Category: Uncategorized

The last few weeks have been hard for a number of reasons, including Mum and I both being sick, being very busy at work, out-of-work commitments and so on. In among it all I had a lovely weekend away with my best mate, Sandra, in Hamilton. We went on a family picnic with some of her ESOL students and their family, to celebrate Moon Day. It was a lovely day in the Hamilton Gardens and the food was fabulous.  There has been almost no art go on for quite a few weeks now and that makes me unhappy – I hate the feeling of my art taking a back seat. But I also know I have to take care of myself and my family.

As I said to Mum the other day, I also have to take care of my career as I have 20 plus years left in the workforce. As part of planning my career, I’m going to be doing Post Grad Museum studies by distance through Massey University next year. This will sit well beside my PG Dip in Sociology, Advanced Diploma in Art & Creativity (Honours) and professional registration with LIANZA (Library & Information Assoc New Zealand Aotearoa). But it will also be a lot of hard work and I need to ensure I can devote enough time to it. There are other factors too. I’m currently Co-Chair of PubSig, a national organisation for public librarians. I’m on the communications committee for next year’s annual LIANZA conference with responsibility for setting up, maintaining and promoting a Twitter presence. So things are busy on the career front.

However, like the adverts say – but wait, there’s more! Mum is getting older, frailer, and her health is becoming harder to manage.  We were at the Doctor then the Emergency Dept on Friday. I was talking with my sister yesterday and she commented that “managing Mum’s health is like having a 1,000 piece jigsaw where some of the pieces get muddled up and you have to figure out what happened”. We promised Mum 14 years ago that we’d care for her at home. Then 5 or so years ago we promised she could die at home as long as she did her bit. “Her bit” includes spending two days a week in day care with me collecting her on my way home form work, and letting other people care for her when needed, even if it’s really me she wants. We’re keeping those promises because it is who we are and what we want to do.

So, where is all this leading? I’m making some decisions and changes to how I organise my life and what I do with my time. I was playing an online game – that’s gone. I am completing artworks for anything I am booked into but will not be entering anything new through till the end of 2012.  I’ll keep an art journal going to relax with, and keep my hand in, and do the monthly Crusades over at Green Pepper Press. I’m back to doing the washing every night or two so it doesn’t build up. I’m limiting the amount of time I spend on work stuff while at home so I have some down-time with Tony or  a good book. Currently, I watch the news and maybe another hour of tv throughout the evening – I’ll be back to pretty much news only from now on.

Next year, when I start studying, I need approx 12 hours a week study time. I’ll set myself a timetable so I do 2 hours a night 5 nights a week, and 2 or 3 hours on a Saturday. That means I have enough time after work to cook dinner, see to Mum, the washing, and fit my study in. That’ll give me Saturday night and all day Sunday for self and family. It’s a plan – it might not be the best plan ever, but at least I feel like I’m getting things sorted.

In terms of this blog, I don’t want to lose touch with people, so I’ll keep doing short posts about whatever and will still follow my fav blogs. Thanks for being part of my support network.

In the last 8 days or so I have sliced open my thumb on the bread knife, had a “quick replacement” filling in a back tooth that took an hour of deep drilling and cost $400, and last night ended up at Accident & Emergency with a very painful hand. Turns out I have a badly inflamed tendon that runs from the forearm to the thumb. Why is it inflamed? The doctor and I have no idea! But it’s hot, painful and swollen. So how much art have I been doing? Zip, zero, nada. 

I have high hopes that, if things really do come in threes, this week will be injury free so normal services can resume. I have the urge to paint, but not the capacity…

It’s been a week for taking it easy. I had the flu a week or three back and I’m still in slow mode! And in the last couple of days I have been completely engrossed in following Hurricane Irene‘s path. Why? My sister Ailsa and her husband Jim are in New York City at the moment, near Jamaica Bay – right in the surge path. Apparently it is back down to a Category 1 now, so only a bit stronger than a Tropical Storm, but still dangerous. Stay safe guys…

So what have I been doing, art-wise, this week? I’ve been watching Acrylics the watercolor way: Stephen Quiller paints a landscape, published by North Light. The way in which Stephen paints, and what he paints, is very, very different to what I do. But that doesn’t matter to me. What he does with color, and the way he explains it, is endlessly fascinating to me. Each time I watch this video a little more of his color theory settles deep in my brain, becoming part of the knowledge that I can call on without even knowing I am doing it. Ingrained, is how I think of it.

Watching Stephen use violet, orange and white is utter magic. Got an hour to spare and could use some inspiration? I thoroughly recommend popping this into the computer and enjoying the show.

This last week has had some issues – but we won’t go there – except to say that letting loose and having some fun with paint seemed like a great idea. With that in mind, I have done more of the wee 4×6″ (approx) abstracts in black, white and red. It feels so good to be making stronger marks and letting my hand show in the final pieces. I just know there are more to come yet…

Over at the GPP Street Team site Michelle asked us to play some mind games this month. First come up with some words, then make colors to suit them. The news here in New Zealand is dominated by the weather at the moment. Last year late winter / early spring storms killed 3 million lambs; the downturn in numbers for the meat processing plants has seen 100s lose their job, with more redundancies expected in the coming weeks. Last month a huge storm hit – we had snow here, at sea level, for the first time in over 30 years. An even bigger, colder storm is on the way today, just as newborn lambs fill the paddocks. So how could I not choose related words to come up with colors for?

My words for the challenge are Lambing, Night sky, Spring Growth and Storm Approaching. Lambing turned out a cold grey because the piles of dead lambs always look a horrible dirty gray color. Sorry, I know that is not very cheery, but it is the reality of a farming area. The Night Sky, on the other hand, is often a glorious pinky lavender color as a storm heads our way. Despite the weather, I know Spring Growth will arrive, bringing with it renewal. Storm Approaching turned out a pretty blue because so far, despite the predictions, our day has had some decent patches of clear blue sky. Mind you, apparently it’s already -1 C (30F ) just south of our southernmost island and heading our way fast!