A Normal Day

Today was my “burfday,” as Emma used to call it. Bev phoned me this afternoon and told me that when she was working, she used to take a day’s holiday on her birthday because it was the one day of the year that was hers. An interesting notion.
I’d already decided when I got up this morning that I would do exactly what I wanted to do all day. The funny thing is that it ended up being a normal day. I worked in my process journal, did some new layouts for my book, talked to family and friends, groomed Lily, cooked dinner and so on. Next year I think I’m going to plan something exciting like skydiving or horseback riding. But I can’t really complain about things being low key. In a way every day is like my birthday because I’m never bored.
I am starting to get bored with this process journal though. The part I like best is painting the backgrounds and I haven’t done any of that for a while. I still have a few finished backgrounds left to “fill in,” but the thought occurs to me that it might be fun to do a book of just painted pages instead – no embellishments. Maybe that would be too much like looking at paint or wallpaper samples. Then again, who cares? In any case I’m going to take a break from processing until I get my groove back.

One of Those Days

Our router went kaput yesterday and we’ve been Net-less until now. It’s ridiculous how dependent we are on the Internet. You feel exiled and overwhelmed when something goes wrong. And this afternoon the power went out for a while too.
Last night John, Emma, Robin and I went to Mum and Dad’s for dinner. I can’t believe that my 87-year old mother is still throwing dinner parties. She made delicious lasagna from scratch, and tried out a new recipe – a blueberry/lemon coffee cake.
We had a lot of laughs. I polled everyone on the words they love and hate. Mum hates the word obese and Emma: shunt, panties and porcine. The word I loath most is yummy, while Dad can’t stand the word vomit.
Favorite words included: orchard, vineyard and aspen (Dad), cube (Emma) and luminescent (Yours Truly).
Emma had amassed a huge pile of laundry that needed hand washing, so I brought it all home and did it for her today. It was the perfect day to do it – warm, sunny and blowy, plus we saw a baby woodpecker this morning.
Yesterday I finished the first 60 pages of my book, and tonight I reformatted everything because I wasn’t happy with the page size. I can’t believe I’m halfway there (I think), and that I actually made my deadline.

I could use more of this

This has nothing to do with “focus,” but there’s an exhibition on in New York I wish I could see. It’s called Teaching America to draw: Instruction Manuals & Ephemera, 1794 to 1925.
Between 1820 and 1860, there were over 140,000 drawing manuals in circulation south of the border. Learning to draw was something people took seriously way back then. Now everyone thinks they have to draw like Leonardo (or at least have the potential) before they’ll pick up a pencil. This is a shame. I’ve been doing mediocre drawings for years and really enjoy it.
Betty Edwards says that most of us stop drawing in elementary school if we don’t think we’re doing it well. I think she’s right because I was better at drawing than my friends and classmates, and they’d all lost interest by junior high.
I’ve never had much interest in being a draftsperson though – life drawing bores me – but it’s useful for sketching out ideas, explaining things I can’t put into words, and just because it’s fun to draw. But I’ll admit I’m more of a cartoonist at heart than anything else. I’d rather look at a book of Saul Steinberg drawings any day than admire sketches done by the Old Masters – aside from Leonardo of course.
I think people underestimate their ability to learn to draw. Edwards believes that if you can write your name, you can draw. And why not? Before David started art college his skills were tentative. But it’s amazing how he’s developed his style and confidence by sketching ideas in his notebooks over the last three years. He only took one drawing class, so it’s necessity and practice that have propelled him forward. You can’t help improving if you keep on doing it.

You’ll Need Sunglasses

I’ve been working so much in black and white lately it’s a relief to splash around with some color. Kind of over the top for me though. I don’t normally go for orange, but I couldn’t resist it. And I do like lace. This piece was snagged from Carmi’s clear out pile when she moved her studio.
After I finished these two pages, I read a story in the New York Times about Donny Johnson, a prisoner in California who uses the dye from M and M’s to paint with. (Skittles work too, but he likes to eat them). Apparently Donny’s been in solitary confinement for 17 years, and isn’t allowed art supplies – hence his M and M palette of colors which he sometimes mixes with coffee or Kool-Aid for more range. His brush is made from tin foil and strands of his own hair, and he paints on blank postcards.
This just goes to show you that the art urge can’t be held down despite the sordidness of one’s past or one’s circumstances. Still, you can’t work up much sympathy for Donny otherwise, since he’s in jail for murder and slashing a prison guard’s throat.
Much sadder in my opinion was the situation of someone like Katharina Detzel. Katharina was put in a mental institution in 1907 after supposedly sabotaging a railway line as a political protest. Before the Nazis murdered her in 1941, she wrote a play, tried to establish a home for babies, protested against the way the inmates were treated, and created miniature figures out of bread dough she probably chewed herself. Katharina also made a life-sized male doll out of the mattress ticking and straw from her bed, which she’d pummel when she was angry.
Mental institutions used to be a convenient place to put women who wouldn’t tow the line, so you can’t help wondering whether or not Katharina was really deranged – or what she would have become if she hadn’t been committed.

Cribbage

I like cribbage boards because they remind me of playing the game with my grandfather when I was a child. Grandad was a very laid back kind of guy. The only time I remember him giving any advice was when he said, “Now Sue, I want you to promise me that you won’t keep company with a guy who carries a hip flask.” I thought it was funny at the time, but then again I must have taken him seriously because I married a teetotaler.
Thinking about Grandad tonight, I realize he reminds me of David: same dark eyes, easy-going nature, and an interest in glass and in playing games.
Aside from the personal association though, I find the shape of a cribbage board very appealing because it’s an arch. Years ago I was really into doing paintings of arches, and Emma, who was probably three at the time, painted right along with me.
And while I’m on the subject of arches, I’ve just remembered that I have quite a few of them in my basement. During my arch phase, one of my neighbors (a window framer by trade) would often bring me large, curved pieces of wood that weren’t good enough for him to use. But aside from painting one black, I never did anything with them because their size intimidated me. Now that I’ve had them for over twenty years without tossing them out, I’m wondering if those arches know something I don’t.

