When to create great things

Having something note worthy to post in a blog today was on my mind this afternoon. I finished no projects, although I did start a few and had brief thoughts about finishing others. I worked at the shop, got a haircut, and watched a movie that I did not expect to like. The name of the flick was "Art School", I believe, and there were the most amazing actors popping up all over the screen. John Malkovich, for one. And a plethera of others that I will let you uncover when and if you choose to watch it. One character is an aging, alcoholic who attended art school, but ended up with none of the fortune and fame that he had hoped for. In the film, he is always shown looking horrid, wearing stained clothes and drinking straight alcohol from a paper cup. One young art student comes to him for advice (I know, it sounds odd, but you just have to see it) and one tidbit the old man gives him is, "The only time you will be able to create something great is when you don't care if you live or die."

He further points out that a real artist doesn't do it for the parties or the people or the wine, but for those "narcotic moments" when you know you are creating something good....those moments might happen every week or just once in a lifetime.

As silly as the movie is, it is a diamond bag full of quotes. And there is nothing I appreciate more than a movie full of quotes worth repeating and in this case, worth living by.

Heath Ledger

I just came back from a day of errands, fixing paintings for Olsen Estates and a studio meeting to find out that Heath Ledger died. I am so upset. I thought he was a wonderful person and actor (even if he hadn't done Brokeback....but that role didn't hurt). I've always had this empathy for famous people....the ones who you can tell really don't want to be famous. I wonder what happened to him, what made him so sad that he felt he needed to take a handful of pills and fall asleep forever. Or, did he even mean to? I wonder what was missing for him...or what he had too much of.

I can't help but picture him singing his own rendition of "Let me love you" as he trotted down the bandstands in "10 Things I Hate About You". He will be missed.

January blues...and blows

For lack of a better term, January kind of blows. Well, ok, maybe it doesn't completely always blow.....especially at the end of the month when it is my birthday ;). If you are reading this and you are not familiar with Eastern Washington winters, I'll let you in on the truth about this wee haven; it gets so dry and cold, there are moments you fear your eyes might freeze shut and the skin on your face feels like it will crack right open if you so much as twitch your nose or move your lips to talk. Even western Washington winters can be warmer, albiet their winters do last for about 10 months and ours are only two....so I guess I should put a button on my pie hole about it. It is just that I forgot my gloves today and my little hands felt so arthritic (tho I don't have arthritis), parched and....old. I had a daydream about lathering them in shea butter and sticking them in some heated mittens while sitting in front of tube watching a John Wayne marathon. When I had the daydream in the morning, I was sitting there sipping a delicate cup of green tea with a wedge of vegan chocolate cake. As the day progressed, my beverage of choice became a glass of wine the size of my head and...I don't think there was any food......

I'll be sure to turn the heat on early in my studio tomorrow so I can grip my pliers without any freezing of my precious digits.

Winter and snow in your heart

I know that Christmas is over, but all of this winter wonderland around me lately has me thinking about Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney crooning out "I want to wash my face my hands my hair in snow....". Mom and I returned from our fabulous trip to the Portland Gift Show today, where we found some new odds and ends for the store. We had the best time! The show was great and we stayed overnight at Edgefield (which is always a treat) and the beds were so comfy! If you ever go there to eat, don't pass up the wine sampler....I believe they were all my "new favorites". I had a chance to go Cargo in the Pearl District and purchased some wonderful beads and can't wait to bring them into my studio tomorrow for another viewing. That place is a mansion of eye candy!

On our way home, we fell into 3 hours of fresh snow that left us yelping for our lives at certain bends in the road and near large, splashing trucks. I can't help but be inspired by the spindly, dark trees against a cold, grey sky with the fluffy white snow falling in sheets. I realize that this is no time to be inspired by winter; it's all about spring now, baby! But, perhaps I will do some artwork that is an "ode to winter", with inspiration from the lyrics also sung by Rosemary Clooney, "To send me a joe who had winter and snow in his heart wasn't smart, love; you didn't do right by me."