a year of living creatively

as i mentioned earlier, i spent the late afternoon at the v&a museum enjoying the quilt exhibit. it was truly amazing. many of the quilts were hand done, and the attention to detail was astonishing. i just stood there staring at them and trying to picture the women who had to painstakingly and lovingly designed and created them. the quilts ranged from the 1700s to today. one of the more recent ones was called 'in memoriam' and was an evocation of a woman's impressions of her mother's loss of identity from alzheimer's. she had twisted metallic wool around the edges to symbolize how her mother compulsively twisted her hair. it was unbelievably moving and powerful. the whole exhibit was amazing for exactly the reason i had hoped it would be. it was a celebration of a craft that traces our history and is so little respected because it is just seen as a way for women to pass the time while men get about the important business of industry. more later after dinner....

Good morning, ta da -- the final drawing, a self portrait. i think it's pretty good, but can see areas of improvement. last night i dragged out all the drawing books i have collected over the years. i am going to take them to london so i can study and practice. i feel very excited and energized by my course. it was a pinnacle experience. the not so good news is that i braved the scale this morning and it's much worse than i could have imagined (although if i'm honest, my pants had been feeling a little odd for the past few weeks, the waist band seemed to have moved from its original position and was uncomfortably pushing into my stomach whenever i sat down). so, no more excuses. diet and exercise routine starts today. don't worry, this is not going to become a weight loss blog, but a healthy body is necessary for a healthy mind. all systems need to be running optimally for creativity to flourish. and in other news, i am apparently going back to work for a li

Here are a whole lot of portraits from class today. I wanted to try and show progress pictures of my drawing, but cannot figure out how to move pictures around on this thing. so, enjoy them for now.

here are a few snaps from yesterday. the drawings are a mixture of mine (chaise lounge), teacher (door with palm tree) and fellow student (lovely staircase). as you can see, although we were all sitting around the pool at the same time, the different compositions and drawing styles produced incredible diverse work. the photographs are from my journey to the beach with kimberly. she pointed out the almost glowing gold foot prints in the sand as well as this beautiful arch. this is one of the joys of meeting someone else who is similarly intoxicated with learning this new way of seeing. for both of us the world has suddenly become a place full of negative space and things to draw. enjoy!

first of all, it is just so beautiful here. today was one of those perfect california days that serve to remind me why i love it here so much. ok, and i know this blog is about creativity, but today i feel the need to talk about weight...as in too much of it...as in i really need to stop hiding behind creativity and get serious about diet and exercise. so, today i actually hauled my lazy carcass out of bed and did 40 minutes on the treadmill. i felt quite virtuous as i trudged away watching 'troop beverly hills.' then, on to drawing class where we learned about perspective and did outdoor landscapes... example left. i found the landscape drawing incredibly stressful. as is my nature i chose a really complicated corner, and partway through the drawing i contemplated crying and throwing my sketch pad in the pool. brian sat down and forced me through the block. so, what did i learn? i learned that my lifelong fear of drawing has not abated. it's not that i don't u

ok, here's the update from santa barbara. after a magnificent day drawing i had dinner with two lovely women at the wine cask. i continue to be struck by the female experience. we all want to do the right thing, make the right choices, figure it all out, and no one has given us the playbook. also, being far on the 0ther side of 30 i can see how things that seemed like a good idea at the time can have a ripple effect that you don't realize until years later. however, a few weeks into my year of living creatively i will admit openly, i am happy today. i love learning, i loved my drawing class even when it was stressful. i loved meeting a fascinating woman from washington state who is a neuroscientist and a landscape architect!! i love that chuck's steak house, our family's fancy sunday night treat in the 70s, is next door, and that tonight i will enjoy an old school salad bar and teriyaki steak. i also think i might have actually accepted a little assignment which will me

a few random thoughts from santa barbara. one, drawing is hard but fun. the whole class had to do the picasso drawing from the 'drawing in the right side of your brain' book. i was so tense i got a headache. but, it came out pretty well, so that was nice. it's also really interesting to spend a whole day listening to someone talk about drawing, drawing, looking at other people's drawings. it was really everything i hoped it would be. and, i notice when i do things like this i have none of those lingering 'i miss my hollywood job' qualms. they just disappear into the ether because i am absorbed in something that truly interests me, surrounded by others who feel the same. i also did something somewhat uncharacteristic, asked two of the other women in the course if they wanted to meet for dinner in santa barbara. so, that should be fun. one is an interior designer from calabassas and the other is a lawyer from albuquerque. i would post some pictures if i

