oh blog, i swear i will come back to you. one day!!

Why don't I feel like making anything? The only time I really have the urge to create is when I'm instructing little kids or teenagers in class, and they're struggling to make their drawing look REMOTELY like their actual still life. It makes me want to grab a piece of paper and just knock it out, show them how it's really done, or something. Doesn't that sound horrible or egotistical? haha...

But when I get home, there's no inspiration to get in my studio to make anything. What's up with that? bleh.

to proceed with little or no effort, see also: impossible

This is supposed to generally be a blog about my art or things related but life is art and art is life, so this post has little to do with craft. Only a million things have gone on in the past week within my family, mostly bad and some good, but only in comparison. All is not lost, and there is still hope for many things, but it just gets frustrating to know that life is just one huge speed bump after another and that there is no such thing as coasting.

To top it off, I didn't get to spend Labor Day with my family because I forced myself to stay home and take a 4 hour nap to help ward off my HORRID HEAD COLD. Never has a cold made me so angry! Today I even missed the 2nd day of Tuesday classes at the art studio & I hope I feel good enough to go tomorrow.

So with everything going on, I definitely have not been too crafty. Although I started on a small piece for my brother. He has always inspired me and I wanted to give him something to make sure he knows this. I just took a 5" x 7" canvas board i had stashed somewhere and made a 1" x 1" grid on it and am just filling it in inch by inch with nothing concrete in mind. I'll share that whenever I finish it.

Ms. Ashworth

I know I should have posted between my last post & now, but I've been busy doing non-art things. Maybe soon I'll have something to write about--today is the open house for my new very very part-time job as an art instructor. I'm so nervous about "teaching" and so excited to see what these kids have to teach me!

The owner told the instructors to make their own name tags & I had SUCH a hard time!! Why was it so freaking hard to make a name tag for myself?? I don't know, but I had trouble combining my semi-long last name with design, and something vaguely cool. Whatever, I'll just go with what I have now!

But why did I have pin-backs in my studio? I've never used them, but I have them! I have everything in there! It's great.

Edit: So the make-your-own-name tag was an idea of one of the GUY instructors and everyone was like "hey, great idea!" but only me and the other young girl and the older lady ACTUALLY DID IT. What the hell. Mine was awesome though, end of story.

Perfidious

Who else loves the new Sharpie pens? They are a micron-lover's dream. Sure, there's only one tip size, but you can buy it ANYWHERE.

I used the Sharpie pen on a mixed media collage I finished tonight. Normally I do smaller stuff--before I did a lot of artist trading cards and then for a while, I did nothing. So I felt like I had been limited by 2.5 x 3.5. So how does Claire go BIG?? 8x10, baby. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, though.

And I'm feeling more compelled to do some photography. Not having a job really forces you to think about the things you really want to do, as opposed to just running through the motions day in and day out at a job that doesn't matter. Which kind of leads me to starting a new blog on a new site about the things I am most passionate about.

...the way it ought to be

Maybe I'm too lazy to trim the jasmine on the trellis beside my patio. Or maybe I'm hoping it will go crazy and make my apartment look more like a house with a garden. One day, one day I will have a secret garden.