The Process Continues

These two pages annoyed me no end because I just couldn’t get them right. To begin, with I had the bright idea – or so I thought – of using the shadow layer of a napkin as the background. Once I had it glued down it really looked raunchy and needed first aid in the form of Luna Lights and other acrylic paints. While I was doing this, I wrecked the right side. Who knew a napkin could bubble when the glue was already dry?
I could go on, but now I’m even boring myself, so I’ll skip right to the part about how difficult the layout was to do. I tried all sorts of different things, and finally decided I just had to finish it. This was a triumph of sorts because I just let it be.
To my way of thinking, composition is paramount. The individual pieces have to look right in themselves and then harmonize with each other in terms of size, color and texture. I admire people who can spontaneously fire things at a page and then come up with something great.
I’ve always been good at looking at other people’s work and pinpointing what could be done to make it better. But I feel like a novice when it comes to putting something together myself. Thinking about this reminds me of the painting classes I took with Canadian icon Joyce Weiland back in the 80s.
Joyce liked my observations about art so every week she would drag me around with her to comment on everyone’s work. But she never said a thing about mine. I finally grabbed the bull by the horns (she liked bulls) and said: “Now Joyce, what do you think of my work?” She just smiled at me and replied: “Darling, I think you’d make a wonderful art critic.”

About Shapes

I was disappointed in the way these two pages turned out, but I’m trying not to be picky because it’s a process journal after all. I do like the heart though. In one of my other journals I sketched several heart designs thinking that I’d like to turn them into a series. While I haven’t done this yet, hopefully I’ll do it in the future.
There’s something very satisfying about the shape of a heart. To me it’s a symbol of warmth, courage and feeling. It reminds me of an embrace.
I’m also drawn to triangles. If you take a photo of an ordinary scene and cut a triangle out of it (especially one with steep sides) – everything changes. The triangular scene becomes a doorway you look through to catch a glimpse of something higher.

Communication

When I get to the point where I feel like I’m on the outside looking in, my homies appear and rein me back into the fold. First, Robin called me this morning and we had a long talk about everything under the sun. Having a sibling that’s so close to me in age is really a blessing. Aside from our common interest in writing and art, there’s always a feeling of closeness and understanding when we talk about our childhood.
Next I received some wonderful emails. Roberta and I are planning to do a book on angels and she has some great ideas about how to proceed. I also heard from Wendy. It’s hard to condense the magic of Wendy into just a few words, so I’ll leave it at that.
Later on when John was packaging a couple of things for me to send to Mary, I checked my email and lo and behold, there she was!
Mary has been “making jewelry like crazy” because she’s getting ready to set up her Ebay store. Oh, oh! Now I’m feeling the urge to add more to my Mary Ambrose collection. I have seven of her necklaces, and I always head for the fleet when I need to get gussied up – and sometimes for no reason at all.
Tonight it looked like there was going to be a blackout, so John and I turned off our computers, and got into a long discussion about life and spirituality. Actually, we do this nearly every day. I’m so grateful I’m married to a man, who in his own words “gets me.”
P.S. When I tried to apply a napkin to this two-page spread on dreams in my process journal, I blew it. But when I started thinking about how indistinct our dreams often are, I realized it worked. Adding some of the Pittman Shorthand Mary gave me seemed to fit in too. Then I stuck in the triangle because…well, just because.

Looking Inward

This is one of the cards Beth Barany ordered from me recently. I don’t often use these colors in my work, but a piece of rust spoke to me, and I had to listen.
I’m really enjoying my new process journal, but I feel guilty I spent so much time playing in it this weekend when I could have been writing my book. Come to think of it, I should have been making mixed media pieces to sell too. But quite honestly, I’m fed up with thinking of ways to make money, mainly because I’ve never been very good at it.
In the latest issue of Art & Life, Teesha Moore mentions that she’s always had the knack of being able to spot trends. I wish I had it! Instead, I’m often surprised at what appeals to people. This is not a value judgment, of course, but an observation that highlights my almost complete lack of understanding about what drives the marketplace. But even if I did have a sense of what people want, I know I’d probably continue on doing what I’m doing anyway.

Art & Life

I received the fourth installment of Teesha Moore’s Art & Life magazine this morning, and I finally got a chance to read it tonight.
What I liked about this particular issue was the focus on spirituality and art. While I’m always interested in new techniques, they’re never what draw me to a publication; I’m more interested in the people and the philosophy behind it all. (I also find when I switch into technique junkie mode, my artwork suffers because I’m more focused on how things are done rather than what they are saying).
Another good thing about receiving Art & Life was seeing that some of the designs I’d sent Teesha made it to the magazine’s latest rubber stamp sheet. Brenda Shackleford also had a couple of very cool designs chosen too.
I interviewed Brenda last year for RubberStampMadness, and we finally face-to-face at Artfest. She’s a total dynamo, creative at the drop of a hat, and so much fun to be around. We laughed and yakked non-stop on the shuttle to SeaTac.
Brenda has done five covers for RubberStampMadness, and I’m sure there are more lurking in the wings. I’ve heard it said that stamping is a phase some people go through, but I can only think of one ex-stamper I know. In my opinion, once you’re hooked, you’re hooked.

Using “Old” Stuff

I’ve always loved star maps (now there’s a surprise), and this blue one is a favorite. I think it dates from my teen years, but I’m not sure exactly when I got it. The little collage was assembled from some oil paint monoprints I made back in the late 90s. Because I have so many rubber stamp alphabets, I decided to use letters on this spread as well. The only problem is that my Moleskine is small – 3.5” x 5.5” – so I can’t use anything long. I am fond of the word “is” though because it’s in-the-present and full of possibilities.

Process Journal 2

Ever since I finished the process journal of painting techniques that I put in a CD case, I’ve been thinking of doing another. I decided I’d like to use a small Moleskine notebook because if I work in a larger format, I’ll have too many decisions to make. The plan is to have a background and no more than three added elements – the minimalist approach in other words. (One of those elements will be a stamped image, since I haven’t been stamping much for the last few months and I miss it).
When Carmi set herself the task of doing an altered book spread in 20 minutes every day back in June, I was itching to try this myself, but couldn’t. Now that I know my going-away spree is over, I could try it, but I honestly don’t think I could keep up – not to mention finishing two pages in such a short time.
Working on my book has to take precedence. If I don’t do this, I’ll just keep starting other interesting projects and I’ve promised myself I’m going to be a finisher as well as a starter.

