The Other Side of Somewhere

Back at One

Starting over.

I started this project last November with the intent to create one atc (artist trading card) per day while Mr. P. is away.  I had one particularly emotionally bad day, skipped it, and let the entire project lapse.  I was too sad to continue.

Now I will begin again and this time I will be counting down the days until he returns home for good.  It's a little more hopeful this go 'round.

You can see all of the cards from the first half in my flickr photo album.  I'll be updating my progress there daily.

Here is where things stand currently, a scorecard if you will:

ATCs #1 - 100. (Just over 3 months of daily cards)

Skipped ATCs (days) #101-110

ATCs #111- 112. No cards between March 20th - May 30th.

The ATC shown here resets the entire count.  We're back at one. This card is #1a.  With Mr. P. returning sometime in early November, the second half of this endeavor should yield approximately 150 new artist trading cards. 

It feels good to start again.  I've missed this.

In Between Now and Then

This week has been that awkward time in-between living our "normal" life and Mr. P. leaving again.

It has been nice having him home for almost an entire month.  A true gift of time.  We laughed, went out to dinner, spent a couple of days in Washington D.C., hung pictures in the house, watched Frasier reruns, sat on the back deck chatting and watching the birds, went to the movies, bought a new stove, and ran errands.  It's all gone by so quickly.

He goes back tomorrow and I will not see him again until November.

In-between now and then is the Summer to be gotten through.

It's funny, we've been married for 13 years this year and been through many work-related separations.  Each time, I think I've figured out how to deal with his absences, as if there is some kind of formula. 

Well.  There is no formula.  Each separation is its own unique entity with its own set of rules and customs.

This time, initially, I planned a lot of activity for myself (my well-intentioned daily/weekly/monthly creative projects for example).  All to keep me distracted and "busy", I guess.  What I've found during the first half of this thing is that I really need less structured activity and more free time for life to unfurl at its own pace; having big swaths of time allows me to take care of myself however I might need to at any given moment. Too much activity can be overwhelming.  Solitude, in this case, is a good, necessary thing.

That said, my Summer will not be lived in a cave.  Hee hee.  I am taking a creative class, online.  Class meets virtually, once a week, for ten weeks.  I'm very excited about this, a little nervous too (which is why I'm not sharing specifics, yet). 

I am also resurrecting my Daily ATC project.  This was a really good thing to do.  I've missed it. 

Other than that, I'm just taking it easy.

I hope time is kind, and passes as quickly as possible.

Creative Spaces

When I was a little girl, I used to sit smack in front of the TV (I Love Lucy and The Flintstones being favorites) and play with my paper, glue, crayons, and scissors.  Although I've pulled the chair back away from the TV so it doesn't burn my eyes, and although I have a dedicated space for all my creative stuff, I still say there is no better studio space than the one I had when I was five. Even now I love to sit on the sofa with my toys and play.

Even so, I saw this magazine at a friend's house after initially resisting it, and I cannot stop paging through it.  There are some awesome studio spaces out there!

My dream space?  Oh yeah ... a HUGE industrial loft with floor to ceiling windows spanning an entire wall.  A dedicated table for: working, cutting fabric, sewing machine, cutting paper (mat and tools), beeswax, and drying painted papers.  I'd love to have a dedicated space for shooting photos of my Blythe dolls.  Definitely need a bean bag or oversized comfy chair in which to read, write, and daydream (and for the whiskered ones to sleep on).  The computer and printers would be in there somewhere, of course.  I'm totally enamored with the idea of living in the loft as well - just one big living breathing space.  Last but most important?  A concrete floor so I can roller skate from station to station.  Wheee ...

It's a nice dream, isn't it?

This magazine is pure eye candy for me; a nice peek at how other people decorate their spaces. While certainly I like a nice space, I'm not too worried about decorating my own - decorating is not my strength. 

I'd rather play.

Changes

As I've mentioned,

Art & Soul this year was a deep and meaningful experience for me.  The classes I took and the people I met clarified a few things about both my public and private creative work.  These little epiphanies, combined with my aim to make authentic choices means there's a new way of doing business around here. 

