A Good Use of Time

It is now official, life is a vaccumn! Just when you think that you have it all under control and you are a TIME MANAGER, rather than just a TIME TRAVELER, reality hits!

I'm a Girl Scout Leader, and have been for quite a few years. This is a GOOD use of time! Each year my girls hold a garage sale at my house to raise funds for activities and community service projects. This is also a GOOD use of time!

The mess pictured above is I'm fairly certain NOT an example good use of time or maybe just organizational skills!

This is my garage, obviously there is no car here, obviously this is an accident waiting to happen. This is all the donations that have come from our generous community for the garage sale.

Since my viewpoint in life is that "Life is Art"...what can I make of this?

If I look beyond the piles, and the mess I see 4 young teenagers who love being Girl Scouts spending time together.

I see them laughing and giggling and not being plagued by world woes.

I see silliness and loving.

I see hard work and no bickering or being cruel or cattie. I see a moment in time that will never be recaptured because life will soon be knocking on their doors in the form of boyfriends, college and big life decisions.

I see a VERY GOOD use of my time!

Art the Final Frontier

"Moon Sketch", copyright KKM,2010

I have been an artist for a very long time. From time to time I find myself being pulled into this pondering about what makes "good" art? There seems to be a "belief" out-there that in order for art to be "good" it must be lofty, complex and communicate on a level that is beyond...something?

Humm...not so much for me.

Quite the opposite in fact.

If I can "get out of my own way", that is, eliminate all the complexity and external and internal pressure to produce then my work happens easily and communicates freely.

Is it "good" art?

Doesn't matter really.

Does it communicate?

If so-I'm there.

Art Dilemma

When I get caught up in all of life's demands and do not take time to physically create art a strange phenomenon occurs for me. I think about a piece of art and create it mentally-this is great, right?

Not all the time. The problem is that once I go through the mental process the work is done for me. My motivation to "recreate" it in the physical world is gone. The work is complete!

Here is a drawing called "Art or Artist" from 1984 (oh my) featuring a character I created at the time. These characters were named "The Neurotics", my guess is that this is not politically correct these days.

Drawing: "Art or Artist" copyright KKM (1984/2010)

You can tell quite a lot about a person...

You can tell quite a lot about a person by the books she is reading or has hopes to read or at least has stacked nearby. As an introduction to Life as Art, here is my current (abbreviated) stack.

From the Top:

1. Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod. Far and away one of the more delightful books I have read on creativity-he tells it like it is.

2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover. Learn to grow your own food and buy only local. A good look at the industrial food pipeline.

3. Egyptian Language: Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge. As a lover of symbols and marks I can't resist a good read in hieroglyphics.

4.The Art of Japanese Calligraphy by Yujiro Nakata. Having recently revived my interest in pen and ink drawing I am inspired by this work.

5. The Truth About Organic Gardening, Benefits, Drawbacks and the Bottom line by Jeff Gillman. Mixed reviews on this as he rides the line between organic and chemicals. There's not a line for me-I'm all about organic.

6. The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs. As a huge fan of unimaginable, over the top projects, dictionaries and reference books, I couldn't pass up this book where the author reads the Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z and lives to tell the story.

7. Gardening with Heirloom Seeds by Lynn Coulter. I'll read anything that features "Rat's tail Radishes" and"Zipper Cream Southern Peas" with a dash of "Little Spooky Eggplants".

8.Creative Paint Workshop by Ann Baldwin. Even though our artistic styles are different I love her use of color and texture and innovative techniques with paint. She also has the same name as my mom's best friend-a real qualifier in my book.