Lake Mazinaw

I can understand why The Group of Seven liked painting up here. If you get past the individual trees, rocks, ripples, clouds, etc. and see the shapes as a whole, there’s something thrillingly elemental about it all. But drawings and photographs just don’t do the scenery justice because you can’t incorporate your peripheral vision.
Last summer I took this picture of “Old Walt,” which is part of a mile-long granite cliff on Lake Mazinaw. It was dedicated to Walt Whitman in 1910 on the centenary of his birth. There was an artists’ colony on the opposite side of the lake then – everyone from poets to filmmakers stayed there…along with several members of The Group of Seven, of course.
Andrea’s cottage is about ten minutes past Old Walt and you have to take a boat to get there because there’s no road access. Sadly, the artists’ colony, which was called The Bon Echo Inn, burned down in 1936.
Yesterday we had a Group of Two watercolor session. Andrea painted a Lake Mazinaw sunset from a photo taken by one of her daughters. I did a woman with a purple head, and a Cy Twombly-ish spread in my process journal. I wasn’t happy with what I accomplished, and either was Andrea, so we sublimated by cooking a huge dinner.
Personally, I find watercolor extremely annoying. When I took a class years ago, the instructor advised me forget it and try acrylics instead. Why? Because he felt I was “too intense and heavy-handed for watercolor.” Enough said.

My Great-Great Grandmother

While I was trying to organize stuff for my altered books this afternoon, I found this cabinet card my grandmother gave me years ago. It’s a picture of my great-great grandmother who ran an academy for young ladies in London, England with her two daughters. She’s holding a magnifying glass and a book, so presumably she viewed herself as an educated woman, not just an instructor of deportment and tea pouring.
I found this out from Dad tonight who is all excited about seeing this picture. He didn’t even know it existed, and he loves working on the family genealogy. Apparently my great-great grandfather was an autocrat, so her son James immigrated to Canada where my grandfather Edwin was born in 1888.
It’s hard to know just when this picture was taken. After looking at Victorian costumes on the Internet, my guess is that it’s sometime in the 1870s. But I’ll have a better idea when my dad digs out the family tree. I’ll also find out her name. The sad thing is that that my great-great grandmother probably never saw her son again because she writes on the back: “To my son James…wishing him a Happy New Year. May we in heaven meet.”
I spent quite a bit of time repairing great-great grandmother’s face in PhotoShop. The rest of the picture is damaged too, but I don’t have time to fix it now because I’m going away to Andrea’s cottage for our annual get-together. Because the cottage is on Lake Mazinaw where the Group of Seven liked to paint, we’re taking our watercolors. Talk to you Wednesday.

John's Photos

John took these photos at the glass studio where David is working this summer because he thought I’d like to play with them in PhotoShop. He’s always had this innate ability to compose photos on the spot, while I tend to do my cropping after the fact.
I didn’t do much to John’s pictures except to enhance the color – although I did take out the chute that feeds the glass grinder in the upper right hand photo. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but it was much easier to accomplish than I expected.
Playing around with John’s photos started me thinking about my Uncle Ken who loved taking pictures. When Emma was about a year old, he came over for lunch one day. I’d taken several rolls of film of her playing in the kitchen a few days before, and couldn’t wait to show him my pictures.
Uncle Ken spread all the photos out on the kitchen table and looked at them for quite a while. Finally he turned to me and said: “Well, Sue, you’ve got some really great shots of your fridge.” It was really funny and so apt. Doting mother that I was, Emma only took up about twenty per cent of each photo I’d taken. Needless to say, my pictures really improved after that. I just wish Uncle Ken was still around. He would have loved going digital.

My Obsession with Alphabets

I must have at least 50 sets of rubber stamp alphabets, many of which I’ve never even used. But I like looking at them and thinking about how I’d like to incorporate them into my work. In a way, the collecting of alphabets is my main hobby. But one day I actually will do something with them. In the meantime, I sublimate by downloading free fonts from the Internet and playing with them in Photoshop.
My friend Betty gave me a book on Ed Ruscha, an American artist who has done many word paintings, and I like the idea of doing this myself and giving it my own spin. So little time, and so many plans…

Burn Out

I did so much yesterday that I wasn’t good for much today, although I did do four new layouts for my book and played around with different typefaces.
I know pacing yourself is a really important part of doing creative work, but it’s something I find difficult to do. Once I’m on a roll, I want to finish. Even though I always seem to be working on projects that can’t be done in a day, a week, or whatever, I still push like mad to get them done anyway.
I know some writers and artists will deliberately stop when things are going well so they can pick up the momentum the next day. But I never really seem to need that. I’m always in a state of momentum. This time I’ve overdone it though. I’m going to crawl into bed now and look at art books

Book Notes

I’ve been hard at work on my book all day so I don’t know whether or not I have enough energy left to paint, which is what I’m planning to do next. How do people go to bed at eleven ‘o clock at night when there are so many interesting things to do? Then again, they probably get up at six in the morning, which I certainly don’t.
I have the graphics and writing done for 51 pages so far, although I’m sure I’ll have to go back and shift things around…plus do some rewriting. But I’m happy I’m now in the groove and that things are progressing.
I got an email from Cherri the other day to say she has finished her book. How does she work so quickly? I’m in awe of her speedboat energy. Me? I know for a fact that I’m a canoe girl at heart. I have to explore every bay and inlet along the way. And sometimes when I stop for a picnic, I end up wandering off into the bush and going walkabout.

Holiday Monday

Emma came to Brampton yesterday to celebrate John’s birthday and then stayed over night. I’ve really missed her seeing her every day since she’s been living in Toronto. At the end of August she’s going to Amsterdam to do a semester of law school. I’m sure I’ll be sobbing at the airport when we see her off. Lily will miss her too.
Tonight Emma and I went to see The Devil Wears Prada. It wasn’t as hard-core as the book, but wow, the clothes! Really makes me want to be a candidate on What Not to Wear (British version).
Mary is back from holidays and called me this afternoon. We had a good gab about everything under the sun, and now I’m all fired up to do some painting tomorrow.
I resisted the impulse to catch up on my email during the day so I could stay on track with my book. I’m one page short writing-wise but ahead on my layouts, so things are progressing. Writing this book is like running a magnet through a pile of iron filings. But I’m getting used to the non-linear approach and it seems to be working.

We're Back

David and I had a great time up north together. He read, sketched and listened to music. I got a lot of writing done on my book – plus some painting and reading of trashy novels.
We watched movies, had some pretty intense talks about creativity, and went down to the beach every night to look at the sky. On a couple of nights in particular, there were spectacular stars. But even though it was overcast on Thursday night, David and I still thought we saw a shooting star. Turned out to be a firefly.
Of course we had to go beach combing too. David found these two pieces of an old cup, and I did the conceptual art work shown above: a row of artist’s palettes. David seemed to think this was funny. I brought the stone palettes home with me (planning to paint them) but now I think I might display them in the window of my studio as is.