 

I've made a small but meaningful change to my blog.  When I launched this blog in 2006, its purpose was to support an article I had written for Somerset Studio magazine.  I picked a blog name and it was fine but it wasn't all that; it was what I came up with on the spot.  I've kept the name all this time because I had some irons in the fire and it seemed important to other people that I remain consistent. A couple of years ago, I launched a second blog, a writing-oriented blog, with a name I loved from a poem I'd been composing.  After a short time I decided to close that second blog because really, who has time to keep a blog for every interest?  I was not happy breaking myself into pieces and compartmentalizing myself.  I've taken the name of that second blog, The Other Side of Somewhere, and applied it here.  {art*play*possibility} was nice and served its original purpose, but I've not been happy with it for a very long time.  It just doesn't fit me anymore.

 

Maybe someday I'll write a post about the meaning of the new name, or share the actual poem (still tweaking it).  For now it is a name that fits me and a name I'm madly in love with. It is not a strict definition of content you might find here and offers wide open spaces for all of my creative interests to roam about.

 

If you link here, I am beyond honored.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  If you wish to continue linking here you can update your link to reflect the name change, use my real name, or leave things as you have them.  The url for the blog remains: http://jperegrineart.typepad.com.

 

As for my artistic work, I've decided to step back from selling and a general sense of striving.  Oh, my etsy shop is still open and I'll continue offering work there occasionally, but I need to take the money component out of my creativity.  It confuses me.  It clogs it up.  It puts pressure on me to produce, produce, produce. The soul of my creativity is in playing, experimenting, happy accidents, and discovery, things that money doesn't have time for.  I've been asking my creative work to do things for me it isn't meant to do, at least at this particular point in time.

 

My experiences over the last few years have taught me a great deal; I've had quite the education.  I know too much to go back to working in a vacuum, but I don't want to continue the way I have been.  For now I'm just going to "be", enjoy the journey, and see what happens. 

Illustration Friday (Worry)

Art Journal page spread for Illustration Friday.  Mixed media and collage in a journal made from a reclaimed hardback book.

The design on the upper right hand page is a piece of painted paper made by brushing, smearing, and brayering excess paint onto freezer paper.  I'm always amazed at how these random, unplanned scraps turn into such great collage elements.

As for this week's theme, worry is something I am very intimate with.  I hold a PhD in Worry.  I believe this the flip or shadow side of having an active imagination.  I am grateful for my imaginative mind for its contribution to my creative life, but as I can imagine wonderful things, I can imagine dark and scary things as well.

This page speaks to my worry about Mr. P's absence.  The hardest thing is worrying about his safety.   Years ago, a well-intentioned friend told me not to worry because it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Well.

THAT was not helpful.  It scared me half-to-death. 

I turned a corner this year in my thinking.  I am still worried about and afraid for Mr. P., but I also [finally!] understand that my fear is not truth.  My fear is not reality. The fears I have are legitimate and understandable considering the circumstances, but now when I start wandering down the worry path, I can remind myself that the feelings of fear and worry are just that.  Feelings.  Not truth.  And certainly not a crystal ball on the future.  My imagination, even the part of it that worries, does not have that kind of power.

What a relief.

Ish

One of my classes at Art & Soul was a three-hour drawing class.  It was the most challenging class for me both technically and emotionally.  I'm one of those people who has always believed that because I can't draw realistically, I can't truly be artistically inclined.  Whatever drawing skills I do have would be more likely classified as "doodling" and not "drawing".

Mere semantics?  Maybe.  But I know I'm not the only creative person out there who makes these distinctions. In school I never considered taking art as an elective precisely because I couldn't draw.  I assumed that lack of skill in this area disqualified me.

Anyway, class was hard because the focus was on drawing realistically, specifically items the teacher brought for us to draw - I didn't feel connected to any of the objects. From the very first exercise I was sweating bullets.  I was pretty tense through the entire class. 

This is my partial drawing of a stuffed frog.  It is charcoal done on nice, toothy paper.  It's really not as awful as I thought initially.  Hee hee ... at least it is recognizable as a frog-like creature.

I left class disappointed and trying to surrender myself to the idea that drawing just isn't my bag.

Yesterday, I got this book at the library (in the children's section, no less) and it restored my interest in drawing and set me free from the lofty ideals I've been placing on my drawing.

In Ish, Ramon loves to draw until his brother makes a critical remark about one of his drawings not looking right. 

