Doers and Dreamers.....

On our walk last week along the local Audubon Trail, this was chalked on the concrete at the beginning of the trail: " The hardest step is out the door. Keep Going!"  Yes.

Though we did not see the owlets we had hoped to see on that walk (having waited too long to get out the door,) we did see some marvelous things.

I have always kind of categorized 'creative folk' as either doers or dreamers: those who do the work, or those who just dream and plan, but never really get their hands or brushes dirty, or keep their bobbins full. I know that 'categorization' is a faulty one, for the most part, because I, for one, am both a dreamer and a doer. Lately, however, I have had a life very full of non-work things, and sometimes dreaming is the most productive thing I've been able to do. So I have been checking out books from the library, to take with me when I sat with my mom at her rehab place, or when she was in the hospital, or with my early morning coffee, before the days errands begin.

A lot of the books have been about sketching, and they mostly all say the same thing: Just Do It. I haven't read anything new or earth shattering (or even particularly inspiring) in any of them. None of them will do the sketching, or the painting, or the weaving for me.

So I have been sneaking in a few moments to do quick sketches in my sketchbook - though my sketchbooks have been much fuller by this time, in past years.

I am still not at all happy with the 'new' paper in the Moleskine sketchbook, and that perhaps is also a discouraging factor for my productivity.

Today is another busy day. Busyness is a good thing. But I occasionally need, also, to step IN the door of my studio - and keep going. Work is waiting for me there, and I dream of doing it.

Still here?

I am still here.... but not really still 'here'.... if 'here' is my studio. It has been sadly neglected while I've been busy with other things lately. My mom broke her hip, so the past 8 weeks have been hospital and rehab times, rather than studio times. There are times like that, and I am glad my work is flexible enough to adapt.

I DID get some new 'weaver's shoes' during that time, for my birthday. The first 'weaver's shoes' I had were a pair of brown woven leather Clark's clogs. I wore them to a conference where I was teaching, and almost all my students had the same shoes, in either black or brown! Weavers love 'weaver's shoes!' I have another pair that I almost feel guilty to wear, because they are clogs made from an actual primitive tapestry. These new ones are made of woven elastic bands. They feel great, and I will be looking at every weaver's feet for awhile to see which color and style they are wearing.

While I have been otherwise busy, my roses have bloomed,

and Mother's Day flowers and wonders arrived, including this awesome card from my grand-daughter. My immediate thought was 'if she thinks I can save the world by painting, I need to get busy and paint!' And she may be right. My creativity is certainly the most powerful 'weapon for good' that I have. Must. Use. It. The world is counting on it - at least my granddaughter knows that.

My lilies of the valley are the most beautiful and prolific that they've been for years, and my peonies are opening. Also, my red Austrian rose bush is somehow becoming a pink bush. It is a mystery: it has bloomed red for years, but a few years ago, after the red blooms were done, a very few (2-3) pink roses bloomed. Last year, there were half a dozen pink later blossoms. This year, there weren't as many red blooms as usual, and now that they are gone, there are almost as many pink blooms as there were red! They are on the same branches as the red roses. Very bizarre. They are not just 'faded red' blooms; they are distinctly a different rose. Curious and curiouser.

The only creative thing I have done lately is to begin knitting a 'special order' cap for my grandson, when we went to the cabin for a night. Then I decided to stop knitting and do a sketch. I had only taken a small bag of colored pencils, so it is a very simple sketch, but sometimes those are my favorites. The can that is holding the ball of yarn is an old vintage knitting tin with a hole in the lid for the yarn to come through. 

I hope to get into the studio today, and maybe even tomorrow; at least for an hour or two each day. I have come to a place in the tapestry where I need to make some serious new color choices, so it will need to be during daylight hours. Well, off the computer (which has also been quite neglected lately - I need to go through and deal with hundreds of emails, I see!) and on to other things - including some studio time, I am hoping.