Carmi’s Art Club

We’ve just had our last meeting of the club until September, and I loved what everyone did with their CD cases. Daniza, Marissa and Karen transformed their projects into purses, which was such a cool idea. It never even occurred to me to do this, but when I saw them it made perfect sense.
I turned mine into a process journal filled with different painting techniques. I ended up experimenting with Luna Lights, Chinese Ink, Elmer’s Glue, acrylics and crackle paste. I lined the inside of the CD case with paper and added a pouch to hold my notes so I wouldn’t forget what techniques I used. I think this would be a good project for me to teach because you’d end up with something experimental – and finished – at the same time.
Mary wasn’t there tonight because she’s on holiday for three weeks, and I really missed her. I’m dying to know what she’s done with her CD case because she always creates something totally original. We email each other regularly to share our thoughts on art and life, so I’ve had to go cold turkey while she’s been away.
Suze Weinberg came as a guest to the club tonight, and I was lucky enough to sit next to her. It was really fun to see her again. She’s just such a dynamo.
Carmi brought stuff that she’s getting of rid of from her studio, and I scored a pile of neat things including several triangular cheese boards. I always gravitate to triangles and I’m looking forward to doing something with them although I don’t know what.
Now I have to get packed because I’m going up north to Pam’s cottage for a few days. Last fall I went with Emma, and now it’s David’s turn. We’re taking painting supplies, our journals, the camera, art books and the dog. Hopefully I can find some way to post to my blog while I’m away.

David and Art

David is back from his trip to the Glass Art Society conference in St. Louis, and he had a great time. One day there was a presentation by a professor from the glass art program at the University of Sunderland in Newcastle, England. David says they have fabulous facilities and it would take him just two years to get his B.F.A. because of his credits from Sheridan. He’d like to go this fall, but he’s already been hired as a teaching assistant for Sheridan’s glass art program starting in September.
David and I had one of our marathon talks the other day in the back garden. It began as usual with personal issues and then shifted into a long discussion about aesthetics. So far we’ve come up with five different approaches to making art:
Decorative: embellishing and beautifying people and their environments.
Informative: providing information or directions.
Technique-based: dedication to mastering techniques and honing skills.
Spontaneous: expressing feelings through the expression of art.
Conceptual: art based on exploring, experimenting with and developing ideas.
Of course these different approaches to art making do blend into each other. For example, a craftsperson may utilize various techniques in order to create a decorative object like a bowl.
Both David and I agreed the approach that interests us most is the conceptual. To me, art is all about ideas. New techniques only appeal to me insofar as I think they will help me to my idea across.
David describes his work as “primitive.” But I think a better word for it would be “elemental,” since he’s drawn to certain basic shapes and forms – like bricks – that are central to our experience.
But conceptual art doesn’t have to be dry and cerebral. David met a glass artist in St. Louis who is blending the history of art with the history of bowling. I’d sure like to see what she’s doing with that because it not only sounds improbable, but hilarious, which is probably the point of it all.

About My Book

My Texan friend Jeanne Schedler (who I roomed with at Artfest) wants to know what my book is all about. Well, Jeanne, I was Blogless in Brampton yesterday because I was trying to finish writing one page in said book. Yes, just one page. Even though I write for a living, I still find it hard to do. In my opinion, writing is closer to thinking than speaking. Anyone who knows me is aware I have trouble keeping my thoughts on track. But when I talk, at least I can self-correct on the spot.
Anyway, back to my book. It’s designed to help artists and writers embrace their creativity and put it into practice. I actually wrote 70 pages of straight text before I realized I was on the wrong track. Now the book has evolved into a series of mini essays with graphics, which is what I was trying to do in the first place.
I’ve always been fascinated by creativity, and started making notes back in the 80s. But part of the problem I’ve had focusing on this project is that I’ve amassed too much information, and made too many notes. I don’t think I’m any closer to a theory of creativity than I was 20 years ago. However, I do have a better sense of what works, and what doesn’t. But I’ll have to let my readers be the judge of that when I’ve finished my book.

Reflecting on today

It’s always rewarding when I manage to forge ahead on my book. After struggling with this project for almost two years, I’ve finally found my rhythm. Curbing my tendency to run on and on (and on) seems to be working. My goal is to finish by the beginning of November, and now I’m beginning to believe this will actually happen.
While I’m writing, I’ve trained myself not to check my email, but it’s the first thing I head for when I finish what I’m doing. Today there was a treat…a lovely email from a really interesting woman called Karen Straatsma.
I met Karen and her friend Eva at King View recently, and we had a wonderful conversation about all sorts of things, including creativity – a topic I usually manage to bring up because it interests me so much. To make a long story short, Karen has always wanted to paint, and she told me today that I have inspired her to pull the out the canvases she’s been storing in her closet.
If I have a mission in life, it’s to encourage other people to express their creativity. So thank you, Karen…you’ve made my day.

Wonderful Wendy

The family birthdays (January to June) were held yesterday at Robin and Wendy’s and we had a gas. My sister-in-law Wendy is just the coolest. She gave everybody a loot bag with their picture on the outside. Each one was filled with musical instruments, hats, necklaces and bracelets from the dollar store...it was just like being at the kind of birthday party you wished you’d gone to as a kid, but never did. Everyone – including my dad and mum – got all decked out and then started playing with their toys – cymbals, clappers, tambourines, triangles and so on. Wendy took lots of pictures, so it will make a great family album.
John and I were trying to figure out what would be a good present for Robin and Wendy, and we decided that giving them each a gift certificate for a Biofield Analysis would be a great idea. When I was at King View last weekend, Joyti had hers done by one of the residents, Murray Hayes, and she was really enthusiastic about it, so I know it will be an interesting experience for Robin and Wendy.
Biofield Analysis is based on reading the color from your charkas and you actually get a printout afterwards. David and I are going to do this too, and then I’d like to do some paintings of how we vibrate!

Yet Another Journal

Beverly Dalton gave me a really nice journal a couple of years ago, and I really enjoyed working in it. But I’d totally forgotten about its existence – until tonight, that is. While hunting through boxes earlier, I found Bev’s journal (taken apart so I could work on the pages) in a large baggie. How could I have stopped working on it? There is a growing pile of half-done projects on my art table. This one will join the two altered books I’m working on, the paintings, the process journal, and so on, and so on. I’m actually afraid to take a head count because I don’t have a clue how I’ll ever get everything done.