"Leon's laughter haunted Ramon. He kept trying to make his drawings look "right," but they never did."

Ramon is discouraged until his sister Marisol sets him straight.  She remarks on a drawing of a vase of flowers that it looks "vase-ish" and this helps Ramon see his drawings in a new way:

"Ramon felt light and energized.  Thinking ish-ly allowed his ideas to flow freely.  He began to draw what he felt - loose lines.  Quickly springing out.  Without worry."

Ramon goes on to fill his journals with drawings that are "tree-ish", "house-ish", "boat-ish" ... you get the idea.

I highly recommend this little book (and its companion, The Dot) for anyone (child or, ahem, adult) in any creative field be it writing or art.  Reading it was a nice slap upside the head and encouragement to keep drawing, doodling, or whatever you want to call it.  I may not draw things "right" but I can definitely draw "ishly".

Treats

At Art & Soul, they have a vendor night where, well, vendors, hawk their wares.  Everything from original art from Rock Star Artists (usually the teachers) to ephemera and vintage goodies, to art supplies of all kinds.  I usually try to buy myself something special on vendor night.  It's something I save for.  This year I didn't go into vendor night with a specific thing in mind, instead waiting for something to speak to me. 

Well.

That something screamed to me the moment I walked in the venue. 

   

I bought this little (3" x 4") handmade journal from Doris Arndt.  I love the size! The inside papers are lovely and will hold up to water media.  The binding is so detailed and exquisite.  *swoon*  This was just the thing to commemorate a retreat defined by visual journaling classes.  I'm both excited and terrified to work in such a beautiful book.

And speaking of treats ... I received this little treat from Mr. P. today:

Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel

You have reached the blog formerly known as {art*play*possibility}.  ♥

Art & Soul

Art & Soul was an amazing experience!  This is my third time attending, and hands down, it was the best time!  My original plans got shaken-up about a week prior to the event, but it all ended up for the best as I ended up having unhurried time to get together with individual friends for dinner (or lunch) and conversation.  Much laughing and sharing ensued.  It was all very good!

I took three classes over four days and came home with a renewed spirit, clarity about many things, new friends, and a completely new appreciation for tape.  Yes, tape.  Scotch, masking, packing, strapping, electrical, decorative, transparent, tape.  They even make cool tapes with pictures on them, including the Jolly Roger. Jill kindly shared her pirate tape with me.  Tape is my newest obsession.

My favorite and most deeply meaningful class was the visual journaling class with Juliana Coles.  It was such a great experience to spend two days with 12 other women doing very personal journaling work.  The purpose of the class is not to make pretty art.  It is about letting go: of expectations, control, judgment.  It is about personal expression and not keeping a visual journal to impress anyone else.  It is about trusting your intuition to guide you.  In this way, I used colors I never would have chosen, experimented with familiar tools and found new and surprising ways to use them.  I had a couple of epiphanies that rocked my world like little earthquakes. 

I left her class yesterday afternoon, changed. 

My description does not do justice to the experience.  At some point I might share some of the pages I did, but as they are more process driven and not results driven, I'm not sure their "beauty" would make sense to anyone but me.  What's funny is, the resultant pages are not meant to look good, but I'm always very happy with the work I create through this process. 

In any case, if Art & Soul wasn't wonderful enough, the bigger news (saved the best for last!) is that Mr. P. arrived home two weeks early.  He arrived home at midnight Sunday/Monday!  It is so good to have him home for awhile!

If you're reading this at my blog site, you'll notice some changes which I'm still tweaking and will explain in another post.

Cheers!

(Journal page made in Traci Bunker's "Confessions of a Daily Journaler" class).

 

Illustration Friday (Seed)

Scatter Seed, Harvest Dreams
6" x 9" mixed media collage on watercolor paper
Various papers, vintage ephemera, original illustrations, pencil, paint, stamps, colored pencil, found text (the text reads: "She began scattering seed").

Limited Edition reproduction prints of this design available at Boodzoo Studio.

Previous Illustration Friday work: Wrinkles, Primitive, Homage,  Garden, Leap, Theory, Tales and Legends, Plain, Stitch, 100%, Soar, 2006 Retrospective

I'm off to Art & Soul!  Catch you on the flip side!