Wabi Sabi and the Inner Critic

Last week, I showed the book I made using a coptic binding. There were a few comments about the fear of writing in the book and messing it up. So I thought I'd share a post from from March 2014 because we need to be reminded from time to time:

An artist friend had an interesting blog post the other day. She expressed her feelings about not always being satisfied with her own style, and she wondered if others felt this way, too.

I'm sure she is not alone. She's brave and honest for admitting her negative feelings in an ether-world where feelings are projected as rainbow unicorns all the time.

I think we all compare ourselves to others, and because we can be hard on ourselves, we come up short. We listen to the little voice. That voice, the one that says we're not good, or not good enough, or wonders why we can't be more like [insert name of artist, author, person]  is The Inner Critic.

An author friend told me about an exercise she had to do at a writing workshop. She was given a small scrap of paper and envelope. On the paper, she was told to draw a portrait of herself or something that would represent her. When the drawing was completed, she was to fold the paper, stuff it in the envelope, and seal the envelope shut. That's where the Inner Critic belongs. Out of sight, out of earshot, out of mind.

To listen to The Inner Critic, to believe the words, to internalize the words is destructive. Those negative words destroy creativity and spirit. Harry Chapin's Flowers are Red illustrates the point.

The Inner Critic exercise was a good one, but it hit home for me when Himself's karate group was having a discussion about their forms. As martial artists, they worried their forms weren't good enough and when would they ever grasp the elusive ideal of perfection? Could they ever be perfect? Someone brought up  Wabi Sabi, a Japanese concept. Wabi Sabi states: Nothing is perfect. Nothing is permanent and nothing is complete.

There were times I'd worry about making the first mark on a sheet of pristine paper. What would happen if I made a mistake or ruined the paper? The feeling was terrifying, sometimes paralyzing. And silly because no one was going to die if I smeared ink on the paper. Wabi Sabi gave me confidence to try and perhaps fail. I just had to believe in myself and my abilities. I found this concept so freeing applied to myself and my own work. I used to fret that the lettering in my journals wasn't "perfect". Sometimes, I'd tear out journal pages to start again. Which really defeats the purpose of keeping a journal.  Wabi Sabi made me realize, "you don't need the feather to fly, Dumbo." I didn't need to rule up lines. My work became more spontaneous and full of life, and I found I can pretty much write a straight line without guidelines.

I can't make perfect letters, but I can strive for perfection. The work I do today will be better than what I did yesterday. Tomorrow's work will be better than work I did today because I'm still growing, still reaching towards perfection. I'm good enough for today. I'll be better tomorrow.  I have my own voice because I know I won't be happy painting "flowers in neat rows of green and red."

So my friend, embrace Wabi Sabi. Deep down, you know you're good, and you don't need the feather to fly.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

We were in Pennsylvania for Christmas  and the weather there was cold, grey, and rain. So I was happy to see the sunrise on Saturday morning. The light was just beautiful.

though these photos don't really capture

how mesmerizing the sky was.

No birds or critters at the feeder. No snow, either.

Out with the old garden flag

In with the new.

It was so nice to see the sun.

and I wouldn't mind if temperatures stayed this mild all through the Winter.

How does your garden grow?

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:

Dumbo (1941) 

This movie is available to rent at YouTube.com

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The Eldest couldn’t come home for Christmas because she had to work Christmas Eve. So we drove out to have Christmas with her.

2. When we arrived, we helped her finish decorating her Christmas tree

3. On Sunday, we went back to the Iron Bridge Inn for their brunch (we were there over the Summer) and then we went to Kraynak’s Lawn and Garden Center to see their Christmas display.

4. While the Eldest worked her evening shift on Christmas Eve, I spent the time baking (Keto) goodies for Christmas dinner. I made stuffing, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies.

5. It was so good to be together for Christmas Day

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

While we were in Brisbane I was assigned to New Guinea to Japanese identification of their aircrafts. Fighter and bombers and I would also when I returned give lectures to have the men be able to identify and distinguish between their and ours and type. And I was airborne for that.[ed: U.S. Army Air Corps] 

A good part of the island was safe for that. It was not a long stay about a week. I returned and soon after I gave my lectures and we moved again. northward to another town, I forgot its name, but it was the jump off place for New Guinea. 

