Thoughts On Accomplishment

Metal Sculpture
4 feet x 11.75 inches

The metal sculpture in the photo is on the 2004 sculpture course display wall for the project critique. It still now hangs on my wall.

Grasping what feels like a few years ago as going on almost 20 years ago is surreal.  What is even more strange is why I rarely sculpt.

What makes us stop doing things we enjoy and/or are good at? 

I remember receiving very encouraging words about my metal sculpture. The message that I should be doing this more was strong back then. There's a bag of leftover materials from the project in the storage closet. The extra steel sheet metal piece I had to let go because it was too large, and in the way. 

Not everything undone can be blamed on depression. I think there are things we are good at that scare us in some ways, hold us back from blending who we are with what we can accomplish. 

Accomplishment. 

Something to think about

 

Petunias, Exercise & Excursions

 A petunia stem broke off. I stuck the little flower in an empty container of dirt and forgot about it.

A few days later, the flower is still blooming. It has continued to flower one after another for almost 3 weeks. I didn't know petunias will root and grow like that.

Today is half a day of summer. Half a day of thunderstorms with rain. I keep reminding myself there isn't a drought. (Ooo, that was loud!)

After week one on the exercise bike, I ache without ibuprofen. I'll adjust the handle bars lower in the hopes the muscle pain decreases. I'm also going to every other day with a stretching routine in between.

On the down slope of peak summer, my hopes are on August being wonderful. 

Petunias & Torenia

My tiny garden has a huge planter next to it acting as a nursery for plants that will go in the ground elsewhere. As it turns out, the  plants that are there look too nice to move.

Torenia flowers fit well under the petunias still in the plastic planter.

The small purple petunias are the type with white patches, In the shade the white grow better. In the sun, the flowers are all purple.

Next week is my excursion time,  a simple walk downtown to a Vermont state park for a picnic lunch and plein air painting. Matching it with a home project, the dinning table sanding will be next week as well. It will be a challenge to get outdoors, but outdoors I must go. Wherever anxiety is the lowest will determine the destination.

How are your summer excursions going? 

Pallette Knife Funny

Palette Knife

Painting yesterday afternoon, I took out a small glob of white from the jar. I rested the palette knife across the edge of the (chipped) dinner plate I use to mix paint. As I'm turning to my left to put the jar away, my right arm hits the palette knife handle, flipping it in the air. I clean up the paint on the floor noticing there doesn't seem to be the quantity I took out of the jar, but I didn't see any more paint anywhere...

because the palette knife flipped the glob of paint onto the back of my neck where I didn't see it until an hour or so later. 

It was a mess! Thankfully, not all of the about teaspoon of paint dried in my hair or on my neck. My pony tail got unstuck without much pulling. Clean up was easy.

I laugh well.

Salubrity Summer
Mixed Media, Ink & Acrylic 14"x18" drawing

I was working on my abstract ink and acrylic drawing from March 2023. It was too flat with very little depth and colors that were trying to get away from each other.  There's more to paint now that I focus on the story the drawing it trying to tell.

Salubrity Summer from March 2023

Watching Videos Versus Staring Into Space

Watercolor practice

 

How we spend our time is an investment in our future. With depression, too much time can be spent sitting in a chair or on the sofa doing nothing but thinking. Staring into space for hours on end need not be a session of thinking random thoughts. Think Screen.

A monitor screen in front of us playing a video instead of looking into the space in the room, is in my opinion, (being a hours on end staring into space person with chronic depression), the better investment in our future and our present.

Thus, my computer screen for the last few weeks has been music (for energy), art, history and archaeology videos on YouTube and the Quest Channel websites.

The benefits are an increase in energy (on day 4 or 5 of exercise bike), feeling less bored, and, being inspired to think of how I paint differently.

Watching other artists' styles develop in the artwork is amazing to me. I tell myself that I can't paint that way. Then I tell myself I can paint any way I want to because I have a style of my own. I'm not sure what it is, but it is there. I just need to do more of it.

Thank you to all my blog friends who watch videos, tutorials and such. You have inspired me to do the same. I am very grateful for this positive aspect of living.

Day 202, Week 29 of July 2023

Summer Rain
8"x6" watercolor, M. Flannery

Two beautiful days of summer weather this week has been refreshing. Today, we are back to thunderstorms and rain. 

Determination. I sat down to do a watercolor. It took me almost an hour to find my supplies. With no particular subject in mind, thinking of the program, "Landscape Artist of the Year," I went with the mood du jour...Rain. (above photo) It is good to finish a painting, even if it is small.

I discovered that taking photos of the artwork, before it dries, makes places that need tweaking stand out. The actual watercolor doesn't look as grainy in person as it does in the photo. Paper texture seems to be missed in person viewing.

Have a weekend of bright discovery!

Try a new ice cream flavor

Make a huge garden salad

Read about wood types

Draw a few zucchini

Make a fun flag

Watch kite flying videos

Daydream a lovely cottage

Shop for summer camp shirts

Pray for Peace

Summer Is Today, No Promises for Tomorrow

Grumpy Cosmos

Today is Summery!

