

I get the same way with my crafting materials. It seems like they mulitply while I sleep or something! Anyway, I think we both deserve beautiful studios that are just for crafting. I am going to put that out their for the universe to resolve!

CG said...

Cute drawing! You always have some great ideas for your paintings. How is your Etsy shop going?