1/14/10

Another date without any documentation to back it up:

One of the pages in Wreck This Journal instructs you to rip out the page, put it in your pocket, put it thought the laundry, and tape it back in. So I did the first three steps... but taping it back in proved to be difficult. The age disintegrated into pulpy bits, none bigger than a nickel, stuck to my clean clothes. I tried to rescue as many as possible, with the intent of piecing some back together or at very least putting them in an envelope back in the book, but that didn't happen either because my wonderful sister was helpfully cleaning in the anticipation of my cousins' visit and swept the little pile of scraps into the trash before I finished the project.

Alas!

1/12/10

I kept it simple today. (Actually, the first time I wrote that I wrote "I phoned it in today", but I'm making an effort not to be so hard on myself here. It's an experiment isn't it?). This is another page from Wreck This Journal.

This is what I wrote:









As I was saying: I kept it simple, but I really like the result. Now every time I go to the book, it's like a little reminder to be daring and creative not only on those pages, but in all of my life.

1/11/10

When describing this to Rachel M, she aptly observed: "That sounds like an excuse to use Sharpies."

This is another page from Wreck This Journal.

1/10/10

Today, in addition to the soup I'm planning on making for dinner tonight, I've finished editing ALL the photos from Amy's Bachelorette!

Here they are!

Next up for editing, at his earnest request: Seth's rehearsal dinner.

As for the soup, it will be beef and barley, and I'll give you a report tomorrow.

More photos

I just edited some more photos from Amy's Bachelorette lunch!

1/9/10

Today, Matthew and I slept in, ate brunch, and set out on an adventure! I've been wanting to go to the Mapparium for ages, so we bundled up and trecked into town see it. It was definitely very cool, and I for only $6, I'd highly recommend it. How often do you get to stand inside a three-story high globe?


Anyway, I brought my camera, thinking I'd practice with my Lensbaby (which I'm still struggling with). I did take a few pictures, but I've decided that my real art for the day was the "inspirational scrapbook image" I created in the "Quest Gallery" at the Mary Baker Eddy Library. Seen projected on the wall to the left.

I think Matthew made some art too: in the "Quest Gallery" there was some computers you could use to do research on the Chirstian Science Monitor (which is an excellent publication, by the way). Matthew, being all tech savvy and whatnot, knew how to navigate away from the site it was set to, and directed it instead to Zombocom. The rest of our time there, we could hear "Welcome to Zombocom! Anything is possible at Zombocom!" echoing through the gallery. Nice.

1/8/10

I feel like I didn't accomplish anything at all on Friday. If you asked my supervisor at work, I'm sure she'd say I did a lot, but I left so much undone when I walked out the door, I was feeling anxious and fragile. I had a tearful conversation with my mum during my commute home, where bemoaned the fact that there is so much to be done and so much I want to do, and not enough time. I suppose it's not a very original complaint, but I was feeling it deeply in my heart.

Matthew and I had plans to go to a potluck at his friend, River's house. I'm sad to say, I can't even say that I made anything for that either! River is an artist, and his home is filled with interesting and unexpected art. There was a bunch of faces drawn on a shopping list on his fridge, all alike, and I added one... Matthew said: that can be your art for the day. But I didn't document it, and I was only copying him, so I feel like I'm really pushing it with this one.

I'll have to make it up over the weekend.

1/7/10

Thursday was not a good day for art-making. Nearing the end of a crisis-filled week, I got home at 11pm, noticed a square of clean tinfoil on the kitchen table, and half-heartedly tried to sculpt something out of it. Friday morning I threw the creased and crumpled thing away.

In retrospect, on both Wednesday and Tuesday I at very least attempted something. I just neglected to push through the frustration, or even document the results because something in me labeled them unacceptable. A "failed" attempt is better than no attempt at all, and in the future I think I'll try to make some sort of record of it and post it here.

I did make some things that I'm proud of on Thursday, including beginning the creation of a group curriculum that will be used at work, and I made up some new ways of communicating and being planful with my girls. That's a different sort of creativity, I guess.

1/6/10

Wednesday night, after work, Matthew and I went to Mum's house for a delicious homemade meal and for Dana and Matthew to meet. When I got home, I did a few little doodles on paint app I have on my iPhone, but I wasn't satisfied, so I erased them once I remembered I'd done this little doodle at work:



It's not much, but it's something.

Trouble

No sooner did I say something all boastful on Twitter about how awesome I'd beem doing at making art every day, did I run into a roadblock. As it turns out, it's pretty difficult to find time to create when you're at work all day facing the many challenges faced when in the presence of six teenaged moms and their babies. Apparently, this is not going to be a project that I FIND time for, if I want to do this, I'm going to have to MAKE time. And when time can't be made, I guess I'll have to be creative in where I've been creating! As a case in point, read the next few posts (1/6, 1/7, and 1/8).

1/5/10

I painted today! All I painted was my nails... and I don't think I can count that as creativity, even if it is a new color ("I'm Fondue Of You")

So here are some more photos from Amy's Bachelorette Party. It's all pictures of pretty Amy and her pretty friends! Enjoy.













