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Spring Sketching
I took my watercolors to the park today and although the output isn’t anything special, it was glorious to be out in the fresh air focussing my attention on the environment for a few minutes. I am reminded how much I enjoy this form of meditation. More drawing…
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Winter Hoop Dance
I joined a group on Facebook called The Hooping Game. Players are assigned songs, then have 48 hours to make a hoopdance video and post it back to the group. I got my song yesterday morning and braved the almost freezing temperatures at Yoyogi park to make my video. You may notice the orange-hatted preschoolers…
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Mandala Belly
Heather invited me to paint a mandala on her pregnant belly. She’s a mandala artist and I’m not, so it was a little bit stressful. I hoped I’d do OK. It turned out to be very fun and pretty thanks to the gorgeous array of body paints that Tracey gave me for my birthday. The…
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In A Band
After 20 months of study, practice, and carrying my ukulele with me on trips around the world, I’ve joined a band. Maybe it’s no surprise that the band is me and Tod. Ukulele and melodica with me doing some singing. I am so happy to make “a joyful noise” with Tod. A shared creative pursuit is…
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Summertime
You are expecting a rant about summer, aren’t you? You know it’s not my favorite season. But I am talking about Summertime by George Gershwin from Porgy and Bess. Tod & I are learning to play it in our music lessons. Our lessons with Huw that started out as ukulele instruction for me and piano…
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Stagaki, the Status Update Postcard Project
Though I limited my Facebook use a few days ago, I still find myself wanting to update my status when I am doing something vaguely noteworthy or see beauty in the world. I’ve been trained to share little moments of my day but I decided not to post personal status updates and I want to…
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Nengajo time
Pretty colors, inappropriate tool, and lots of imperfection. My kind of art! This afternoon I am indulging in one of my favorite holiday preparations, creating our holiday cards. This year’s nengajo project is especially delightful because I am returning to what I consider my artistic roots – printmaking. I love creating multiples. The multistep process of creating a…
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I love sharpies
I prettied up my “indoor shoes” with flowery mandala designs in coloured marker. There’s something about indelible ink in a fat nib that makes me happy. Sharpies are not serious and it’s not Art if you’re drawing on your clothes, either. So if you make a mistake or it isn’t perfect, that is ok. Other mediums do…
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Anxieties
Tod’s away and I seem to be alternating between crazy thoughts and productive actions. Today I combined the two to create some sketches of the crazy thoughts, personified. This ratty goblin plagues me at night if I leave the closet open. He bites, gives me nightmares, and settles bad fashion sense on me while I…
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Making Music, part 2
Rob checks levels as Jesse strums my ukulele and Swinky vocalises in my bedroom. Months have elapsed in the quest to make a song for the World Hoop Day Dance project. Shortly after writing the previous post in mid-March, I gave up on the lyrics and turned to the music. Huw and I created…
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