Thank Goodness Ben Works One More Day

And then he has the weekend off. I miss him when he's away, though I like having the house to myself.

I woke up this morning, after having one of those instrument-of-the-Goddess dreams, no pun intended. I was in a town most probably Nelson, in a church I've never seen.  I was invited to a concert by Japanese school children bands/orchestras by one of the participants, a 15-year-old boy prodigy on a South/Central American mouth-organ-like instrument I've never seen or heard of, (most probably not real,) though during the concert, he played a recorder and a guitar.  He told one of the teachers/organizers I was his mother's English teacher.

During a break or after the concert, while discussing his music, he asked me how I approach my making, to which I had a nice short answer; it translates to something like, "Original look, easy care." Except the word "original" is a loaded word; online dictionaries say "original, creative" but the original (huh!) Japanese word is "zanshin" (斬新）, which also means bold, unique, never tried before.  No matter what my stuff look like, they are sturdy and easy to care for, that much is true, but I had never said or heard it in Japanese.  But the zanshin part - that could be where I need to go next.

I had a hard time getting up and feeling unreasonably tired, and this morning I figured out my annoying little friend that is mild-to-moderate depression was revisiting.  I'm not sure, but the good doctor and I decided just last Friday that we could suspend my medication. I weighed between taking the medication, (because I have some left still,) and drinking St John's Wort tea, and went for the latter.

Unable to get my gray matters working enough to plan my next productive mood, I gazed once again at Carla Sonheim's website/blog, and signed up for The Art of Silliness 1.  I got started as soon as I got the links. I'm supposed to do one sheet a day, but I went ahead and did three rather quickly, and enjoyed the experience immensely. I think by working through one sheet a day, I would get more out of each page and instructions, but the old head never came right today, and since nobody was watching, I broke the rules.  Maybe I'll have enough gumption tomorrow to do some real life stuff, like starting on my tax return work, in addition to the worksheets. 

Carla's on-line courses, at least the one I'm doing now, is a little bit like a visual The Artist's Way, but gentler.  Instead of thinking or writing a lot of words, I move drawing medium across the paper, which in my current condition produces better vibes. Carla's instructions are gentler, a little less "out there" than Keri Smith, and more doable, inviting, and practical for me. 

If you or someone you know has to live with not-too-serious mental or life afflictions, even kids, I heartily recommend you look into Carla's Silliness series, because it's a good invitation to drawing, a good motivation to go from 0 to somewhere, in a most pleasant and kind way.  And, almost forgot, they are affordable!!

I've half a mind to start a new sketchbook for my Carla work, but I'm not in a rush; for now I'm just going to gaze at the three pages I did today, see if I want to add lines or colors or do something else on blank sheets, and I'm trying very hard not to take a peek at future sheets.

Other soothing reads: I finished reading "Nigella Bites", and am considering rereading "How to Eat". (I have these two and "How to be a Domestic Goddess".)  I reread Erica de Ruiter's articles in "The Best of Weaver's: Thick 'n Thin" and have more idea brewing, but after having tried a few drafts on the software, I thought simple might be best when using her techniques, so I'm back to the drawing board.

I think I'll go back to the Rothko book tonight.   

So, which one of you pointed me in Carla's direction anyway?