Pencil Shavings

Happy Valentine's Day to Me

I was really happy when the UPS guy showed up with a big box of books for me today.  School hasn't left me with a ton of free reading time, but I could not resist ordering this book.  It's called Michelangelo: A Life on Paper and it's all about the great master, not only his sculptural work, but also his journal entries, his poetry, and his letters.

I've already been leafing through it and I find it hard to put down.  It's so insightful, well written and compelling.  I know that I'll have to make time to keep reading through this term.

The Delicate Turn of a Phrase

I don't know why I'm suddenly feeling drawn into the debate of e-book vs. physical book.  Maybe it's because, up until December 25th, I read very few books from an electronic device.  On of the books I had read up until that point was Oliver Twist, a book I had chosen for a project in 3D art class.

After opening the gifts on Christmas Morning I got the wonderful gift of an iPad and proceeded to download (I hate to admit it) well over a hundred dollars worth of books.  Then I read them all. 

Did I miss "the delicate rustling of the page"?  No. Not once.  Did I miss the smell of paper?  No.  Did I miss the feel of a book in my hands?  No.  I did miss running my hands over the cover of a book and feeling the raised bits of print and design.  I'm pretty certain I can live with that longing.

I have books, real live paper books.  I have them stacked all over every horizontal surface of my home.  My kids have books filling three bookcases on different floors of our house. I have six book cases in the basement stuffed full, with more books piled on top.

I love reading.

And maybe that's the difference, I love reading.  Books are ways to read, but it's not the physical books that I love, it's the words.  I love the words, the ideas, the delicate turn of a phrase that sticks with me until I can return and finish the story, or chapter.  I love the people that populate the stories, I love the landscapes.  I love how I can lose myself in that world of print and surface an hour, or two, or three later and feel changed.  I love the bittersweet feeling of finishing a great novel, and missing the characters and the world of that novel, as if I had lived there, and then had to move, against my will.

I still have a number of books unread on my iPad, and on my bedside table.  I have biographies, novels, fantasy, short stories, all waiting for me to immerse myself in. 

I have been reading from the screen for a long time, websites, blogs, tweets, statuses, so perhaps I was ready to accept e-books.  But I think the reality is that I just love reading.  I'll take the words where ever they live, and I will love them.

 

 

What is Kathleen Reading?

How awful is it that I have come to realize that the majority of the reading I have done over the last 2 or three years has been on the computer screen?  Well to me it's pretty damn horrible.

When I was in University (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) I would devour a book a day, or at least a book every other day.  They weren’t great books, mass market paperbacks, and I barely remember any of them now, but I read from books I held in my hands.  When I was a “grown-up” living on my own I would have a stack of books to read at my bedside every night and a book to take to work and read at lunch and coffee breaks.

When my daughter was born I would hold her in my arms and read aloud to her from what ever I was reading at the time, mystery novels I think, and I would check out books from the library at an alarming rate.

At this moment I have 18 books checked out from the library, nearly all of them are art instruction books, one is a short novel that I read two pages of at the library before I checked it out, and I haven’t touched it since.  The book that is on my bedside table is a really awful art text called Drawing Academy that is lacking in spirit and also any real instruction.

I’m not sure how I fell out of the habit of reading just for pleasure, of taking a book in my hands and just losing myself in it, but I did.  I realized how much I was missing when I ready Yann Martel’s website, What is Stephen Harper Reading, and knew that a a slew of the books on his list were books I knew, but had never read.  So I decided to start my own book club, starting with some of Yann’s suggestions to our Prime Minister, and moving on to books I have on my own “to read” list.

And because you have been so good at following my 365 Days of Art, I figured you might want to follow along with my “What is Kathleen Reading” book club as well.  Maybe it will get a few other people away from the screen and on the couch with a good book in their hands.

* photo by austinevan on Flickr

Adventures in The Land Of The Wee Folks

and I'm not talking about fairies!

Today my kindergartener had a day off school.  Her sister went to school without her and it was left to Mom to entertain the wee imaginative one.

We started with a walk to the store.  Lots of time stopping to smell the flowers and listening to the songs of the Red-winged Blackbirds.  But it was cold so we didn't linger by the pond and go see if the Mallard ducklings had hatched yet.

Then there was her interesting request for a lunch menu “Mommy, can you please give me my options for lunch?”  that had me laughing so hard that lunch was delayed.  The we played school.  She was running the office and using the megaphone her grandma had made from Bristol board to page everyone in the school.  Especially the janitor.  Seems we have a pretty messy school around here! 

Then I substituted for the music teacher for a few rounds of “bunny hop” dancing and singing.

We sat down for a while to read my new art magazine.  She particularly loved the article on Eric Carle, and felt quite wise (if it's possible for her to be more than she is already) that she already knew quite a bit about him.  We talked about egg tempera painting, and that yes it's really made with eggs (how shocking!) and about collage techniques, and what kind of art projects we will do over the summer holidays.

She read quite a bit of the magazine on her own, with some help on a few words that she had not encountered before.  So that was the “educational” part of our day!  Then there was the time telling part of the day while she counted down the minutes until we could go get her sister to go to swimming lessons.

Mom is OK but her sister is REALLY fun.

Chaos, Panic, Disorder.... You Know, The Usual!

I know it sounds so elitist to say it, but I love my laptop and the fact that I can write my blog while lying in bed!

Why am I in bed on a beautiful sunny day?  Well this is the last few hours I'll have to myself for many days, and it's also some of the few hours that I have had for myself in weeks!  And I'm worn clean through.