good morning from the lovely pepper tree in in santa barbara, california. yes, i know this is a surprising turn of events. last week i was feeling lonely, grumpy, and not at all creative, and decided to google "intensive drawing workshop." shockingly, one popped up, and it begins this morning. so, i will spend the next five days drawing in the right side of my brain. i love the right side of my brain. when i am living there time really does become meaningless (just like they say in the books). activities that send my consciousness there include quilting, cooking, knitting, crocheting, and a great book...... and, since becoming more adept and comfortable at drawing is on my list of things to do this year, i wasted no time signing up. i arrived here last night after a long day. the morning was spent in two meetings for the la film fest. i am helping my friend there get her advertising campaign together. it is really a rewarding endeavor. it brings me back in contac

no bike ride today. the weather decided to be uncooperative. instead we will go to the grocery store to get the rest of the supplies for the big oscar bash. i know the suspense has been unbearable, so here's the menu: crudite chips, salsa, guacamole chicken chili with all the fixings cheddar buttermilk biscuits salad some type of dessert tba...possibly slice and bake cookies, which although pre-packaged, are always a hit...... have a happy saturday!!!!

yesterday i felt very virtuous as i headed off to pico boulevard in my turquoise car...an impulse purchase, it had a big bow on the hood and my mom was really sick...um, long story. anyway, my beloved little car was in need of a smog check in order to complete this year's registration. seems simple, albeit annoying. alas, it was anything but. after a lovely hour spent at the lazy daisy cafe chatting to my friend jules on the phone and nursing a cappuccino, i returned to the smog certification center to find that my car had failed....it had nothing to do with being a heinous polluter, there is just some mystery light that is always on, something to do with a computer failure. so, this means that i have to take the car to the dealer and try to correct this undoubtedly expensive, yet harmless, problem, and then go back again and pay for another test. i fruitlessly argued with the hapless proprietor of said establishment, but he wasn't going to budge. the car had flunked and

today will be very exciting. i will spend most of it in the knitting store (feeling somewhat guilty as it is the most gorgeous sunny day). last night i made a dinner i highly recommend. it's a roast chicken with grapes and shallots (available on epicurious.com, my go-to-site for deliciousness). i served it with multi-colored smashed fingerling potatoes (added green onions) and a roasted garlic giblet gravy. it earned my favorite sobriquet "super yum," and my cute husband agreed. we also polished off a lovely bottle of ridge chardonnay (um, before dinner was even served) which gave the evening a festive quality. there will be a big oscar party here on sunday as well as a pre-oscar brunch. so, in addition to knitting today i will be scheming about party food. last year for the golden globes i made chicken chili (much moister than turkey chili it turns out) with cheddar cheese biscuits. not sure if that's the right choice....stay tuned for the exciting result of t

so, today i got a nice call that might result in a short term work assignment. since i've been moaning to my husband about my lack of purpose, it will be interesting to see if a. the job materializes, and b. if i enjoy it. if i do, this could be a nice start in the right direction, short assignments bookended by freedom and fun. that was the goal of this endeavor. it would certainly be wonderful if it actually worked. i also saw a movie at a talent agency. i do this quite a lot, however, today was also a bit better because i managed to score parking validation. this sounds lame, but when i don't it costs 34.o0 to see a movie there. a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. in terms of my creativity, which is, as you know, the purpose of this blog, i perused a few knitting books and got some ideas for a baby blanket, and decided to make roast chicken with shallots and grapes for dinner. i will also be making multi-colored fingerling potatoes (smashed, with butter and

ok, so here's a photo of yesterday's 'project.' it was meant to be a rainbow sherbet ice cream cone. i have no sense of whether it was successful or not. the chickens, however, were a hit. a fellow knitter had them moved to the back of the store so they could keep us company as we worked. my friend was knitting sea shells. it was an odd coincidence as i had been reading about sea shells in the 3 dimensional embroidery book i bought in preparation for a course i will be taking in june. i think the ice cream cone is a little floppy. it might have been better to knit the cone on smaller needles so the tension would have been tighter like the sherbet. in any case, it's done and now i can go back to finishing scarf and completing the chicken coop i also took some nice photos at the beach yesterday. we actually managed to walk at the shoreline with the dog, but were eventually shooed away by a lone lifeguard. here are a couple of pictures, one taken with the hipst

managed about 36 rows of my husband's "christmas" scarf (pictured) and a few rows of the rainbow sherbet ice cream cone. also watched countless episodes of "30 rock," and "mad men," as well as "couple's retreat" and "juno." found a fun program to manipulate photos on the iphone. here's an example. enjoy!! today's goals: * beach walk with husband * collect dog from dogsitter * locate smog check document in order to get car registered * organize tax nonsense * visit knitting store and see what's up with all my pals also, made a most delicious dinner last night. highly recommend. it's a recipe from epicurious, lamb kafta. superb!!!

today i will spend most of my day flying. things i hope to accomplish include making some serious headway on my husband's scarf, knitting a chicken, finishing my ice cream cone. i will check in later to report my progress. also, in a bitter blow, i had two great pairs of embroidery scissors confiscated at security. rats!