I can't remember how long we stayed and we knew we were in the boondocks. It was a small quaint town and closer to the Equator. Where Sydney would be the equivalent of our New England except that there was no snow and their Winter was mile. Brisbane would be like Virginia climate and this town for weather would be like Florida.

They had a theater that was also oddly built. Its structure was such that the outside wall was not tight. There were spaces so that the air would flow through out the inner building. If it had been build tight, it would be more than hot in the inside. Quite comfortable.

Eventually we shipped off for New Guinea. A short ship ride and landed right at the beach. It was so deep water that there was no need for docks. In the jungle area. Set up camp and machine guns around it. And ordered to be alert night and day. While we held the open ground, the enemy held the jungles.

Our area seemed quiet and our air force owned the skies.

It did not take long to clean the island and before long we would be called out for reveille. And taking count of heads, we hoisted Old Glory to the masthead or bringing it down at days end. Eyes were always watery. It was symbolic, it was the country's representative. Telling us we are with you. Our home folks following us.

I had bee there before and I also to an area where I spent 90 hours of study of chemical warfare. It arose from intelligence sources that stated the Japanese were stocking huge amounts of chemical products. The war was going our way. Our Navy had all but destroyed theirs in the Pacific at different areas so we we also were gaining control the of the sea and skies.

MacArthur was in the process of planning his landing in Leyte Island and in the bay of that island it would be the end for them. Our Navy would when it happened cross the T. Which is moving ahead. The Japanese Navy would go with the bay in single file. While our Navy would be waiting with ships broadside thereby bringing more naval guns to bear on the enemy while the enemy could only use their fore fire power.

Wordless Wednesday

T Stands For Merry Christmas

If you celebrate Christmas I hope you are enjoying the holiday with family and friends. If you need to take a break from the hectic holiday or Tuesday pace for those who do not celebrate Christmas

the teapot is ready

choose a cup, this one from a friend in Iowa

or the cloisonne cup I purchased at a Christmas shop in Boston

Maybe you'd prefer a cup of cocoa from one of the jolly Santa cups from Himself's childhood decorations. Does anyone know who Leon is? =^,.^=

Maybe you'd prefer hot chocolate with little marshmallows and peppermint?

For the coffee drinkers, Erich has a happy, snowman mug. Coffee pods are available at the Keurig station in the kitchen. Help yourself.

More tea? I'll put the kettle on.

Oh, and do help yourself to some cookies.

An assortment of Italian cookies and pizzelles

Ricotta cookies flavored with anise

Crostoli drizzled with honey and festively decorated with nonpareil which was my Grandma's (Ma's mother) signature cookie for holidays and special occasions.

Oh, and don't forget to take a look at the arty cards and ornaments sent to me from arty friends. I love how they instantly decorate the studio for Christmas. Thank you all for thinking of me and for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit me.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Coptic Binding

Besides the paste paper workshop, Masscribes also had a book binding workshop in the afternoon taught by Anna. The binding was going to be a coptic binding. Technically, any binding with exposed stitches is a coptic binding. This particular binding was sewed using 4 needles using a kettle stitch which resembles a chain.

We used Arches Text wove for the pages. Torn to approximately, 6 inches by 4 inches grouped together to form 5 signatures. The workshop fee included the bookboards, linen thread, needles, paper, and Anna generously supplied an elastic with wooden bead to keep the book closed. The beads were covered in various Washi tape. She even brought extra kitty cat tape and that is what I chose for my bead. Surprise! Anna also cut cardboard to make a book cradle for each of us. The cradle makes it easier to align pages, signatures, and covers.

I have made many different styles of hand-made books. Some sewn, some not. I found the kettle stitch to be extremely challenging. As I have left-right issues, I wasn't able to complete my book at the workshop even though Anna sat with me and tried to show me how.

No worries. back at home, I found a YouTube video where the instructor, Sharon Green, used double needles to sew the binding using the kettle stitch. With some starting and stopping, I was able to stitch along with the video. After some 3 hours, I completed my book.

I posted my efforts on the guild Facebook page. Anna graciously congratulated me on finishing the project. The stitching used to attach the covers is a slight variation to what Anna taught. It's all good. 

