Balancing Act

I have been looking for topics to write about and stressing myself out in the process. Funny, since I started this blog for fun and to express myself.

The truth is that I have many interests and sometime art takes a back seat, the past few weeks I have been concentrating on work, this is our busy season so no time to waste. So, by the time I get home and take care of the mundane stuff, it is almost time for bed, no energy for personal projects.

However, when I do get some time to myself, I am torn between different things, painting, writing, reading, gardening, watching movies, cleaning, cooking and spending time with family and friends.



My work week is so full and organized that I hate to have to organize or prioritize my free time, however, this is basically the only way I can get some stuff done because if I don't, I get lost in trying to decide what I feel like doing.

This week is the perfect example, I took the week off and I wanted to do so many things, painting being one of them and this is day 7 and I haven't touched a paint brush yet. I did some shopping, cooking, lots of cleaning, walked the dogs for hours in the woods, sort out some papers (that are now in need of filing), gardened some, read some (Zen and the art of making a living by Laurence G. Boldt) , watch movies and the hockey playoffs ( I am almost happy that Canadian lost, more time for other things!).

I had to go and replace or BBQ gas tank and run by City Hall to deposit a permit request for some changes we want to make to the house. I forgot to tell you it was almost 40 degrees out there even the flowers would of liked to run for shade, I had to postponed gardening until it cooled down a bit. My neighbor had some workers doing his deck and they had to quit, they felt like eggs in a frying pan!

Still...no painting. The only regular activity was my daily walks with the dogs.

I drove down to the city a couple of times I had plan to spend 2 days with my great aunt spending a few hours on each of those days, she is ninety years of age but still very active. She wanted to go shopping for shoes and clean her closet and windows, we never did the cleaning part the weather was too nice. Finally, on Friday I brought her home with me for a BBQ and an overnight stay.

I did manage to take care of other stuff I had planed for the week, after my first day with my great aunt I met up with my daughter and we went for a Mexican dinner and a visit to the Fine Arts Museum to see an exhibit on Miles Davis, I was a bit skeptical about this show but it was very interesting and we both really enjoyed it, next thing we knew the security staff came to tell us the museum was closing, we spent two hours in Miles Davis's world.

I was most impressed by his achievements. Also, I really enjoyed his art work, yes he actually touched the Visual Art World as well. See some of his art work:
http://tisavision.blogspot.com/2008/12/discover-art-of-el-miles-davis.html

To finish the week, my son and daughter drove up to spend the rest of the weekend with us. The nice part is they brought supper and cooked for us, we had the perfect weather and we stayed until sundown out on the deck, actually it was more until a swarm of mosquitoes came charging our way.

Finally we are Sunday my last vacation day, I wonder after this week how I manage to find the time to work! Actually, I am starting to think that my working days are better managed than my off days.

My next blog will be about Fibre Art.

Art Journaling

My first experience with art journal was in my ARTX class which stands for: Integrated Studio in Contemporary Art Practices. Before I go on with my art journaling post, I would like to let you know that this class was the most fun and challenging course I have taken to date.

When we were told that we had to keep an art journal during the semester I got scared, and doubted that I could find enough material to fill up this many blank pages. I had no idea what an art journal was all about, I've kept a personal diary all my life but not very diligently, and I never drew or collaged in them. This art journal was a new adventure.


The beauty of it is that you can use anything you have at hand, be pictures, magazines, newspapers, thread, pencils, paint, really almost everything can be used.

An art journal can be about anything, it could be about projects you want to elaborate on, or notes, or it can even be personal, or about doodling, or anything else you can think of. The beauty of an art journal is there are no limits, it is your own little work of art that you can keep to yourself or share with the world. It is a place where all your fantasies are permitted and there are no boundaries to your imagination. There is no right or wrong way to make an art journal.


For instance, we had to finish the semester with a project that had to do with recycling. I had several ideas and I picked one from my journal, it was to make a Christmas tree out of shredded paper. (I will have to write a blog on that one it was a lot of work). I drew several sketches of different possibilities, one had to do with shoes, an other with meat packaging but the shredded paper won, and it all started from an idea I had put down in my art journal.

Fortunately for me my boss allowed me to use our office for the making of the Christmas tree. I know it is a bit of an odd tree, but we had none so that made due, plus my co-workers started adding stuff to it and it became a conversation topic. It challenged our work environement and how we can be more efficient recyclers. However, needless to say that the christmas tree went straight to the recycling bin after the Holidays were over.

An art journal can also be a way to evacuate some of your stuff, it is a bit like art therapy. The other side of art journaling is that you can always revisit your old journals to jolt your brain and revitalize some old ideas or find something you had forgotten and use in a new project. Also, it is a glimpse at your evolution as a person and an artist.

Journaling can open the gate to creativity and your subconscious mind and unleash some amazing ideas. You can view my first art jounal in the slideshow on the top right of this page.

