inspriation lacks, but thou shalt craft on.

Today was hard to get inspired.  Work was dull and bitterly boring, but I managed to strike up a couple interesting conversations about our tanking economy which was nice.  (I'm going to try not to talk about work on the blog.  It's hard not to say anything about it, since it tries so hard to kill all of my productivity.)

Onward!  I'm on day #2 of finding the little things in life that inspire, and hopefully by the end of the day I'll have the fronts of the tie purses completed.  Aw hell, I hope to have the backs completed, too.  Here's a shot of the fabric I bought yesterday, and one of a jumble of ties... which will eventually be purses.

day #1: for lack of better titles.

Success!  Even though mural-ing was postponed for the evening due to rain, I decided to head downtown anyways to spend some quality time with myself... away from the Food Network.  First stop, a Vietnamese noodle soup joint.  NOM.  The flavors and aromas reminded me of when I lived around that section of town.  I jumped back in my car after I was finished stuffing myself and noticed that it was starting to drizzle.  Instead of hurrying on my way, I decided to sit and listen for a couple of minutes.  The rain was just starting and it sounded like dust on an old record being played.  Awesome.  Next stop was the fabric store... 50% off ALL FABRIC?!  Don't mind if I do!

I found 10 different fabrics!  All different patterns, colors and textures and all for me!  All of that fabric reminded me of the purses I started cutting out months ago.  Is this what I needed to slap myself back into shape?  Only time will tell.  However, I did decide to set myself a goal:

I WILL FINISH THE TWO PURSES I STARTED SEWING TONIGHT BY AUGUST 3RD.  Let's see if I can do it... When I'm finished, I'll post pictures of the final outcome.  Inspiration, here I come!

Oh, and I took this picture of myself with my new phone app.
... You're Welcome.

distractions.

Today I decided to start a blog to chronicle the things that could inspire me... I wonder if chronicle is the right word to use there?  Any who, moving right along... there are so many things I encounter every day: Sounds, sights, flavors, textures.  But sometimes I still lack the drive to create and craft about these interesting things.  Why is that?  Here's one answer I thought of.

Sometimes I tend to go on crafting binges.  Maybe I'm a bi-polar crafter.  (No offense to people with bi-polar disorder, obviously.)  And by that I mean, I'll go crazy getting supplies, planning out and starting a new project.  I'll start creating, get excited... then slack off and not finish.  Why can't I finish what I've started and why do I lack the drive I need?  And why (OH WHY) do I get so distracted by the Food Network?!  Maybe because right now, I'm on a cooking and grilling binge.  Seriously, creating art you can eat is almost as satisfying as seeing your painting hanging on a wall.  And it's delicious.

Well, that's where Mr. Blog comes in.  Maybe I'm just not taking it all in like I use to.  That's what she said.  Sorry, I had to put that in there.  That's what she said.  OK, I'LL STOP.  My thoughts are this: Stop and look around every once and awhile... that rusty piece of shit car... look at the colors and textures!  Can I emulate those in an encaustic painting?  How about the piece of bark that's falling off the tree, or the texture of the bark on my skin?  Can those things inspire me to finish my current project and stop slacking off?  Hopefully I can can chronicle them all here.  See?  Chronicle was the right word in the first place.

So what is my inspiration for the day?  Right now it's a mural I'm assisting on downtown.  I'm really excited to go down there and help.  It makes me think about projects that I'd like to do, too.  And in the end, isn't that what keeps me going?  The thoughts about what could be done in the future, while enjoying things now and still living in the present?  I hope so.  We'll see, shall we?