The other part of the assignment is to fill the book. Books will be shown at the Masscribes annual Spring brunch.

Have you ever made a book with a coptic binding?

Carrots. For the...Reindeer

2nd time around from 23. December 2013

Christmas Eve 1988. The Eldest's first Christmas at six months old. We had spent a long day with my family and the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes typical in Italian households.

I had decided when I had children, I didn't want them to have the kind of Christmas I had. Christmas Eve with my grandmother and aunt and her family (Ma's side). Christmas morning was hectic with opening of gifts, a rush to Mass and then back again to Grandma's and Auntie's for Christmas Day with side trips to visit Dad's two brothers  and two sisters because they lived in the same area. Inevitably, there were tears among the cousins as tensions were high, toys got broken, and the crushing noise of screaming kids and adults.

I wanted a day where Himself and I could enjoy our home and children in peace and quiet. No running all over creation seeing relatives we saw once a week or more. Our home would be open to anyone who wanted to visit, but we were not budging out of the dollhouse.

I'm getting ready to put The Eldest down for the night. I'm also looking forward to my own long, Winter's nap. Himself has the video camera and wants to film the Christmas Eve tradition of leaving milk and cookies out for Santa. This was also not a tradition I grew up with.

I'm not sure if we didn't bother with milk and cookies because it wasn't part of our Italian heritage or because The Brother was six years my senior, the tradition was old hat. By the time I was seven years old, I had a healthy dose of a Christmas reality check so maybe we just didn't bother.

So pajamaed baby in my arms and a camera rolling in my face. Himself announces we have to put out milk and cookies for Santa. Ok. I'll be a good sport. I get a dish and put a couple of cookies on it. Go to the fridge, grab the gallon of milk, and pour a glass of milk. I'm looking forward to night, night Santa.

"Mama, you forgot something."

"What? There's milk and cookies." I couldn't quite keep the irritation out of my voice.

"You forgot the carrots."

"The carrots?"

"For the reindeer." Came the cheerful reply.

I'm tired. It's been a long day. I want to go to bed. Nevermind putting the baby to bed. I'm also not good at masking my feelings. Because I'm thinking carrots for the %#@$^&$* reindeer? You have got to be kidding. You got your milk, you got your damn cookies and, now, I have to prepare carrots for the &%%^$ reindeer?

Himself is really good at reading me.

"You don't have to cook the carrots."

With baby on hip I go to the fridge, take the bag of carrots, and plunk the bag next to the milk and cookies.

"Carrots. For the...[a pause] reindeer."

And I remembered another Christmas movie and can't believe I forgot to add it to the list

Saturday Afternoon at the Movies

This idea came from a Facebook meme:
Over 10 days, post your 10 all time favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:me favorite films. What movie has really made an impact on you or what films can you watch over and over and never tire of? Post either the movie poster, DVD cover or even a screenshot on your timeline. No need to explain.

Only I had a hard time picking out just 10 movies so my favorites over the next few hundred Saturdays 😸 in semi-alphabetical order:

Today, my favorite Christmas movies:

The Bishops's Wife (1947), Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven

A Christmas Carol (1984) George C. Scott, Edward Woodward

Elf (2003) Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart

The Fourth Wise Man (1985) Martin Sheen, Alan Arkin 

(technically an Easter movie, but it starts at Christmas)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) narrated by Boris Karloff, directed by Chuck Jones

It's a Wonderful Life (1946), James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) Jim Backus, Morey Amsterdam

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Michael Caine

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwen, (Baby) Natalie Wood

Die Hard (1988) Bruce Willis

It's A Wonderful Life is on Netflix. You might be able to rent many of these movies from YouTube.com

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week

1. Himself (and his companion, Kwai Chang Cane) earned his 5th degree black belt and the rank of Master. Besides the five,red stripes on his belt, he will also get to wear a red gi jacket. I'm so proud of him. Though I'm proud of him with or without the Master honorific.

2. Himself finished cooking dinner while I worked on Christmas projects.

3. Since we cooked a roast for dinner, Sunday was a fend for yourself day. (No cooking for me)

4. Himself had errands to run, asked if I wanted to go along and then we could go out to eat at the 99 Restaurant. No cooking? I'm in!