Well in writing this post, I got myself convinced that I should keep up the practice and see where it leads.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

I have done some research on the matter and found some interesting sites and videos on the subject:

hhttp://rawartjournaling.com/
hhttp://www.aisling.net/journaling/journalingarts.htm
http://painting.about.com/od/keepinganartjournal/Keeping_an_Art_Journal_and_Art_Journaling.htmhttp://www.artcampforwomen.com/art-journaling-1/
http://www.self-help-healing-arts-journal.com/healing-art-journaling-flickr.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Art_Journaling__Getting_Started

You tube has some really neat video on art journaling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQkfuM_0Quw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic_Lz6_aMW4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi00J44Ogn8&feature=related
Suzi Blu has a whole series of art journaling tips and stories, if you search google or just click on the links below you will get to her stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi2gcjP88VM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1U_DB4UFmk
Here is a different kind of art journal, with fabric and stitches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra29fYmHJ5A

Well I hope that you are getting inspired, now go to it and have fun with your art journal!

Mother Nature, Spring walk and other stuff

Since my Fine Arts classes have finished I haven't done much, I have been busy recharging my batteries.

Anyhow, spring is here and hopefully here to stay, please Mother Nature no more snow! However, I know she must be real pissed off about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, who would blame her. Big mess with a lot of casualties of all sorts. The Ocean is having a hard enough time with pollution and overfishing, how will it survive the poison that is overtaking its water?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html

I feel like a bacterian fish in the sea, so small against all that is wrong in the world.

Walking in the woods with my dogs is a way to forget about everything else. In my part of the world, my country side world it is spring. Today I decided to take my camera along for the walk and witness spring. Sometime I envy my dogs, they are so in the moment always, so alive and happy with not much else than a run in the woods. Actually, today that is how I feel as well. Time stops, it doesn't matter that the sun is playing hide and seek, there are no bugs and it is warm enough to enjoy the moment.



So for about two hours we did just that, enjoy the moment. Then I came home and made lunch, a simple lunch a Greek salad and all was good.

Afterwards, I read the newspaper to find out that "If you're in debt, forget retirement..." Enlightening article, and a reminder of how little we were thaught about finance while growing up. Lets face it, most of us have just winged it! I remember my grandmother telling me that you are rich if you have no debts, finally after all these years they are quoting her in the paper!

http://www.montrealgazette.com/debt+forget+retirement/2974325/story.html

Credit is insidious, you start with one credit card and than you think it is not so bad, your minimum payment is $20.00 a month, you say to your self "I can handle that!" So you move on to bigger and better things, you get a car that you budget in, than a house, more credit cards and than, you choke! No wonder you can not retire if you are in debt, what a surprise!

My son had home economics in his last year of high school, I am told that the program got cancelled. I guess, they didn't think it was a good idea to have a class that teaches our kids about home finances, I know that home finances was only a small part of the curriculum still even I learned a few things from my son about finances through his class. I did not have home economics when I was in high school and no one in my family ever talked about money, I had to figure it out on my own.

Therefore, I think they should have a mandatory class that teaches about money matters to our kids and not just one year, this topic should be in installment for the duration of high school. Not all children have financially responsible adults for parents, or parents willing to talk about money, so if they can not learn it at home than where? Just look at the financial crisis that is currently hitting the world, if our World Leaders had taken such a class maybe our economy would be in a much better shape. Yeah, I know, their personal finances are probably better than the countries they lead. How sad is that!

Credit is a strange beast, when you don't want it everyone is offering it to you, I must receive at least a couple of pre-approved credit applications a week. Did you know that every time you accept a credit offer or get an other credit card it is instantly added to your credit bureau and your ranking is affected? Everywhere you go there is someone pushing some kind of new credit card, how many credit cards does one need?

These days, I believe that credit is what makes the economy survive, I don't think that without it people would be buying so much, in some ways we live on borrowed economy. This credit mentality basically caused this latest recession, people borrowed more than they could afford to pay and the card castle came crashing down. Was there a lesson learned? Maybe for some, but I believe that there are way too many people that are still in infancy when it comes to money matters and consumerism.


And if we keep on buying needless stuff for the sakes of the economy, we are doomed to be hit by a meteorite storm of infinite proportions. Not nice to mess with Mother Nature!

Info on managing credit card debts and money matters:
http://www.controlcreditcarddebt.com/
http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/18823/seminar
http://ohioline.osu.edu/mym/index.html
http://www.altn.org/webquests/money/index.html
http://www.postconsumers.com/

Books I recommend:
http://www.yourmentalwealth.com/mind-over-money/
http://www.amazon.ca/Women-Money-Owning-Control-Destiny/dp/0385519311/ref=sr_1_2/177-5959819-2545618?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272766795&sr=8-2
http://www.gregkarp.com/index.shtml

Meanwhile, all I can say is that today I enjoyed a beautiful day in the woods!