Partly cloudy with nary a whiff of rain in the air. Is this Earth, my heart wants to know.

For dinner* I am pondering to have cold squash soup, a squash fry up or a baked veggies with rice medley on a bed of salad greens.  

On day 3 of exercise bike routine renewal, I have yet to feel any sore muscles from it. 

For the 3rd time in my Wordle doing life, today I guessed in 2 tries. The day before, I had a 6.

Life as life goes.

Does anyone know of a good language learning program for Irish, Welsh or Scots? I want my daydreams to be more authentic.

The more episodes of UK's, "Landscape Artist of the Year," the more I question the judges' decisions. There are too many very good artists not chosen than in the potrait series.

Are there art documentaries or shows you like to watch?

*Late lunch. I got lazy, had graham crackers and a small glass of beer.

A New Poetry Blog

Coffee Frappes & Seashells

My new poetry blog has a name posted on Blogger, (link above).

Posting will include my original poems as well as articles about the writing process, reviews, and other poetry news. One day I might actually attend a poetry reading to report about. 

It is amazing to me the amount of time it took me to figure out a title over the last few months. My goal was to have a similar one like this blog's title that combines my homeland Atlantic Ocean Boston area vibe with the Champlain Valley Vermont vibe. 

I haven't added Poetry to the title because the description of amateur poet blog should signal searches engines well enough for that category. There's also (eventually as the blog's search rank rises), the bonus of showing up with food and seashell searches.

The goal is to stop posting first draft poems. I hope to develop as a better poet by editing, seriously editing what I write. There are so many poems on my first poetry blog that make me cringe, I feel compelled to change.

I recently wrote a poem that I immediately like. That doesn't often happen. I saved it thinking this should be the first post on the new poetry blog. The day arrived. Whittled down to the easiest and most user friendly free blog host, I decide on Blogger.

At the keyboard, the 5 stanza, 20 line poem became a free verse 13 line poem. I slid along the thought that what I write has to make sense. I use to write inside how words feel, represent my mind's images. Stream of consciousness writing doesn't always translate to making sense unless edited to do so. I hope I got close.

P.S.

This entire post is inside the caption space of the first photograph. I don't know how that happened. See the shadow framing the post?  That's an indication the post is in a caption space. I discovered it when the font color turned out brown inside of the default black. I like it so much, I changed the font color for the entire blog.

Live Stream, Space Weather & Dreary

Jumping from one project to another keeps momentum going. Adjusting to another process sets the mind on a new adventure. 

Without a television since early spring, I still don't miss it. On Wifi, using live streams, I will watch live news programs. 

I learned via a Quora answer that the reason ads run without problems when the live stream doesn't is because they don't come from the same place, the files are different. It makes sense to me.

Signal strengths and signal whatever are probably the reason why channels in the same area/market differ. One channel has the live stream hiccup while another doesn't.

Yesterday my computer on Wifi, and a neighbor on cable, had weird color glitches, negative channel colors blinking in and out. I suspect yesterday's solar flares are the reason. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has a Space Weather Prediction Center website. 

Learning as we go is often entertaining. I viewed a live stream weather report this AM, and then left to blog. 

It is another morning waking to rain. Dreary city I will not go because I have a built in depression that doesn't depend much on the weather. I have a good book to read, dusting to do, and maybe a nice nap this afternoon. 

Enjoy your day!

OneRepublic - Love Runs Out

This is a song to dance to, near impossible not to feel the energy.

Ferns, Change, Rain & Smoke

Some Kind of Outdoor Fern

I changed this blog's background photo to ferns. This year they are nearing 4 feet tall (122 cm). Rabbits, toads, cats and such are known to explore the micro fern jungle.

How often do you change up your blog or interior décor? 

Switch out artwork and such? 

I use to changed things up fairly frequently. The last few years, my interest in change has decreased. I attribute it to getting older, an age related normalcy. It could be that I feel more at ease, mellow with how things are. 

First day of the week, there is sunshine in Vermont! 

We've had an abundance of rain in Vermont, New England, Northeast, Eastern Seaboard, surrounding areas. There is more in the forecast. 

There are also air quality alerts to pay attention to as more smoke from the devasting Canadian forest fires makes its way south into the United States.

This week I am on the hunt for YouTube photography videos. I want to become a better photographer.

Have a wonderful week!

Thoughts About Sunset Cabins

Homemade Signage

Sunset Cabins* is a fictious place that nourishes my day dreams. I made the little sign over ten years ago to remind me of a dream place where my mind can vacation.

Wondering about the psychology of cabin versus city life, a quick Google search provides me with a few avenues to explore.

 I'm not trying to decide on one or the other. I know there are benefits in both areas.

But, why lean towards one and not the other?

Frankly, I  want a mesh of woods and city life, an environment compatible with the security of services and population numbers that city life provides. Thankfully, where I live now is ideal. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

*Note,  there is a real place, Sunset Cabins Maine on Lake Darmariscotta.

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