ABSTRACTS by Sabina via cathy ruggiero
If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that I have devoted myself to going through our over 30-year-old home the past year with determination to go through everything, give stuff away, throw other things away, clean and reorganize what’s left. I’ve made it through the house once and am now on Phase II, of going through it all again. I’m making lots of progress, but the job is far from done yet. Realizing that the job will never be ‘finished,’ I’m ready to change my priorities a bit for the new year.
I’ve found it almost impossible to give myself permission to play in my art room. In fact, it’s still clean and organized from Phase I of what I now call, “The Great Purge.” Before, I had to clean off a spot in order to try out a new idea I had or to paint something to fulfill an order I received. Each time I have thought of going up there, I saw something in the house that desperately needed my attention first. With the “New-to-Me” determination to move more, consciously trying to exercise each day, the day was shot. Added to that was working in the greenhouse or in the yard. The days, weeks, and months have flown past my head, blowing my hair.
I’ve decided that I will try to add another priority in the coming year – MAKING time to play in my art room! I miss being able to close the door up there, start playing some of my favorite tunes, and immersing myself in the joy of experimenting with my ‘stuff.’ I want to try some new watercolor techniques. I discovered a new style of painting note cards and stationery where I mix watercolor or acrylic floral paintings with backgrounds of accent colors with pastels that I found satisfying. I want to expand on that. I have tote bags I’d like to paint. I want to etch some goblets I received as a gift from a friend… And the list goes on.
I closed my shop on Etsy, but I still have one on ArtFire.
I haven’t added anything in a long time, so I’m thinking of some new things with which I can experiment. I keep seeing the work of wonderfully talent people on LinkedIn, a website primarily designed for folks trying to network. I’m not interested in getting a job at this point, but I love living on the same planet as these talented folks and enjoy interacting with them and showing you their work.
When things calm down after the holidays, our son will leave to visit some more folks before going back home to Thailand.
I look forward to getting involved in trying new things for the new year.
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