I’m finished – but in a good way!

When it comes to our club projects, I usually finish them the day before…sometimes even the day of. The CD case is the first one I’ve managed to do in advance, and I can’t believe I’m a week early. The main reason for this is because I’m not very busy with work right now. It’s tempting to think that my tardiness is the result of circumstance, not because I tend to procrastinate.
I also think this particular project is more “me” than the other ones we’ve done…i.e. I didn’t have to think too much. Or more accurately, it dovetailed with what I’m working on right now and where I want to go.
When it comes to finishing an actual painting though, I’m continuing to dither. The solution to this seemed to be working on several paintings at once. But what happens when you really like the backgrounds you’ve done and you don’t want to add anything?
Speaking of adding, I’m thinking of the abstract impressionist and minimalist painter Ad Reinhardt right now. His thing was basically backgrounds. Although I’m sure he didn’t think of them that way, you can’t help feeling your job is to supply your own context when you’re looking at one of his paintings.

Painting

The last couple of nights I’ve been working on my project for Carmi’s art club a week this Friday, and there’s paint everywhere. When I cook I use every utensil in the kitchen, and I approach painting in the same way. It would be handy to have an assistant to clean up after me.
Apparently Chinese brush painters weren’t taken seriously as artists until they’d served an apprenticeship to a more experienced practitioner. For several years they’d have to grind paints, wash brushes, make tea, and keep the studio tidy. I sure could use someone like this because I’m such a slob.
I always have several things going at once, and things often degenerate into chaos. The other day I was right in the middle of painting when I realized that David would be taking my camera with him to the glass art conference he’s attending in St. Louis. I got the bright idea of photographing all the junk I’d collected over the last few months – old Styrofoam, shreds of plastic, dead flowers etc. – just in case inspiration struck while he was away. Bad move. Now my studio looks like a museum with no budget.
I wish I could focus on one project in a neat, orderly fashion. But I just can’t seem to do this. Would I ever finish anything if I didn’t have deadlines? It’s doubtful.

We have Bunnies!

I was working away on an article this morning when John came in to speak to me. He noticed a baby rabbit right outside the window, so I immediately grabbed the camera and started taking pictures. It turned out to be a Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail moment because there were three of them hopping around the garden.
Lily would have gone berserk if she’d seen them, but fortunately she was sleeping off second breakfast. I wish I’d been able to get all three bunnies together in a picture, but most of the photos didn’t turn out. I thought this one was adorable though.

The Magic of King View

I doubt I’ll ever really get into yoga, but I enjoyed Linda’s weekend retreat all the same. It was held at the King View Conference Centre outside Toronto, a place I’d love to go back to again. There’s a meditation waterfall and a labyrinth, as well as 86 acres of lush meadows and trees, and wonderful views too.
A group of residents live there year round and tend to the property. They are very spiritually minded people, and the care they give their home is especially evident in the way they look after their animals: goats, a pig, ponies, a beautiful mare and her foal, a lovely golden retriever and Jacqui the long-haired donkey pictured above. I spent some time communing with Jacqui…well, actually we just stood there and looked at each other for a while, and occasionally she would twitch her ears at me.
Jacqui was in bad shape when she arrived at King View, and terrified of humans. But because healing is an important part of what goes on at the centre, they nursed Jacqui back to health; this was done in part by attunement, a non-touching process of healing practiced by several of the residents. When I reluctantly left Jacqui to go to lunch, she became annoyed and started braying at me! I wanted to climb over the fence and give her a big hug.
I hadn’t met anyone who was attending the retreat before, but getting to know wonderful people like Karen, Eva, Joyti, Judy and Bibi was an unexpected treat for me. It never fails to amaze me how unique and interesting people really are. I know it’s easy to be cynical about things, but speaking as a bona fide aging hippy/failed yuppie, I think life is a lot more interesting for me now than it was back in the 70s.

The Mystery Flower

I seem to have a Georgia O’Keefe thing going on lately because I’ve been photographing flowers and playing with them in PhotoShop. I can’t remember what the name of this one is but it fascinates me because it closes its petals halfway through the day for some reason.
Tomorrow I’m going on a two-day yoga retreat run by my friend Linda. Lily knows I’m leaving her for the weekend, and she’s been dogging my footsteps all day. This morning she tried to claw down one of my paintings that was propped against a wall in the studio. Lily likes something of mine to sleep on in every room, but she’s never shown an interest in my artwork before, so it was hilarious. Maybe I’ll do her a special painting just for snoozing. In the meantime, she’ll have to make due with my nightgown this weekend. I always leave her something to remember me by, and it seems to keep her happy.

Process, Product and Poppies

For Christmas, Pam gave me Life, Paint and Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous Expression by Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley, and I’ve just gotten around to reading it now. While the book is inspiring in many ways, I have to disagree with the authors’ belief that you can’t embrace product and process at the same time.
Isn’t product part of the process? For example, I took these photos of my poppies this morning. I could have just left it at that. But they didn’t really reflect what I actually saw. By playing with the images in Photoshop, I was able to get closer to what I’d experienced, and that satisfied me.
What I noticed about the paintings in Life, Paint and Passion is that most of them are quite similar to each other even though different students created them. The authors’ theory is that you must get right down to painting without thinking about it, or else you’re inhibiting your intuition. Makes sense. But then if intuition is an individual quality why do the “products” look so much alike? I can’t help thinking that either consciously or unconsciously Cassou and Cubley must have been pushing for certain results because I see way more variety and individuality expressed in our dollar store challenges. I don’t know how spontaneous each of one of us feels while doing them, but judging from the results, intuition is in full flower.

The Peonies are out

I love this time of year…trees rustling gently, birds darting and twittering, the peonies and poppies blooming in my garden, and of course it’s just the right temperature. While I was talking to Beverly Dalton on the phone yesterday, she saw a hummingbird in her garden and it actually took a rest on one of her trees. Neither of us had ever seen or heard of that before.
John saw a woodpecker yesterday too. A couple of years ago we watched one rat-a-tat-tatting on the trunk of our lilac, and it was hilarious. He (or she) was so totally focused on the task at hand.
I’m feeling pleased with myself today because I’m actually ahead on my book, and I’ve prepared two canvases to start working on this evening. Last night Susan Wilkie dropped over and we experimented with solvent inks and paint…not that successfully, but it was fun anyway. I also bought some dry pigment and I’m going to try making my own acrylic paints. The process sounds like a no-brainer, but I imagine I’ll have to get the feel of it first.

