I have decided to try to make more of my posts about art, while still trying to share a few personal tidbits… how do you separate art from life? One goal I thought of for my posts this year was to try to share a quote about creativity for each post, and how it applies to my creative life.

For today:

Take action on your ideas. Procrastination is the mortal enemy of spontaneous brilliance. – Dan Zadra

This is the perfect quote for me… I am the queen of procrastination. Today, I’ve been watering my orchids. I love cultivating them to re-bloom! Right now I have one in full bloom (see below) and 8 more with buds. I think it might be a record. When I find a new bud, it is like being pregnant! I can hardly wait for the flower to emerge… I know I have weeks of beauty in store. These tropical lovlies really brighten my winter windowsill.

One of my few fragrant orchids, shared by Linda's neighbor

This sweet one was given to me by a woman who needed me to fix her sick orchids. She threw in this beauty as a bonus and it blooms faithfully every December.

I’ve also been working on my rug-hooking project. I started this in October during my back surgery convalescence. I had hoped to have it finished by Christmas. Almost there…. maybe by the middle of the month? I am tired of being distracted by it…. but anxious to see the finished project. I dyed the wool, cut 1/8″ strips and hooked them into the burlap in my own design. I hope it didn’t really influence the weather patterns here in Portland!

Amusing Distractions

Last night we had a girls’ night celebration of my sister’s birthday at Tucci’s in Lake Oswego. It was so fun to get out & play with my sisters & honorary sisters…. and we really enjoyed the music…Mariano de Orbegoso & Masud Tahmassbi (latin jazz guitar.)

Katie, Me, Jeanie & Michele

This week I had a nice surprise in the mail…. one of my images was published in The Palette magazine… an article about self portraits. (see my page below) I love getting this publication in the mail… no advertising and lots of thought-provoking articles.

my self-portrait upper right

There is a fine line between the need to soak up inspiration and the need to spend time doing. Right now in my life, I am much better about soaking up inspiration… the art of my life… flowers, entertaining, crafting… my distractions have been keeping me from the studio. That is a shame, because I really enjoy making things in the studio. Especially if I can spend several uninterrupted days there. My resolution is to be more disciplined about getting studio time and minimizing extracurricular distractions.