One of the Bridesmaids made a cute and funny quiz, which they sent to Kevin (the groom) to answer. Then we all took turns asking her the same questions, and seeing how many of them matched. Here are some pictures from that:

1/4/10

I was watching a YouTube video of a cartoonist last night, someone from Mad Magazine, and it looked so easy. The figures he drew seemed to just pour out of the tip of his pencil. I decided I had to try too... and this is what I came up with.

Eh. Looking at it this morning, it's not quite as terrible as what I thought it was last night. But I'm still not thrilled. I think I lose track of "draw what you see" and get caught up in trying to draw what I think I should see.

Nevertheless: here you are!

1/3/10

Today, I edited a bundle of photographs from Amy Meier's Bachelorette party last fall. I've decided that if I edit at least ten images, it can count as my creative act of the day, provided that I actually post them on the day of.



As part of the day, we went to an orchard to pick apples.





There was a hay ride, pulled by tractor, to get out to the orchard:



This is one of Amy's friends:



She wore a saturated orange jacket, and I took a bundle of photos of her.



This is the bride:

1/2/10

A page from Wreck This Journal.

1/1/10

Dreaming, originally uploaded by Molly Merrick.

Sadly, I am not off to a good start. I didn't create a thing all day, but I had a wonderful time celebrating. When we got home, Matthew fell sound asleep and I took this late at night. Isn't he cute?

2010

"Draw colored circles around the black dots", a page from a coloring book that I filled in Christmas Eve, took a iPhone picture with, and posted to Flickr.

Happy New Year! This is a time of year that is always so infused with retrospection and anticipation. I feel like I’m doing pretty well: looking back over the past year, it’s been mostly great. But I’ve got this little inkling that there’s something missing, and when I compare the past year to the past decade, it’s pretty clear that up until recently I’ve always been a very creative person: photography, dancing, sewing, crafts at Camp Polly, needlework, poetry, and more. It used to be such an integral part of my life that I lost hours in the darkroom or studio, that I thought I was going to have a career in a creative field, that I minored in studio art in college. But these days, for whatever reason (and I’ve come up with many) I’m not making things like I used to, and I miss it.

Actually, I’ve been noticing more and more often how much I miss it. I’ve been lamenting to my supervisor that I’m not as creative as I could be with my clients. I’ve been reading more poetry. I’ve been buying empty journals without daring to fill them. I even bought this cool book, and only just began to destroy it before it got buried under the pile of novels I plan to read. I’ve been lurking around Flickr, feeling jealous of all the beauty without posting any of my own. I’ve carried my camera around, without taking any photos, and when I do I let them sit on my hard drive (I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve received and ignored several email from loved ones asking if they can see my images from their wedding or party). I’ve stood surrounded by delicious art-making tools at Polly’s, and had no idea where to begin. I’m in love, and even that makes me want to make things.

I keep coming back to the concept that it’s important to “do something creative every day” I’d been toying with the idea of doing the 365 where you post a photo every day for a year, but it seems like an overwhelming commitment. But creative doesn’t have to mean a photo, it can mean a delicious meal, or a page from a coloring book, or a doodle in a margin, or something written, or a snow angel. So this is it! I’m going to make something, every day, for all of 2010. I’ll post whatever it is here (disclaimer, I can’t promise that I’ll post it on the very day it was created, but I’ll try).

Get excited! 1/1/10 will be posted soon.

10 Lasts

The Last One, originally uploaded by misu / Mikhail Palinchak.

LAST day on-call
LAST Team meeting
LAST Staff meeting
LAST day of class
LAST papers due
LAST group
LAST meeting with a patient
LAST day in the Emergency Department
LAST assignment - Poster Session
LAST day at my internship

To Do*

Sleep, originally uploaded by Me.

Four two-paragraph response papers.

Two papers.

One poster session.

As many process recordings as possible.

Terminate with my five current patients.

Get a job.

Plan my party.

Eat.

Sleep?  In the next two weeks?  It doesn't look promising.

*edited

This is how it works:

Aurora, Originally uploaded by ME!

You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it to some
Someone else’s heart
Pumping someone else’s blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don’t got hard
But even if it does
You’ll just do it all again.

- Regina Spektor, telling one rendition of the story of my professional career thus far. Or maybe telling the story of my career forever. Or maybe social work in general.  Or maybe just life.

Today

Magic Sandbox, originally uploaded by Me.

I am not sleeping in. I am getting up, and I'm not making the bed but I am opening the curtains. And the windows!  I am making art. I am making breakfast. I'm having tea and two muffins in my nightgown. I am saying nice things to friends. I am dancing like a crazy person.

I am not looking at my resume. I am looking at LinkedIn, Idealist, Indeed, and SimplyHired to remind myself that I will find a job, and when that stops making me happy, I’m jumping on the bed.

I'm painting my nails. I'm doing a little bit of homework. I'm wearing a new sweater. I am wearing pigtails.

I am looking deep into my own eyes.

I am helping my brother. I am leaving the house.

Today, I am doing things for happiness. Tomorrow I’ll do things because I have to.

Maybe.