Winter Whites

January 29, 2009 / still a dreamer

winterwhites1 Was a time when I was young, I remember there was a fashion rule about not wearing white after Labor Day. Not exactly the consummate fashion person nowadays, I hardly know if that is still true or not. What I do know, is that in nature, the beauty of winter white is always in style.

Looking out my second story window, I noticed the breath of white that lay over everything, and snapped a couple photos. Snow was predicted within a few hours. The sky was losing its blue and had begun to spread the familiar white-grey hue that foreshadows fresh snowfall. The ground was still covered, and wisps clung to some of the bushes and branches. A fog had begun to lay in on the river and to shroud Pennsylvania on its far bank, just a pale shadow behind the trees. Soon it began to snow.

As we move in to February, we are, many of us, tired of the snow and icy weather and wishing for Spring. Much of that has to do with the fact that we all have places to go and the snow creates an interference with our plans. Excluding that, Mother Nature never disappoints in the beauty of freshly fallen snow, or even in its anticipation.

In Between Books…Green Angel-Alice Hoffman

January 24, 2009September 5, 2010 / still a dreamer

greenangel There’s always something a bit sad about finishing a book. Maybe the word is empty. For so many pages we’ve been engrossed in others’ lives, an adventure, an intimate voyage through the eyes of another … the story reaches its peak then twists, turns, slips into its resolution. The last page. And it’s done. Sigh. Can’t there be more? (At least for the really good books.)

I recently finished Green Angel by Alice Hoffman, a MG novel that I came across while buying Christmas gifts in a local town’s bookstore. I like Alice Hoffman’s writing, and this was about Green, a 15 year old girl, a tragedy, guilt, isolation, survival, and ultimately redemption through love. How could it go wrong? It didn’t disappoint. Both magical and moody, Green Angel drew me in. But all too soon it was over.

In between books, I mentally, if not physically, pace. It’s a restless time. I survey the books I currently have on hand, waiting to be read. Plenty to choose from, including the other book I’d purchased at the same time in the Clinton Bookstore. But I’m not quite ready for that one. I roam from bookcase to bookcase, perusing those waiting to be opened, considering some rereads, then returning to books already begun and put aside for one reason or another. Where is the inner gauge pointing? Fiction? Non-fiction? Indecision.

skellig Fast forward to a stop at my local library to try and find some reference material for an illustration I’ll need to start. There, among some book jackets featured in a display, a word jumps out – Skellig. I know Skellig. It’s a song from a favorite Loreena McKennitt CD, The Book of Secrets. I ask the librarian about this, and she assures me they are not related. Skellig the book is an MG novel by David Almond – hawk or owl feathers are in the cover illustration, and the back cover asks “Man, bird or angel? Who or what is Skellig?”

The time in between books is over.

Remembering Who We Are

January 21, 2009January 21, 2009 / still a dreamer

It really can be difficult to find the time to write, draw, dummy, or be creative when there is just too much to do. I do journal faithfully, nearly every day without fail, and on days when I want to blog, allow myself the luxury of that being my journaling for the day. But there are days when my journal entry looks like raging chicken scratch and a desperate plea for someone to toss out a life-preserver. We all have those days, sometimes too many of them.

wolfcandle

It’s these days in particular which remind us that it pays to have something REALLY simple we can do daily to help us get centered or calm regardless of what life has in store for us on any given day. For me, that’s lighting a candle. I realized some time ago that candles are not a luxury, but a necessity. So I always have a nice variety on hand, scents that I love and make me happy, and nice things to burn them in.

I don’t think it really matters what it is that we do, but just something small that grounds us. My morning coffee – also a necessity – does that, too, but the candle is different. Choosing the scent I want to smell, what holder I’d most enjoy and where to put it takes just moments, but starts my day well. Or better. A small ritual that sets the tone.

We all can benefit from starting our day, or even a task. with something easy and small, whatever it is, that clears us a bit, lights our way, and helps us remember who we are. Do you have some small daily ritual that gets your day off on the right foot and centers you?

Outfoxing Your Reluctant Artist

January 6, 2009January 6, 2009 / still a dreamer

bluefootedbooby Actually, this is a follow-up to the earlier post, with a bit of success to report. Sunday was another day that I had time available to work on my children’s book dummy. Once going, I love working on this. Getting myself to sit down and start? Another story. Procrastinating, avoidance, outright fear … whatever you want to call it, it’s all the same in the end. Years ago, someone very close to me said, “You know, we could really talk about this forever, but sometimes you just have to nail your ass in the chair and do it.” Well said. Couldn’t agree more.

Ergo, the plan outlined in the earlier post. This has been working rather successfully in the few short days that I began. You’d think, since we’re all in the same person, that we couldn’t outfox ourselves, but clearly, it’s possible. Above is Sunday’s drawing. Clearly, I had a bit more time than Monday, whose sketch, made at 9:30 p.m., is nothing I will post. Having applied my butt to my drafting chair on Sunday, I drew the rather endearing Blue-Footed Booby you see here. I was helpless to walk away from the dummy which I’d just happened to leave lying on my desk. Quite crafty. So I worked on it.

For the weekend, I got two sketches done, but also figured out where the remaining two page spreads would go in my PB, roughed them out, and did a fairly good sketch of one of them. That was my plan! Even I am surprised that this works.

Are you someone who paces, distracts yourself, and otherwise has discovered 50 things that all need to be done N-O-W when you finally have time to devote to your creative work? You might try this – you, too, can be outfoxed.

Jump-starting Creativity after the Holidays-Equine Sketch

January 4, 2009January 4, 2009 / still a dreamer

penink-colt2 The holidays take up a lot of time one way or another, and it’s easy to lose our creative drive as holiday demands drive us in 15 different directions. Speaking for myself, I need to get back into my drawing and was looking for a way to jump-start my drawing efforts again. I’m quite sure a variation of this will work just fine with writing as well.

I wanted to make it fun, something I wanted to do, AND relatively painless. So I gave myself a challenge. I gathered up all my calendars from 2008 and a couple for 2009 I’d been mailed as fundraisers and stacked them on my drawing desk. My challenge is to draw one animal – yes, all my calendars are animals – every day AT my drawing desk. That’s an important part.

My drawing desk is in the room with all my art supplies, so if I’m feeling I might not do justice to a wolf in pen and ink, I can always grab my pastels. That’s the obvious. The secondary gain is that once I’m at my drawing desk, where my other current projects lie, it makes it much easier for me to park my butt there and settle into some of the more time-consuming projects I have to do.

I’m no stranger to procrastination, so while I may be wanting to pace the room awhile before settling down to work on some serious illustrations, or finding the opportune time to clear out and dust an entire bookcase shelf by shelf, I’ll already be sitting there in work mode. Tricky, eh?

That’s my plan anyway. Maybe it’ll work for you, too! My own challenge is on, and here’s my first sketch.