It's getting easier...

It's been a while but what's the saying? Better late than never. I've started journaling again. Keeping an art journal this time. With drawings and artings and pictures and stuff. Been making more art, too. I can hardly keep up with all of the new things I want to make and techniques I want to try. So now instead of getting lost in People magazine, I often find myself getting lost in collage art and jewelry magazines. And instead of dreaming of one day making cool stuff, I've decided to just pick a project and try it. Even if it's material I've never worked with before. Inspired by an article in Somerset Workshop by Lisa Guerin, I decided to try shrink plastic charms. I'm sure I've lost a few braincells in the process of melting the plastic with my heat gun, but the results were worth it, I think.


I have a studio in the back of the house, but I find myself taking over a small table in our dining room. I fight for space with my 5-year-old daughter who likes to play with her toys on the floor and mostly under the table at my feet! I watched her play this evening among what looked like total chaos to me--piles of ponies, porcelain plates lined up in a row, a crowd of little animals corralled within a plastic courtyard. I tell her to pick up her toys all the time, and she replies, "but I'm playing with that." Well, what about that pile of ponies over there, and those blocks and dolls? "I'm playing with ALL of that." Then she explains how the ponies are all sleeping and the dolls are coming to visit soon and...So everything remains scattered all over the floor.


I just realized today, that's exactly how I play! I try to put stuff away when I'm done but I never feel done! Right now on my table I've got a pile of rubber stamps and ink, several boxes full of beads and trinkets, collage sheets, paper punches, glue, current works-in-progress, pastels, shrink plastic, heat gun, hammer...I just never know when I might need one or all of these things!

I need a bigger table.