Great Aunt Molly

I love this cabinet card of my great aunt Molly. When I scanned it into Photoshop and enlarged it on screen, I could see that the photographer had lengthened her already long lashes. This must have been done using a very fine-tipped brush and a magnifying glass.
My dad remembers Molly as “beautiful but bossy.” As he explains it: “She was the only one of my aunties that ever took lumber to me.”
Molly was the fifth of my grandmother’s six sisters and six brothers. The eldest, Emily, was born 24 years before my grandmother so Nana had nieces and nephews older than she was. I can’t imagine bringing up thirteen children, let alone giving birth to them – and my great-grandmother Eliza Ivermee was less that five feet tall too! There were so many children in the house there weren’t enough chairs to go around, so the rule was that you stood to eat until you got a job. No wonder most of them – including Molly – immigrated to Canada.

Journaling at Second Cup

This afternoon I played hooky with David for a couple of hours. First we went to Michaels where I bought several tubes of half-priced acrylics, and an expensive Windsor & Newton watercolor set for John with my 40 percent off coupon. Then David and I went to Second Cup to work on our journals.
David had trouble settling in – probably because he was drinking tea. But I ordered some frosted and sugary espresso thing that acted like a shot of speed to my creative system. I wrote several pages in my metaphysical journal, then moved on to my ideas journal where I did some sketches for paintings, and finally finished up by working on my book.
John was thrilled with his watercolors. The paints are very good quality and he started playing with them right away. He’s been thinking of doing this for a while, so I thought I’d just give him a push. His grandfather was an architect and painted beautiful watercolors, so I think this is what appeals to John about working in the medium.
My dad’s father was a glass artist, and when David decided to become one himself, I couldn’t help thinking that there must be an affinity for certain mediums that’s built right into us. I don’t know where my constellation of affinities comes from though. Alpha Centauri maybe? John says that’s where I’m from and it’s as good an explanation as any, I guess.

Our Next Club Project

At our last club meeting, Karen Arts – yes, imagine having “Arts” as a last name when you’re an artist – brought along CD cases for us to alter as our June dollar store challenge. Cherri immediately said to me that she knew what she wanted to do with hers. But I, as usual, was clueless.
Debbie dropped by the next day, and when I showed her the CD case, she told me it reminded her of a tongue. John said much the same thing to me later, and I began to think it might make a great repository for quotes – speaking in tongues maybe? But then again, the case would be perfect for holding mandalas too. Back in the late 90s, I did a mandala a day for several weeks, and I really enjoyed confining my creativity to a particular format. (Carmi is doing a similar though more ambitious thing by promising herself that she’s going to do a collage a day until the end of June). Anyway, I looked at some of the flower mandala artistamps I’d done in Photoshop a year ago for a mail art call, and I’ve decided that I really don’t want to work in a circular format right now. I have an idea itching away in the back of my mind, but we’ll have to see whether or not it asserts itself. Whatever happens, I have a feeling that I’m going to find this challenge interesting.

Selling My Work

Since I’ve been working on my business plan I haven’t sold a thing. It’s getting to the point where it’s actually funny. Take today for instance. The women at the post office love my artistamps, and when I mentioned that I also sell digital prints they wanted to see them. So I took in about fifteen this morning to show them. Customers got involved too, and everyone was enthusiastic about what I’d done and picked out their favorites. Of course I mentioned that they were for sale, and the reaction? “You must design some stamps for Canada Post!” Good idea, but that’s a long-term project and frankly what I’m thinking about at the moment is the here and now, and selling what I’ve already done. Maybe context is everything. Perhaps it would have been better to take in sheets of my artistamps instead – or as well.
Randi Feuerhelm-Watts has a great story about the problem of selling in her Frida Kahlo Journaling Zine. Apparently Frida only had one exhibition of her paintings in Mexico and she was always short of money. When things got particularly bad, she would send one of her paintings to a friend who hadn’t asked for it and bill them for 10,000 pesos. If the friend didn’t respond – in Randi’s words – to “the mandatory art dealer thing,” Frida would quickly end the friendship.
I can’t imagine doing that to anyone I know, and I wouldn’t want to. But you have to admire Frida’s chutzpah – or whatever the Spanish equivalent of that word is.

The Muse in Hyper-drive

Lately the muse has been filling my head so full of ideas I’m getting nothing done. Well, that’s not exactly true – I’m just not accomplishing as much as I’d like to. But I’m sure if I had a realistic idea of how long things were going to take me, I’d probably be too overwhelmed to bother. Nothing like hope and possibilities to keep you going.
This afternoon John and David moved my perforator out to the garage. I want more room to paint and a 300 lb perforator takes up a lot of studio space. So I guess we have another satellite art room going again because David has a worktable and his glass-making supplies out there too. (To fit everyone in for Christmas lunch and dinner, I had to abandon the dining room a few months ago).
But I don’t want to leave my perforator in the garage over the winter. I would be really uncomfortable using it out there, and it might rust. My perforator is 137 years old and I feel like its steward (or stewardess), so this has given me the incentive to clear out a spot for it in the basement. But my heart quails at having to tidy up down in the black hole. I freak every time I look at all the stuff we have. To be honest, 80 per cent of the stuff is mine. Do I have the guts to get tough with myself? I guess I’ll have to…and pronto.

Claustrophobia

Yesterday afternoon I spent several hours trying to tidy up my workroom so I actually have space to paint. I wish I could just twitch my nose like Samantha in Bewitched and presto-change-o everything would be organized intelligently and ready to go. But how do you do that when you have way too much stuff in the first place?
On Friday night, Mary and Carmi were talking about the same problem. Carmi moved her studio space and it’s taken her way longer to get things together than she thought it would. She has my sympathy. Three and a half years ago I spent several months sorting everything out and getting rid of tons of things I didn’t need – just like Carmi. If I hadn’t bought any more supplies in the meantime, I’d be okay now. But of course that’s not what actually happened.
Instead I’ve continued to collect more stuff and to wedge it into whatever space is available. While I basically have a place for everything and I’ve trained myself to keep things reasonably tidy, I’m starting to feel claustrophobic…especially now that I’ve started piling stuff on the floor. (Someone told me recently that it’s not a good sign when you go the floor route…it has something to do with your mind being too cluttered). I could solve the problem by putting up more shelves, but then it would feel like I’m working in a storeroom. Yes, it’s definitely time for another big merge and purge, but I have too much to do right now. I’ll just have to grit my teeth and focus.