I haven't updated this blog in a long time, mostly because I either have nothing to offer, or because I'm so tired at the end of the day that I can't string words together in any meaningful way.  Although a lot of interesting (and weird) things have happened recently, I really can't write about them without exposing my family.  I'm OK with exposing myself to critique, but my family and friends don't need that in their lives.

School is winding up and I've been busy helping out at the school, and winding up all the paper work that will set the kids up for next year.  I've been finding books, and socks, and papers.  I've been sorting and fussing about things, and going on a lot of “end of the year” field trips with my girls' classes.  I did get confirmation that the teachers do give me the more difficult kids on the trips “because we know you can handle it”.  Which makes it mighty tempting to “misplace” someone occasionally.  But of course I would not do that (as tempting as it might be).

So here are the highlights:

My buddy, who I paint with once a week, hasn't seen me for nearly a month.  At least she is understanding and is giving me 21 days to get my act together and get back to work with her!  Which is good, because I need the deadline right now.

I am working on a project, but I'm not sure how it's going to turn out, so you will just have to wait and see (I'm such a tease).

I discovered that two-bite brownies spread with peanut butter is an excellent treat (and may have saved my husbands life last week when I was feeling particularly stressed).

And finally, for those of you in the art world, I will be starting up a product review section of the blog over the summer, and let you know the results of some of the new things I've tried recently and how they worked for me. ( I'll even put in pictures, how's that for a deal)

But today.  Well today I'm going to put on some fresh coffee, lounge about, read a magazine and maybe work on a poem or two.  Tomorrow the chaos begins again!

Thanks For The Love!

Wow, I am so amazed and humbled.  Today has been my best day for readership on the blog.  It's like everyone who ever read me once decided to come back and see what I was doing on Valentine's Day.

Thank you, so much.

I started this blog several years ago, to track my fledgling efforts at being a published writer, and then when writing became too difficult for me, for a lot of reasons, I realized that I could still tell my stories through watercolour and paper, and paint and canvas, and just plain pencil and a post it notes!  Many of you have stuck with me for the journey, and I appreciate it so much, even those of you who only came along to see if my cat would attack me again.

My art career is beginning to bloom now, and I do value your comments, and your readership as you have cheered me along.  My friends, my readers, my lurkers, and my collectors, Thank You, and I hope that we can continue this conversation, even when it is mostly one sided, for a long time to come.

Please feel free to comment, I love reading your comments and I enjoy when we can move the conversation of the main page, and into something even more interesting than me talking!

Oh and this Image is appropriately called Cyber Love and it's for sale in my ArtFire Studio.

Overwhelmed With Being Mom

Sometimes being a mom and being the person who kisses boo-boos, finds the stickers, and knows how the grilled cheese sandwich needs to be cut can be overwhelming.  After a morning spent with the whole family (husband included) I am exhausted.  Because I  am supposed to bring the snacks, the drinks, the coffee money, the tissues.  I'm supposed to know where we are going, in what order.

I am the one who has to kiss the pinched finger better when daddy clips it into the car seat, and provide Lifesavers to the tear stained child to get her to settle down for the trip.

I picked up some new art supplies and made a few notes about people who might make interesting characters in stories...

but other than that it's just been mom work.

Why is it that mom's never get a holiday, even when the family is on holidays?

Now, Where Did I Leave My Clone-o-Matic?

I really need another couple of Me's. Right now I am working on pulling together a book proposal, researching starting a limited company, and being a parent and wife, writer and artist.

A couple more brains would be handy about now, not to mention the extra hands to hold tissues and do dishes and laundry. Some extra shoulders to absorb the tears of a five year old and a three year old who are both a little stretched from a busy week and the never ending stream of illness that seems to run through this house. An extra driver to tool around town picking up and dropping off would be nice too. I won't even get into lack of sleep, or shower time.

But right now is a really exciting time for me. I feel like I am coming into my own here. Is it really time for me to be doing this? It feels right, and at the end of the day when I fall into bed, I feel anxious to get the sleeping over with so I can get started on a new day.

Even if this doesn't all work out, it is great having new goals, new directions, and a renewed drive to show what I've got. And I've got a lot.

Predicting the Future

Have you read the Dune series of books recently? I have been going over them again – for the third time – and suddenly I am seeing them in a whole new light.

Do yourself a favour and look at them again… except this time when you see the word spice think “oil” and when you see fremen think “afghans” and don’t forget to chuck thoughts of George Bush and the American “empire” into it as well.

Frank Herbert was a genius who could create worlds, maybe he could see the future as well.

Uplifting

My husband gets a little frustrated that I leave so early from the house to get to the library for my writing time. I leave well before I need to. I get to the library when the parking lot is empty, turn up the stereo, and make some notes about what I want to accomplish once the doors open and I can get in and claim some workspace. I am immersing myself in the freedom of not being with the kids, being able to listen to grown up music, and think a little with out a small war breaking out in the back seat.

I watch people arriving. The line up starts about ten minutes before the doors open. This morning a middle aged woman, by herself like I am. An elderly man, walking with a cane, with snow in the creases of the cuffs of his pants. A dad with his two kids in tow. A smattering of students with bulging book bags who will be heading to the quiet study area (which I have established is far too quiet for me). Two people who I see every week who have laptop cases like mine, coffee cups like mine, who set up on tables in the main body of the library like I do. I wonder sometimes if they are writing like I am.

It lifts my heart to see people lining up at the library just before the doors open, as if anticipating a sale, but instead to get in to work, to read, to be, in the library.

If this novel ever gets published I think I'll dedicate it to this space, where I have had so many great creative moments come alive on the page for me.