leaving time and energy for creating

July certainly is like what one expects of July today - intense sun, warm even in the shade, hair dries quickly after a swim, mosquitoes are voracious, and watering plants takes a toll. The swallows were floating around catching bugs. The spider in the vegetable garden (today it[the garden] needed 4 watering cans and two five gallon buckets) looks very plump. A cicada occasionally whines its call.
On the walk through the woods we saw a flock of wild turkeys - two adults and several smallish chicks. There was no distracting the dog and no way to avoid them. He gave chase and they disbanded. It's amazing to see those birds take off. Saturday we'll say goodbye to what has been a hot, dry uneventful month.

I finished my chores as early as possible. It's been frustrating that by the time I finish, I'm too tired to muster up enough energy to make something creative. Usually, I work in the studio first thing in the morning, but in the summer, I have to do outside work and walk before it gets too hot. When I finally do come in to work, it takes extra long to get into the creative flow and past the tiredness. I try to leave something ready for the next step, so I don't have too much thinking to do, just get right to the work.

Late yesterday afternoon I added detail on "Scroll #2". I did a blanket stitch, by machine, along the top and bottom. I'm happy with the way it looks, and rolls. I still haven't determined what will go in the pockets. Nor have I resolved what, if any, writing will be on whatever is in the pockets. I'm sure a solution will present itself -probably when I'm working on something else.

After I finish here, I am dedicating time to ART JOURNAL -July - Dec. And I think I'll make 31 small, cardstock tags for art work this coming month. Then I'll make an accordion book or glue them into my ART JOURNAL. Of course, I'll be in school on the 26th so will most likely be there getting ready several days ahead of that.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

I'm sure last year's work for a Haiku a day fit into my other work...
walking, weeding and
stitching new curtains, another
non-eventful day
By this deep into the daily exercise, I had accumulated a large collection of mini scraps as well as tricks to get to the work without needing tons of time or energy. The flip-flop and sun stamps in addition to the dog paw tissue were hurdles already jumped. Sometimes it was the text I had to search and work the hardest to capture. I created "bamboo" on the right hand side using my "bar code " stamp and some drawn leaves. The curtain I made for the bathroom had bamboo on it.