My Art Apron

Our art club is tonight and I can’t wait to see what everyone has done with the bottle bib. When I saw it, I didn’t have a clue what to do. But this challenge really proves that given a task and a deadline virtually anything can be transformed.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my idea for this project was fueled by a dream. It doesn’t look anything like the image I saw, but the basics are there: an apron on a torso. At first I was going to use a bottle, but then I remembered that I had this miniature dressmaker’s form and thought it might work.
What I was after with the bib was a kind of record of the mess you make when you’re painting something. A few years ago I took this great workshop at the Japanese Paper Place where we painted on washi. I had some leftover scraps that had a fabricy feel, and I decided to collage those onto the bib. But it looked too minimalist even for my tastes, so I added the painted head and wings.
Looking at it now, I can see this image is a kind of cross between Winged Victory and what I imagine to be the spirit behind the apron a Mason wears. I’ve always liked the idea that making art is like belonging to a secret society. You just keep working away at it and eventually everything starts to come into focus.

We’re Back!

I took this picture of John with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop and sandwiched it with a photo of one of the many amazing buildings we saw in Boston. It’s hard to get back into the groove after having such a great time together.
On the way down we hit a snag at U.S. Customs. They took our passports and John had to be fingerprinted and photographed because he’s still a British citizen. He’s says this experience has given him the incentive to finally become a Canadian.
Fortunately the rest of the trip went smoothly. Visiting the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was one of the high points. Built around a courtyard, the museum is crammed with tapestries, sculptures, paintings, old letters, books and furniture. There’s so much to discover. The jumble of styles and artifacts is eccentric and overwhelming, not like the galleries we’re both used to that’s for sure.
I loved the Renaissance paintings in particular…Boticelli, Titan and Raphael, as well as several artists from that time period I’d never heard of. There was a spectacular Rembrandt self-portrait there too. I’ve never been a big fan of his paintings, even though I’d read that he used multiple layers of glazes to get his skin tones just right. But then again, I’d never actually seen a Rembrandt in the flesh so to speak. It’s not easy to describe how powerful this painting really is. The best I can do is to say that it just shimmered.
While waiting for the “T’ a couple of days later, we had another cool experience. A guy – well, more like a dude really with all his belongings in a shopping cart – started singing that old Smokey Robinson song Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, and he was just fantastic…really belting it out with plenty of soul. Everyone was ignoring him, but they couldn’t help hearing him. I kept waiting for someone to make a move and give him some money, so finally I walked on over and gave him a dollar. Fortunately this started the ball rolling and I think he did pretty well. I keep thinking about him though. He obviously had talent, but why was he homeless? I guess he took a wrong turn somewhere, but then again so many of us do.

Packing Angst

Nothing gets me gnarlier than packing for a trip. I think it all stems from those childhood summer vacations when I had to cut back on what I wanted to take because we were a family of six traveling in one car.
Here’s what really bugs me about packing:
Making decisions. How do I know what I’ll feel like wearing or reading when I get to where I’m going? For that matter, who knows what the weather will be like? (I learned this the hard way when I went to Vancouver in August – and it was freezing).
Finding clouds of dog hair in my suitcase. I know, I know, I should be a better housekeeper and give up my penchant for black.
Worrying about my dog. Lily has followed me around all day today. She knows something is up. In fact, she’s staring at me now with big haunted eyes. I’m waiting for her to start howling. That just wrenches my heart.
Looking for stuff. While I’m hunting around I come across all sorts of things that I haven’t finished, and I feel guilty about going away.
Losing stuff. I’ve been to Boston seven times. I have a fabulous map and all sorts of info. But where is it? Why did I set up a fancy cross-referenced filing system if I can’t even stick to it?
Housecleaning. Even though I’m a slob, I hate coming back to a messy house. Today this involved scrubbing the bathtub…the number one housecleaning job I hate. I keep hoping someone else will understand how much I loathe doing this and take over. But so far, no luck.
It’s not all bad though. This time I’m traveling with John and we’re driving. His philosophy is that we just fill up the car with whatever we want to take and stop when it’s full.

Play Day

Even though I should have been working and getting organized to go to Boston, I took the day off and went to Toronto to play with Mary. We had a gas! Mary showed me how to layer acrylics on rice paper, and we used her fabulous hand-carved stamps. She knew I would love it, and I did. Now I have yet another addiction to deal with, but I’m rationalizing this one because these papers will be perfect for the mixed media paintings I’m itching to get to.
Mary also gave me a crash course in metal embossing. This is yet another technique I’d like to explore further. But how can I fit it all in? Is there any way I can add more time to my day-to-day life…kind of like adding an extension onto the house, or a trailer to the car? I doubt it. I think I’m looking at giving something up – top choices: cleaning, doing my taxes and weeding.

Analyzing Myself

I know I get way too obsessed about our art challenges. Once I’ve decided on the direction I want to go in, I can’t stop thinking about it. Why do I do this? It’s not that I’m competitive or need to be noticed. Most of the time I’m so immersed in my own little world that it’s a pleasure to step out of it and discover what other artists are doing – or more accurately, when I see how creative the other members of the club are, it enlarges my world and makes it full of possibilities.
No, I think my problem is that I’m too task-oriented. After being self-employed for so many years, I’m geared to deadlines and pushing myself forward to meet them. Once I know what my approach is, I want to focus all my energy on finding out what the end point will be. Instead of researching our trip to Boston next week, which is really more of a priority, I’m making sketches and endlessly digging through boxes of fabric, embellishments and paint. This time I’m trying to control my inclination to complicate things by reminding myself: “What is it that I’m really trying to express here?”

