Guilty Pleasures for Leigh's Book

Guilty Pleasures for Leigh's book. Got this idea from an online source. I have an old iron and I burned the white background, but in the end, maybe the burns add something???

My Escape

My Escape

Last Sunday:  90 Minute Massage, Solitude Shopping with Christmas Carols Careening in the Background, and a movie with popcorn and a fountain Coke Light.

Visual Etymology: Serenity

I was working in Leigh's book (theme: serenity) in the midst of colds, sore throats, two PD days, CWW, and life's "stuff." Thanks for the nudge, Leigh.

When I first started to think about serenity, I thought about the what it means to me, times I felt serene -- and started mapping out a plan. A window theme came up -- seeing Mom in the window waiting for me to come home when I was younger;  always seeing the candles in the window (electric, folks, no fire danger) at Christmastime. Ah, serenity.

But I'm always thinking of my classroom (blessing and curse), and the windows were a dead end visually for me. Roadblock.

I started by bridging back to my last sketchbook entry (using oil pastels for the first time with Barbara, which needed way more practice, just like I teach my students). I loved the concentric nature of the drawings in my sketchbook. Why not torture myself with doing something I'm not good at yet? Wait -- is this theme serenity?

But then I really started just thinking about the word. Where does it come from? What are words related to serenity? Scott Riley and our teams in MS RLA are hoping to nail down some cool word study plans around etymology this year, so I wondered if I looked up the Latin, could I create an image to associate with what the roots really mean?

Serenity and serenade are cognates. Who knew? And when we look at that connection, we find that when a man serenades a woman, it's usually associated with night and peacefulness. Happy Anniversary, Michael! What great timing. Still waiting for that song, though.

It's turned into a cool idea for the classroom and would help us all visualize the Latin rather than memorizing boring lists or charts. 

Here's how it turned out, with elements of the word, its cognates, and the meaning of the roots, but it's built all around what the kids would make into an unforgettable image. Why would it work? Because they'd make their own meaning of the...well, meaning.

Serendipity? No relation, unfortunately.

Serenity

This year, I decided on the theme of Serenity to really delve into what gives us peace in our lives, piggy-backing on my theme from last year: Choosing A Positive Attitude.  I thought that if I figured out where I find tranquility, my "bucket will be full" and a positive attitude will follow.  Ironically, one of the greatest places for me to find serenity is in living simply, yet this page is far from simple.  In fact, it's rather cluttered.  Looking back at the page's contents, each piece represents a path to serenity, so I am going to refrain from self-criticism, and embrace the myriad of images and what each represents.

Singapore

a truly wonderful professional and personal place to reside.

Family

Books

a way to retreat

Ticket

love of movies and cheesy TV

Friendship

Travel

including the planning and journey 

Taxis

freedom of car ownership and hitting parked cars in Ikea's parking lot...

Crab

eating out and channeling my inner cook

Scrapbooking

a way for my Type-A personality to be creative (thanks Amy!!)

What Inspires Me

I had Becky's book this week, and I used a paper shopping bag I received from the Tabitha sale as the inspiration for the tree layout.  Then, I used my family-Josh, Ethan, and Laney-as the main sources of my inspiration, while the multi-colored circles at the top of the "tree" are additional sources of  inspirations: friends~movies~cheesy TV~naps~bike riding~traveling~massages~reading~eating out~shopping for good deals~organizing.  The phrases are hard to read, but I liked how they blended together, and I also intentionally included empty space.

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers I know.

Becky feels angst about Leigh's book

I had a karmic bite in the keister this weekend. Many kind and creative and inspiring folks have come to me with their sketchbook worries. Should I finish this piece? Is this good enough? Is it okay that I did this hastily? And while I DO care and AM sympathetic, I also have been flippantly saying, "What does it matter? Post anything! Make anything! No one cares! Live it up! This is not worth worrying about!" Sixty-seven miserable hours later, I post my fourth creation for Leigh's book. Leigh's theme of, "Choose your attitude: positivity" caused me to create things that looked like Barbie had a party and puked all over the place. Bubblegum pink and smiley shiny sunshine:

A reject

That's not me. So I'd sketch again, and soon I found myself muttering the phrase that lets me know I've crossed into a bad place. I'll keep the blog PG, but it's a phrase my dad often used while working in his wood shop (usually post hammer-to-thumb). It's part of my DNA, and man...I said it a lot while working on this page on positivity. (I think my dad would find that absolutely fantastic) I come from a line of cave dwellers. We are retreaters. We are people that hide and hermit and fester. We have to force ourselves to people and to the Light. And as I worked with Leigh's theme, I realized that in order to cope with my nature towards the glum and isolated (and the swearing), I have attempted an attitude and loosely followed a code of conduct. I tried my best to document that (often violated) code...albeit with a *&%#@$*^% pen and ^%@&&#** results. And now that I read it, I'm crafting addendums...there's nothing about service, or selflessness, or kindness, or...etc. etc. etc. Sigh. It's hard to be a *&%$#%**@# work-in-progress.

Empty Space

I received the The Mystery Sketcher's book two weeks ago, and the art work was a delightful patchwork of designs that I mimicked in this embroidery piece.  Originally, I intended to complete each of the squares with different designs, a way to practice different stitches.  However, I ran out of time, so decided to focus on the four corners, giving myself permission to leave it incomplete.  But then, I decided to look at this piece differently and see the empty spaces as intentional.  I need those empty spaces in my life-unscheduled time for family, friends, and myself-to do with what I want, or to do absolutely nothing at all.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

My theme is to choose your attitude, and choose one that is positive.  This hasn't always been part of my personality; in college, one of my nicknames was "bitter". But recently, I've made a concerted effort to look at the positive aspects of choices and decisions made rather than focus on what is wrong with ...... (fill in the blank with professional directives, family drama, or body image-the list could go on).  I'm tossing judgment, especially when that judgment is directed inward, and is typically harshest.

I also love to embroider, but I wanted to expand my repertoire and add different stitches-just have fun with the pieces.  At night, my family loves to decompress with one another and watch old episodes of Survivor.  This is a great way to be creative while spending family time.  If the pieces don't come out as I envisioned, which they never do (the critical part again), I am not going to dwell on it.  It was fun and light-nothing too serious.  And that's how I want my life to imitate art!

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