a year of living creatively

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...