Dream Art

From time to time I’ll have a dream about art. But last night I actually had two. In the first one, I dreamt about a cabinet card that had no image. As I looked at it, a face slowly materialized and I recognized her. It was one of the cabinet cards I’d bought in Seattle, so I had to play with it today. The problem is that it’s difficult to recreate the feeling you had in the dream state. At best you get an approximation. But usually you end up with something completely different – like I did with this image of Maxine. (I’m calling her Maxine because the photographer was Max von Rudiger of Berlin).
If I hadn’t had this dream, I don’t think I would have altered Maxine. I wasn’t drawn to her, and the photograph isn’t a good one. Still, when an image calls to you, you have to respond. Now that it’s finished, I think I like the idea more than the result.The other dream I had was about our next challenge for the Extraordinary Art Club. Carmi assigned us a bottle cover to alter, and I haven’t had a clue what to do with it. For one thing, I’m not supposed to change the shape, so there goes my plan to bury it in plaster…my usual solution when I don’t know what to do with something. I’m also not that comfortable working with fabric. However, my dream presented me with an image I’m going to try and work with…an art fetish object. Not sure if I can pull it off though.

Lucy in the Sky

I’ve had a lot of trouble with Lucy. Not that I know what her real name is, but she reminds me of my great-aunt Lucy who was still mountain climbing well into her seventies. This Lucy must have been a feisty one too because she dug in her heels and wouldn’t let me alter her until I began listening to her. So as usual, it was what I took out that allowed me to finish Lucy, not what I was trying to put in.
One of the challenges of working with an image like this is wondering why anyone would part with it in the first place. Posing for a photographer was obviously a special occasion for Lucy. She’s wearing a lovely dress with a watch pinned to her bodice. Her hair is glossy and poufed…the expression on her face sweetly serene. When this picture was taken, Lucy was a real person with real thoughts and feelings. But somehow along the way she became anonymous. My task was to give her a new identity, and I hope she’s happy with what I did.

Why I don't get more done...

Here are my top ten time wasters:

1. Sleeping in. Technically I’m not really doing this because I usually only sleep about six hours a night. But this may be why it takes me so long to get going in the morning.
2. Emailing, calling and socializing with friends and family. Do I really need to talk to my sister nearly every day? Probably not, but I want to.
3. Dealing with unexpected things that come up. Why does Lily always head for the living room carpet when she needs to throw up?
4. Looking for things I can’t find. Yesterday John and I spent ages trying to find my black dye re-inker. He called me while I was out grocery shopping to tell me he thinks I might have left it at Mary’s. (How many weeks has the poor guy spent helping me find things over the years? And really, how can he stand it?)
5. Not being decisive enough. I waste an incredible amount of time worrying about whether or not I’m making the right decision about something. Then when I finally do commit, I waste even more time obsessing about it afterwards.
6. Being distracted by bright shiny objects. Or muted ones as the case may be. Life is so interesting; it’s hard to resist the lure of everything going on out there.
7. Puttering. Personally I think the art of puttering is highly under rated. I get so many ideas leafing through books and rummaging through art supplies. If I had a dollar for every idea I’ve come up with, I’d be a millionaire.
8. Staring at the wall, or whatever. This morning I lost a half an hour sitting on the back porch basking in the sunlight and drinking tea. Can’t remember what I was thinking about, but I did see a cardinal and admired my lilacs.
9. Cooking and cleaning. Seriously, there are many people I know who do this so much better than me.
10. Making lists like this one. I have lists of places I want to go, favorite books and movies, art techniques I want to try, novels I want to write, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. (Apparently making lists is not only a sign of being an oldest child, but also of Attention Deficit Disorder). What can I say? Today I’m thinking that who I really am is how I waste time.

David & Art

Here is a photo of one of David’s glass bricks for sale at the Sandra Ainsley Gallery in Toronto. I love this piece because of the cuneiform alphabet etched into the glass. When light shines through the back you really feel like you’re looking into a window on the past.
On the way back from Mum’s birthday party last night, David and I got into an intense conversation about art. He told me he went through a long period of wondering whether or not he should be adding more objects to a world that already seemed to have too many. Then his friend Sally (also a glass artist) said she’d gone through a similar period of doubt herself. But she finally decided that doing art was her way of giving back what she was experiencing about life.
David also mentioned he finds it difficult to part with what he’s made. I know what he means. The pieces we create act as markers along the way. We like to have them around to fondle, to remind us that our ideas really can become tangible. I told David that I look on the pieces of art I make as children. One part of you wants them to stay and home and never leave you; the other part is anxious for them to spread their wings and explore all the possibilities. Fortunately there’s always a new child wanting to be born, so when we part with what we’ve already made, there’s more room in the creative nest for our ideas to grow.

The Process of Journaling

I haven’t been doing much journaling lately, although I think my digital work is really a form of keeping track. If I arranged everything according to the date it was done, it would certainly present a visual record of what I was doing, thinking and learning.
For the last few days I’ve been reading The Creative License by Danny Gregory and it’s chock full of interesting exercises about drawing and journaling. He says: “Your journal shouldn’t be a dumping ground, but a place to create, recognize and celebrate beauty and joy, that which is in all things. It should be a friend you have a great time with, not a shoulder to whine on. Commemorate the positive. Eliminate the negative.”
Even though I’ve had marathon whining sessions in various journals I’ve kept over the years, I’d have to say the ones I treasure most are those where I really get deeply into my own creativity – and in particular, when I combine stamping and drawing.
I also find it inspiring to look at what other people do. Jeanne Schedler emailed me several pages from her most recent journal and I love the way she spontaneously incorporates what I’d refer to as high end doodles with her observations about things. Last night Susan Wilkie came over for a visit, and she showed me her process journal. I was intrigued by the way she makes no nonsense notes about techniques she wants to try and images she’s drawn to.

What's Her Story?

On the shuttle to Artfest, I sat next to Maija Lepore. She told me about her article on altering cabinet cards in the latest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. By a weird coincidence, I’d just bought a number of cabinet cards in Seattle the day before intending to alter them in Photoshop. Well, I finally got around to playing with one of the images today.
In her article, Maija mentions that the first thing she does is to ask herself what the story is behind the photograph. I didn’t do that…mine just sort of evolved. But now I’m thinking that it would be interesting to write a story about this mystery woman as evolution always has a purpose in mind.
The lotus flower suits “Margaret” because she has a contemplative expression. She’s dressed plainly too, so I’m thinking she might have had to earn her own living…hence the border of Pittman shorthand scanned from a Charles Dickens’ novella, The Battle of Life, that Mary gave me a few sheets from. I don’t have a clue what the story is about though. I read the first couple of paragraphs online, and all I can say is – it was obvious old Charles got paid by the word. (You work it, boy!) So now I have the beginning of Margaret’s story. Will it be a mystery? A metaphysical romance? Will I be interested enough to find out who she is and where she’s from?