5. Today is the Winter Solstice and a quote from a Doctor Who Christmas special, "A Christmas Carol", sums up how I'm feeling. "On every world, wherever people are, in the deepest part of the winter, at the exact mid-point, everybody stops and turns and hugs. As if to say, “Well done. Well done, everyone! We’re halfway out of the dark.” Back on Earth we call this Christmas. Or the Winter Solstice."

How was your week?

And for those of you who didn't get Wednesday's joke:

Rudolph got his report card. Look at the grades. Notice his mark in His(tory).   Just like the song tells us:

Then how the reindeer loved him

As they shouted out with glee

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

You'll go down in history"

and he did. His grade in history went from a B+ to a D. He went down in history.

You all may groan now.

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

From Sydney, we moved up to Brisbane, their second largest city then. We stayed in the city for a good while. Long enough to go see some of the landscape. And also to a zoo. and learning what their money was worth. Even in war time, they ate well. And a steak dinner came with eggs. No French fries. Tea and not coffee. You could have it, but they did not know how to brew it. It was not what we had.

You can get an idea of what that city was like from my photos.

Whatever we did as far as entertainment went, we got more than our money's worth. I was walking by a fruit store and I thought I would buy a half dozen of peaches. These were Chinese peaches and they had a nice taste. So I asked the store keeper for half a dozen. He said, "We don't sell by the dozen." I asked what quantity do you sell? His answer: a Number 10 bag. I said O.K. Their number 10 was a little bigger than ours. It held dozens. It cost me the equivalent of our quarter. Almost 22 or 23 cents. Maybe even less. In fact on pay day, we would run to their banks and change our money for their. For example depending on what the exchange market was on that date, as it would change on somewhat a regular basis. It was like the stock market. Our country was strong and so was our money. The world over, nations- banks loved to get our dollar. We would be able to get the equivalent of a dollar plus 10 cents or more in their money.

The exchange had to be done at the bank. The law required it. It did not require the retail or business people to do so.

Our stay in Brisbane was not long. Our diet was not to our liking. All we got for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is called chow in the military, was tuna fish.

The rumor soon began to appear that we were eating crap and the officers were eating better. So, that raised the G.I.'s feathers and one morning at the usual call to stand out, the Captain was present, he was pissed. It seemed that we were given the impression that they they had better food than we did. And some men had, in the night gone into their chow quarters and taken all of their knives, forks, etc. and threw them in the woods. We were required to go get them. Every piece that was strewn. Whether we were part of the rebels or not. Further more what we ate, they also ate. It was the only food that was available, because no ships with supplies had docked for one month. He understood our feeling and there would be no inquiry to determine who did and didn't partake of the rebellion.

The one thing I could say in that I always enjoyed their bread.

Wordless Wednesday

T Stands for Paste Paper

Nan and I went to the Masscribes "Not in My House You Don't Event" where we made paste paper. My workstation set up with a piece of plexiglass, handout, mark making tools, travel mug of tea and a bottle of Stevia drops

The workshop was held at the Sportsmans Club in Norwood. Bystanders were decked out in their Christmoose finery.

The workshop was taught by Nancy Galligan. Her demonstration ready to show different techniques: bruising the paper before pasting, making marks with different tools, under coloring with pastels, pencils, etc. The paper used was Arches Text Wove.

If you don't know what paste paper is, it's basically finger painting for grown ups. A paste is made from flour or cornstarch. There are a ton of recipes for cooked or cold paste. The paste we used was made from Elmer's (formerly Ross') Art Paste.  Acrylic paint is mixed into the paste for color. The workshop was 3 hours long, and it went by took quickly. I realized after the workshop, I didn't take any process pictures

Marks made in the paste with a chopstick

Mat board scraps laid underneath the paper for texture. 

Paste can be applied to many papers even unwaxed butcher paper that's been crumpled. Watercolor papers react best with paste paper.

Back at home, I thought I'd take some process photos. The plexiglass is spritzed with water to hold the paper and the paper is dampened with a wet sponge

A blob of paste is plopped on the paper and smeared with the damp sponge across the sheet.

Most paste paper techniques have the paste portioned into small cups and applied to the paper. Nancy streamlined the process by dropping a wormlet of paint on the acrylic board and picking the color up with a sponge to apply to the paper. An even quicker method is to just drop dots of color directly onto the paper. 

