I think it was Thursday night that I finished reading and editing the fifth book in the Neverending Saga. I left some places with big circles around them marked as “fix this” because I either wanted to seamlessly delete stuff or rewrite it. Which I did as I input my edits yesterday, then printed it. Weird thing; with all that cutting, I lost a page yet I added 400-ish words. Math is weird.
Taking a break before I revisit the sixth book and make decisions about the seventh. I understand blogging about this is boring. Sorry.
Today I worked on a couple of paintings, and because I was so preoccupied yesterday and today, I didn’t realize some calls or texts weren’t reaching my phone. Sorry about that, too. Tom was nice enough when he got home from his volunteer gig to take my phone to our carrier storefront (second time he’s done this; same problem), and this time, it seems to be fixed.
As is usual with me, I over-poured paint. I had too much left over to be willing to waste it. Sometimes I’ll cover my palettes with tape for later, but I finished what I was doing and probably won’t paint again soon. Then I remembered I had several packages of 2″x2″ canvases–TINY! So I unwrapped those and used all the leftover paint to lay down base coats for some future project.
Clean palettes; wee canvases ready when I figure out something to do with them.
A story about art. I only started exploring this kind of creativity in the early 1990s, first painting T-shirts, then doing ceramics. And along the way, I did some pretty awful stuff, and if I could, I’d take it back!
In time, I began to share some stuff on my LiveJournal/then my blog (which linked to FB and Twitter, two outlets I no longer really use), and people wanted to buy it, which was shocking. Then I’ve gotten some commissions over the years that I was happy to do, and there were times payments for those might be all the money I made for a month or longer. I’ll always be grateful for people who likely didn’t know they were helping me pay vet bills, power bills, etc.
I’ve also gifted a lot of my art, and that can be weird. Some people never acknowledge receiving it, and it’s awkward to be like, Uh…did you by any chance receive a package from me?
I remember the first time someone told me a recipient had thrown away a painting of mine. Yikes! I’d rather have a gift I created returned to me than go to a landfill. I could either repurpose the materials or maybe find it a better home. I’m not sharing this to shame anyone–I seriously doubt anyone who’s done that reads my blog these days.
I appreciate every kind word, every purchase, every gift acknowledged. I create because it makes me happy, whether it’s writing or painting, and while I wouldn’t have turned away wealth or acclaim, that’s never been a motivation for anything I’ve done, so that’s a good thing, right?
Anyway, as I looked at the wee canvases, I was reminded of a mixed media piece (titled “The Kids Are All Right”) I did a dozen years ago for a friend who IS one of those people who expresses gratitude and shows kindness (as well as being someone who has made me laugh my ass off since 1977). So maybe these will end up as part of a larger piece similar to hers; who knows.
They could work for either bottle caps or wee Spirograph flowers.
A student’s pro tip: if you turn off justification and use a mono-spaced font, then you get a more accurate representation of words per page that only varies with font size. That’s helpful when the goal is to b.s. a page a halt essay! Math is weird only when English interferes with it.
Industry standard for fiction manuscripts: 12 point Times New Roman font, no justified right margins, double spaced with indented paragraphs. Even though I don’t anticipate submitting my work(s) in progress, I still follow the rules. As my friend Jim says of me, I’m a rule follower. =)