Backgrounds, planning, and meditations

This bouquet of brilliant backgrounds is most photogenic of the myriad things that have gobbled up the week or so it’s been since I last blogged (still getting the hang of doing so regularly, I must admit!). I’m running a background swap at my ATC group’s retreat at the end of the month, and I’m trying to make sure I have quite a few of my own to swap. I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to part with, I love how most of these came out! That’s the joy of working on a somewhat bigger scale; making an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of watercolor paper will produce 10 beautiful ATC backgrounds, as well as a few tiny scraps. I’m sure I’ll be able to part with at least a few from each sheet.

Aside from playing with paints, I’ve been very busy planning our retreat; I’m in charge of coordinating the Activity Guide. There’s been a ton of work involved getting descriptions and supply lists written and rewritten, but I am blessedly nearing completion. I’m eager to have it taken care of so that I can put more of my mental cycles to some bigger issues that have been plaguing me.

I’ve been very preoccupied lately with figuring out what my future holds, with – as the blog says – finding my path. I’m living with a lot of pain right now, from so many sources I’m having difficulty sorting it all out. I’m letting go of a business that once held so much promise but in the end just caused me a lot of pain. I’m learning to live with seasonal depression all over again, as a very rainy summer has left me scrambling for new tools. I’m pondering what it means to be on the autistic spectrum, what it means to be an artist, and how a person like that can fit into a society that doesn’t really seem to know how to accept either of those things. I’m struggling to find my identity, to understand my strengths and weaknesses, and how to make peace with it all.

Steampunk mail day!

I had company over yesterday, so I ended up not getting an art made. But I did have quite a mail day! I’ve made a few purchases on eBay and Amazon lately, and a bunch of things came at once. As you can see from the picture, it was something of a steampunk mail day. I got a marvelous antique book full of patent illustrations, as well as two REALLY cool paper punches – a gear and a pair of watch hands. These are so amazing, I had to try them out right away on some copper embossed paper and some black silver-speckled paper. The results are amazing, I can’t wait to use them!

I got the steampunky punches as part of a large lot from eBay – I’m trying to beef up my collection in time for an activity I’m hosting at the NEATC Retreat. We’re calling it the Punchin’ Luncheon and the idea is that we all bring our punches and some paper and share the wealth. There will be cupcakes and punch, and we’ll all come home with a nice stash of awesome paper shapes.

I got a couple of books yesterday as well, but I’ll talk about those another time, when I’ve had a chance to look them over a bit. Right now I gotta run, I have a driving lesson in twenty minutes – I’m in my mid-twenties and I’m finally learning to drive!

Gearing up to tidy up

Before I get started cleaning I wanted to grab a few “Before” pictures. Here’s a shot of the closet in the studio… buried under a pile of artsy rubble! I need to dig it out, there are lots of fun treasures in there.

As eager as I am to uncover those treasures and start playing full time, I think today and tomorrow I need to focus on just getting the bare bones of the cleaning dealt with. In the longterm, I need the space to be where I work on art; playing, exploring and finding my muse. But in the short term I need to clear off chairs – chairs make very good tables, as an artist knows – and find places for the things that have migrated to the floors so that I can set up my 6′ folding table. My buds and I will need a nice chunk of table space and plenty of seating so that we can iron out the details of the retreat.

Check out more photos of my studio, including some older ones at other periods of messification, at my Flickr photostream. I hope to be making more updates both here and in my photostream as the clean-up progresses. But at this point I’m just procrastinating, so I’ll say sayonara for now!

Tidying and teaching

Tomorrow I’ll be working to get my studio straightened up. Not an uncommon activity for an artist – we’re not the most organized people in the world, as the demand for the Studios issue of Cloth Paper Scissors can attest – but this will be as much reacquainting myself with my studio and my supplies as it is the usual tidying up of half-finished projects.

Some of my friends from the NEATC Meetup will be visiting on Thursday, to work on plans for our first weekend retreat. I’m so looking forward to the retreat; it’s a peer-led retreat, and I’ll be running a couple of great activities. I’m eager to stretch my artistic wings learning new things at others’ workshops and flexing my teaching muscles as well. My hope is hat teaching will be part of my destiny as an artist. I love to share, and I love to learn – teaching is both.