Tag: patterns

Patterns

I have tried to “just let things happen” for several weeks now.  The truth is I don’t like it.  To me, this means just that – let stuff happen – but this is a passive approach to life and retirement as far as I am concerned.  I personally like to set daily goals, big or small, creative or chore-ish, because that is how I gauge the value of my time.  To let things happens is to wait for things to happen.  I like to make things happen, and to be open to other people inviting me to join them in their happenings.  However, if I were to wait, and just wait, what would occur?  Dishes don’t get done by themselves, photographs aren’t taken, dinner isn’t served.  That is really just being non-existent.  It is being inactive.  It is, essentially, saying no to life and all that it has to offer.

All of us have things we need to do in life.  With the free time of retirement, it seems that I should get my chore list done.  If I did, though, that is all I would do.  That Puritan heritage inculcates duty and chores as the only things of value, not indolence and lazing or creating.  Thinking seems almost a sin – that means considering rebellion against societal norms and regulations.  That means rocking the boat, having an opinion – in short, living life and experiencing life.  As someone brought up to follow rules and regulations, it can be really difficult for me to let them go.  I do know that all rules and regulations are ways to help society function, to let me and others get along, to be more constructive than destructive.  I also know that breaking these restraints allows me to grow and expand, to re-think my world view (many times over the years) and reconsider life and myself in general.

Patterns provide structure and a framework in which we can explore the world, expand our world, and experience that which is unfamiliar with relative safety.  In a bad framework, such as in families where domestic abuse is the norm, these patterns maintain destructive and negative lifestyles.  This is what family systems teach us.  They also teach us that breaking family systems creates its own chaos, which can be positive or negative, good or bad, expanding or restrictive.  For me, breaking certain patterns is necessary for growth and enjoyment, but maintaining others is a form of prison.  Chaos is not something I enjoy, though I appreciate the unexpected.  Altogether, we each need to find the structures in our lives to live fully and deeply, as well as to give in to the unpredictable and spontaneous.

WWM 2019: Days 20-26

#WorldWatercolorMonth2019 is flying by!  It has been a lot of fun, in the doing, pondering interpreting the prompts, and in the progress made from just daily painting.  I have some really awful paintings, and some of which I am rather proud.  So, with no further ado, the prompts and the paintings!

WWM #20:  Buildings

Here, some old buildings in Paris at sunset.  I am rather pleased about this watercolor for a few reasons.  Perspective works, with decreasing detail, lines, and atmosphere.  The sky is pretty killer, too!

WWM #21:  Patterns

I was pondering this one – I thought of all sorts of patterny things, but in reality, nothing grabbed me.  As my studio – particularly the sewing area – is in total disarray, sewing patterns suddenly seemed perfectly obvious.

WWM #22:  Rain Forest

I always imagine a rain forest as the French primitive painter Henri Rousseau showed it. The above is a rather poor homage to his great imaginings.

Here, from some photos and memories of our trip to the Hoh Rain Forest in Washington State. Paths wander beneath ancient cedar trees covered with moss, a green canopy, and little if any sky visible.

WWM #23:  Beach Fun

Pales, buckets, and surfing at sunset – all great fun at the beach!

WWM #24:  Treats

Cookies!  I really love cookies (but like pie better, I admit), and for elegance and color and delightful flavor, macarons!  Here, lemon, mocha, pistachio, orange, and raspberry.

WWM #25:  Shades of Pink

I have to say, I like these raspberry macarons a lot!

WWM #26:  Natural Wonders

The White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is an amazing place – white sand dunes in the middle of a desert, scant plant life, dramatic skies and mountains all around.  It was also incredibly difficult to paint the whiteness of the sand . . . nothing particular awesome about my paintings.

On the other hand, the Arches National Monument has some amazing things to offer – arches being one.  The sandstone, eroded by wind and rain, has left some amazing geological remnants behind.  This watercolor really pleased me . . . again, perspective and distance issues, as well as my usual problems with conveying depth.  To do so, I simplified the background hills with a few lines of color.  I put more detail into the middle ground, which was the arch and the red sandstone behind the arch, and in front of it.  Plants on the lower corners and border became the foreground.  To aid more in the depth, I did a light blue-grey glaze over the mountains, and applied a warmer glaze a couple of times in different areas of the arch and sandstone.

To be continued!

WWM #21: Patterns

First thoughts on patterns were patterns in nature, such as snowflakes, basalt rocks, fields as seen from the air, kaleidoscopes.  Nope . . . didn’t feel right.

And then it hit me – sewing patterns.  My studio is used for painting, photography, and sewing for the most part.  All my sewing stuff is in another room or scattered into another dimension as we finish the repairs from a water leak.

Thus, for #WorldWatercolorMonth2019, patterns of a different sort.

Chaos Contained

Christmas and New Year are busy times of of the year, particularly if you tend to make things for the holidays.  That’s me.  After all the sewing and knitting and baking and such, I sort of collapsed and just didn’t do much of anything except blob along.  As a result, nothing was really like I wanted it to be – this here, that there.  What was getting me – and is still, to a point – are sewing supplies, material, machines.  Today I made a dent in the mess and put all my patterns into under-the-bed shoe storage containers that I got here on Amazon.  These storage containers got good reviews, but best of all, you can move the dividers around as you need, to fit your stuff, whether shoes or patterns!  I am actually really pleased with these and recommend them – for shoes or patterns or…?

Well, one part of my sewing life is a bit neater.  I also worked on the closet where the machines reside.  I rearranged the machines, put a plastic tray system in the closet to hold things such as manuals, and other trivia.  Tomorrow, since I freed up a whole drawer in the sewing bureau, I am going to go through it to rearrange fabric and interfacing, along with other little things.  If I get really organized, I’ll even sort out the material by yardage and future usage.   The studio shelves have projects in containers to work on.  On a digital level, I want to make sure I have a back-up of my pdf patterns.  Once this little bit of reorganization is done, my head space will be clear for upcoming projects!