Cough, cough, hack, hack (with the occasional sneezing fit and nose blowing)
about describes what I have been doing since the middle of last week. Enough to make me feel cruddy, not enough to keep me in bed. I'm sure our worst in the nation air hasn't helped it any, either. I haven't seen smog like this since I was a kid in southern California. When you live next to the mountains and you can't see the mountains, you know it is bad.
I have been trying to work on my piece for the first Interpret This! challenge. I thought on idea was moving along fine until this morning- then decided it wasn't so hot after all. The direction change isn't a huge one, but it is different.
Part of the problem for me is that portraiture is so far out of my comfort zone. Terry Grant has blogged about faces, and how she abstracts them. I love her work, it is so distinctive. Me, however? I feel comfortable abstracting just about anything BUT faces. And, there is that ever-present voice in the back of the mind, questioning whether my work will measure up with the others.
Tomorrow I will try to ignore the naysaying voices, and continue working on the piece. I'll be doing a little surface design with some of my hand dyes. I'll audition some piecing designs, and maybe even start some sewing.
And while I'm doing that, I'll remember that my problems are really miniscule in the whole scheme of things. I'll remember how fortunate I am to have a roof over my head, food and water on my table, family and good health. I'll say a prayer for all those in Haiti, and for the many who are giving of their time and talents to help a stricken nation.
Kind of puts things in a different perspective, doesn't it? And if you've been reading, thanks for being part of my 'therapy' today!
3 comments:
Well, I hope you will feel better soon. When I don't feel well it really colors everything I do and think.
If you are stuck don't forget that you can ask for "help" on the blog. Otherwise, go with what you want, do what you want, and the rest will follow. There will be such a broad breadth of styles that whatever you do will fit right in.
You don't have to do a portrait, yaknow. I used photo transfer for my photo--I know my limits!!
Hope that cold goes away soon.
Yes, a portrait was WAY out of my comfort zone and I had very loud voices in my head saying my piece certainly would never measure up. Those things intimidated me and kept me from working on my self-portrait more than one night.
I finally decided that this opportunity is a learning process for me and whether my work was successful or not as a portrait, I would learn a lot. That was why I joined the group in the beginning.
Post a Comment