Week 4- Painting

Painting started around Christmas.
I love the colors, I hate the center.
I like the leaves on the lower right so more of those are in this painting future.

  

I started a painting around Christmas and another Wednesday night when I had the day off for my birthday. I think I have at least 4 and maybe 6 additional unfinished paintings from summer 2011 on. I really will finish some of these at some point. Mostly, they all have the first layer completed so there won't be any white spots showing through. Eventually, when finished they won't look much like they do now.

Birthday Painting.
Base layer in Blues and Greys only.
Think I'm going to add Yellow and Green.

Weeks 2 & 3- Trying to Get Organized

I feel that in order to really start opening up creatively I have to get my space organized so I don't feel like I am drowning in STUFF. Most of weeks 2 and 3 involved trying to install things, clean up and put things away.  

This included: 

Installing a rack under my cabinets for mugs.

Washing lots of dishes.

Washing even more clothes.

Mending holes in sweaters and sewing buttons back on.

Putting up pivoting towel rods on the half wall upstairs so I can hang clothes up rather than throw them on the floor or over the wall itself. (This has been working well in conjunction with rearranging the bathroom so I could fit a hamper upstairs out of the way. Although that led to moving towel bars which means painting will have to take place at some point).

 So a bit of a bust on true creativity, but hopefully something that will help me to get to that creativity in the near future.

Week 1 - Teal Vertical Striped Scarf

I think I started this scarf sometime around Christmas. The first one I made in these colors a few months ago was too short and too thin. This one is about 6-7 feet long and 4 inches wide. Unfortunately, I was using up some remnants of yarn and had to splice in on some of the stripes. I've never run out of yarn on a row while making one of these long row scarves before so I wasn't sure how the splices would turn out. The knit is very loose so the splices are pretty obvious, but can be hidden as you wear it. It's much easier to just have plenty of yarn.

Even with its issues it looks good and I love the colors. I can tell that trying to take a good looking picture of knitted items is going to be challenging. I should also make a note to self that I need to take my pictures when the sun is still strong; it was just starting to fade when I got around to taking the picture and the colors aren't as rich as they should be.

2012 The Year of Creativity

In 2011, I joined the 365 Project. The idea was to take one photo a day and post it online to document your year. I like photography, but what I found out early on is that I like to edit photos more than take them. At least, that's how I felt when my subject matter was limited on the days when all I did was go to work and come home and I took pictures of the same places and things day after day. Before the project, I always took lots of pics when I went somewhere and did something interesting. I found myself missing days or weeks at a time, then when I would go out and about I'd take lots of new photos and fill in all the spaces. It felt like I was cheating the project that way.

I invited several of my friends to do 365 with me. Some of them were very true to the project and managed to post a photo every day, or at least rarely gap and fill in quickly. Some struggled like I did. Overall, I'm happy to say that everyone seemed to have a good time with it and it gave us an opportunity to be involved with each other's day to day lives and get together a few times this past year. Some of the Photo Squirrels (as we called ourselves because a few of the group's squirrel pics were so popular) are going to continue 365 this year, but I while I'll check in on them from time to time, I'm not.

For 2012, I am going to try to create something new each week. I'm going to be incredibly lenient with myself about what that means. I'll paint, knit, sew, take some pictures, cook, and do some remodeling projects around my house. Sometimes I may start a project one week and not finish it right away (I've already got a couple fairly large projects in mind that I know will take extra time to complete). That's just how it's going to be and I'm going to be ok with that.

So goodbye to the Year of the Camera and hello to the Year of Creativity.