The Summer Marches On

Summer is always a tough time of year for me. This summer came out swinging and I am doing everything I can to stay in front of it and also to keep from retreating and isolating further.

The good news is that the little efforts I had started are paying off. Under challenge, I feel rattled, but not shattered. I feel like I'm starting to develop a less conditional resilience and courage. And that has certainly been my message to myself here-- be scared and do it anyway. Pause, but return.

Lack of sleep makes time play tricks on the mind, or maybe the mind plays tricks on time. Too many tracks running too fast in my head to follow one thought train consistently enough to get anywhere writing.

I'm finding refuge in art for no reason, finding reasons for art with no purpose, pushing myself to stay willing to be awful at something I find rewarding, reminding myself improvement is inevitable if discipline is in play.

With any luck, I'll survive the season with strength and grace, come out the other side with a fresh perspective and new opportunities.

Art for No Reason

• The ToL and blue lotus images are a few years old, the other three are new this summer. the purpose for this art for no reason? Hard to be too sad when making pretty colors. As a side note, working wet is a great way to have built-in pause points and develops patience.

• Prototyping light shade designs. A rough study to capture saturation and throw on a smaller scale than the theatre level I'm accustomed to. Excited about taking the next steps and have some good ideas for process.
  

• Paper mache problem solving. Turns out that I get distracted by my stupid face when I am watching my staff practice videos. Fortunately, the internet has plenty of tutorials on how to make paper mache masks using a foil base, which is similar to what I learned in art school, only cheaper, easier, and more practical. At least, so far. This is my first attempt in process, it's still hardening out the first newsprint layer.

There's been more, too. These are a few examples to mark progress along the way, to nurture the focus, and to keep developing the habit until it becomes more comfortably automatic.