My November Ta Da List

Wow. November came and went and I completely forgot my Ta Da List. This month has been busy with just about everything but art. I've discovered over the past couple of months that I'm doing a lot of reading and less of other things. While reading fills my imagination and is wonderful creative entertainment, it is also-- for me-- a form of avoidance. It fills my head with other people's ideas so that I can avoid making decisions... an making art... and making decisions about my art. I've been avoiding my studio lately, because I am feeling a certain loss of direction, or more accurately, I am heading in too many directions, and I'm still not sure on what I'd like to focus. I want to be able to combine my painting and mixed media with digital collage, but haven't quite worked it out in my head yet. I also want to continue with some writing projects which incorporate my art.
That said, these are the things I did accomplish on the creative front this month, beginning with the books I read, of course!...
The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble
Ada Blackjack... A story of survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
Dave Barry is from Mars & Venus, by Dave Barry
Sula by Toni Morrison
I've discovered that I like to mix up heavy, emotional books with some light reading. I get very "into" the books I read, and they affect my moods, so Dave Barry was the perfect antidote to the rest of my picks.

When I wasn't reading, or raking leaves,
I initiated an altered art challenge, and I have lots of ideas for mine, but I have not yet done much, because I keep changing my mind!

I had an artist's date with my friend Debbie, but it had been so long since we've gotten together that we spent most of the day catching up and eating, with just a brief sojourn to her studio. We did get together again for a couple of hours later in the month, and I helped her to design and post a blog header, as well as to familiarize her with "new" blogger. (She is quite brilliant, and surpassed my technical expertise within minutes).

I designed a freelance brochure for my husband's company, which was a self-mailer with a CD pocket. I actually love taking on a few freelance jobs during the year because they're usually quite different from the materials I design in my "real" job; oh, and because I get paid too!