Some of my classmates had commented that there was a lot of wasting of paint as you applied and it got wiped off. You might not want to use your professional grade acrylics. I just used some inexpensive craft paints. For even more vibrant results you can use pigment from Twinrocker.

I didn't rinse out my sponge from a previous sheet of paper so left some blue coloring in the paste. Since I was working with blue and purple paint, it didn't matter to me. If you want clear colors, be sure to rinse your sponge in between.

My cork didn't leave very good marks, but the chopstick did.

You can get some shimmer to your paste by adding some Sparkle Powder from Twinrocker

or some Pearl Ex Mica Powder. I like the sheen the powders give to the paper when dry.

Paste papers left to dry on a plastic sheet on the floor. I had draped a couple of sheets over a clothes drying rack. The paper dried  with ripples, but this can easily be ironed out from the backside or with a pressing cloth if the back is also pasted.

Paste paper can be used as decorative paper for book covers, decorative book end paper, wrapping paper, and it can be used as a substrate for other artwork.

A lot of people seem to make a Holy Grail out of paste paper. It's really quite simple and a lot quicker with the Elmer's Art Paste. It's also very forgiving. If you don't like what you did, let it dry and paste over with a different color. Be aware that pasting over is a bit like using glazes, you may see some of the previous color and marks come through.

The Elmer's recipe makes a gallon of paste. Nancy said left over paste will last 2 to 3 months and does not need to be refrigerated the way left over flour paste needs.

Have you made paste paper?

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Using the Scan N Cut: Snowman Boxes and Gift Tags

A month or so ago, I saw a grandparents' gift idea. Three, large-ish boxes were wrapped and stacked and made to look like snowmen. The bottom box was to contain a game/toy, the middle box was for clothing, and the head was filled with treats. I liked the idea and thought I could adapt it on a smaller scale for the girlies. I found the 3 different white size boxes at Michael's.

I adapted some projects at the Brother Canvas Workspace for the Scan n Cut machine.

The snowman hat and face came from a gift bag project and the mittens were from a Christmas card project. The cards had to be resized. Cotton balls (cotton wool) were used for the fur trim on the mittens. A ribbon was used for the hat band, and some buttons from the button box to finish off the snowman. Green for The Eldest and red (her favorite color) for the Young One.

Inside, something fun, something practical, and some treats. The three boxes fit neatly into the USPS large, flat-rate shipping box and arrived at the Eldest's mailbox in two days.

I also made a couple of gift tags adapting a gift tag tutorial from Alandacraft.com

 I am loving the Scan N Cut and really enjoying making things.

Why Mrs. Claus Was So Busy Last Sunday

The rooms were cleaned, windows washed on the inside and new curtains hung. The new, little tree which I can manage all by myself went up, too, along with Himself's early Christmas present, a new tree topper.

Santa in his sleigh flies around the Christmas star

Even the garage door got decked out with Christmas magnets

The stockings were hung though the Eldest's (the needlepoint Santa my mother made) was taken down and mailed to the Eldest with her Christmas presents and odds and ends.

Mary and Joe canoodle in their chair

We used to have an upside-down, artificial Christmas tree (half) that hung on the wall. This was to keep the breakable ornaments away from Mitty and Ink. The mini-split was installed on that wall so the tree had to come down. The breakables now hang on the Dr. Seuss-ish tree I designed and Himself constructed when I sold and personalized ornaments at craft fares. Many of these ornaments are from Vaillancourt Forlkart, a small business right here in town that makes beautiful Christmas ornaments.

Santa and me, age 5, 1960. Santa and The Brother, age 4 or 5, 1953 or '54

The new curtains. The elf was trying to help but he fell in the sofa. Either that or he went sofa diving looking for stray M & M candies.

Frosty and Santa blow molds used to have a light in them. These were displayed in the front window of Himself's childhood home. They're kinda cute and kinda creepy, and fit right in with kinda creepy Ninja Claus who dances and sings, Everyone was Kung Fu Fighting while twirling his nunchuck.

My favorite holiday activity. Decorating the crèche. Everyone is welcome.

Christmas cards trickling in are hung on a ribbon.

The Eldest sent us a card. Isn't it pretty?

Do you decorate for the season?