Friday, March 20, 2009

Finally.


I started to write a post yesterday and got about halfway done and then I decided that I wasn't cheerful enough and that this was reflected in my writing and that the whole thing was just too ponderous and serious, which I did not like at all, so I deleted it and shut off the computer and watched the 8 o'clock news instead.

While I was writing that post, I was still influenced by the 6 o'clock news and I was feeling righteously indignant, which happens to me a lot when I watch the news and I am in a vulnerable mood. The true socialist in me awakens and sees all the injustice that's committed in the world and I want to rise up against it and climb the barricades.

But never mind that now, let me not get into that frame of mind again, because today I've had a perfectly lovely day and I want to end it in the same way as it started, namely very quietly and serenely without the least amount of stress and irritation.

I seem to have been cushioned today from the general stress of life and it was very pleasant. It started of well at creative therapy, where I started a new abstract sculpture and I am enjoying the process so much, that I forget everything around me and only think about each individual movement that I make with each tool and see how the shape changes when I add or subtract the clay. I am in another world and now I wish I had gone to art school, because I think I might have enjoyed it very much.

I see now that I like making abstract objects and the shapes you make when recreating it. It all makes sense in a convoluted way. I wish to be good enough to create something of my own, but I think I need to copy some more works first and get the hang of it. You have to try and understand why the shapes are where they are, and how they move into other slopes and curves and circles. There has to me a method to it that makes sense somehow and create harmony without creating the obvious.

Right now I like working with clay better than I like making collages, but maybe it's a passing phase, or maybe I will like both equally well again after a while. Clay is so malleable and three dimensional and you can push and pull it around to get it into the right shape and cut it and scrape it and then add to it and build it up again endlessly. You can obliterate your mistakes.

So, you see, I spent a very nice morning getting clay dust all over myself and I didn't want the morning to end, but alas, it had to and I had to go home and walk the Überhund and pay some bills and have a cup of coffee and make some cigarettes. Then I got on my bicycle with the very well pumped tires and rode it downtown to the Our Dear Lady Square and found a table in the sunshine and waited for my friend Von while I had a cappuccino.

These Friday afternoons downtown are starting to become a habit. We talk up a storm while she drinks tea and I drink my cappuccinos and enjoy the sunshine. No subject is taboo and we are getting to know each other very well. Then we walk around downtown and dive into shops and look at all the things we want to buy but end up not buying, because it would cost us a fortune. We spritz expensive perfume on in the warehouse and pretend we're rich. She's a great broad, I enjoy her company very much.

Needless to say, when I got home, the Überhund was very happy, because he had been alone most of the day. He needed lost of petting and a treat. The cats were asleep in various places in the apartment and didn't give a hoot. They act like they don't care and don't let you know that they are indignant that you've been gone, but in the meantime they miss you, they just don't let on.

Von is a good motivator to get me to eat healthier, because she eats very healthy herself and we do discuss food and fitting into your clothes. So she's good for me to hang around with. I'll start paying better attention to what I eat just from our discussions and shop smarter when I go to the supermarket. I have a tendency to buy 'make me feel good' food and that has to stop. I also eat too much sugar, like in my porridge for instance. No wonder I'm gaining weight.

Oh yes. I bought a frame for the print that I got from Tessa and it now stands on the bookcase looking very nice. I also bought a birthday card for my grandson, whose birthday is coming up in April. I do have to send that on time. There's a mini envelope inside for something extra. I thought that was perfect.

It's been a thoroughly good day and it's been awhile since I've had one as nice as this. It must be the things I do and the company I'm keeping. I'm sure it is.

Now I have to go and read your blogs, so as not to get completely behind. Tomorrow is Saturday and oh, I've decided to paint my livingroom walls, but I may need some help with them. I'll talk to the Exfactor.

Have a super evening. Talk to you soon.

Ciao...

8 comments:

Maggie May said...

Paint the living room walls! Wow! What colour? Can you take before and after pictures?

Must go get the granddaughters out of the bath! I have a full house tonight as not only will son & girls stay overnight but my daughter & grandsons are coming for the weekend too! Will be hectic but lovely!

Glad you had a lovely day today Irene & I hope tomorrow will be another of them. X

aims said...

I laughed that you called your friend a 'great broad'. How super! That's a real complement I think!

Painting - must be the season - I have cans of paint sitting around my living room waiting for me to open them. Not for painting the walls but for the baseboards. So lots of bending over - ugh! and groan!

Wisewebwoman said...

I think being with others and having interaction is so essential to a well balanced life. I'm glad you had such a good day, Irene!!
Tell us what colours the walls will be!!
XO
WWW

Irene said...

Maggie, you're going to have a full house. I hope you enjoy yourself very much with all of your grandchildren.

Aims, Painting the baseboards is my least favorite job, but it must be done, Argh! You have all my sympathies.

Mary, I think I will paint them sand colored, that way the smoke stains don't show up. You're right about the balanced life.

among found objects said...

I love to see that you are bitten by the creative bug. It makes the way we see the world in such a much pleasurable way. Dont you think?
Grandma? How is that possible?
kisses

Irene said...

Found objects, I know, I can't believe I'm a grandma myself. I'm in total denial about this.

Seeing the world through 'artist's' eyes makes everything look different. You realize how much detail there is in everything around you.

Tessa said...

How EXCITING that you are sculpting, Irene!I know exactly what you mean when you say you just forget everything around you as you become more and more absorbed in the creative process - a bomb could drop while I'm painting and I'm sure I wouldn't hear it! I do hope you'll post a picture of your sculpture when it's finished for us all to admire.

Sounds like you and Von have tremendous fun together - I can picture you two sitting in a pretty square, chatting animatedly to one another, nodding and laughing, sipping your respective drinks. I think I should paint a picture of the image!

I thrilled to hear you found a frame for the lady Ethiopia!

Irene said...

Tessa, yes, you should see the dedication with which I sculpt, even if the outcome is still very amateurish, but I'm learning.

You should paint a scene of two chatting women by a table in the outdoors on a square in the city. It would be wonderful.

I'll show the outcomes of all my work on the blog, I promise.

The Ethiopian lady looks beautiful in her frame. I am very fond of her.