I’m a creative, experienced, multi-purpose artist and art director
who can take projects start to finish in a variety of styles.

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Saturday, August 8, 2015

"Pointy"

I've come to realize that painting my floor is going to take 4 lifetimes.  I'm pretty sure nobody wants to examine each leaf as lovingly as I am, so maybe I can combine them with IF words in ways that don't pull me away from my latest obsession project.

I wanted a lengthy project so I could think.  I think a lot better when I'm painting.  I have happy thoughts and unhappy thoughts.  Seeing how it is all connected helps me move forward.

I used to play chess with Dad.  I'd move a piece and he'd sit back and study.  I wished he would just move along so I could go, but he was the type to think on things.  He read a chess book and the weekly chess column in the newspaper.  Sigh.  I'd put some Legos together until it was my turn again.  It wasn't like I expected to win because Dad didn't play down his abilities for my child status.

One day I did win.  I was completely surprised by this unexpected turn of events, and Dad was clearly surprised too.  We played again and I was thoroughly trounced, but I now understood that Dad was fallible.  The possibility of winning existed.  I don't think he wanted me to know that.  I eventually won often enough that I could see Dad's internal conflict between losing to a child and pride in his daughter.  We usually solved this by fishing.

Many years later, my brother and I played chess.  I didn't think about my preconceived ideas, but rammed straight into them when Bro crushed me.  Whoa, wait a minute!  I'm supposed to win.  I'm the elder by 9 years and I win games.  My ego was bruised, and I felt ashamed of myself for it.  A little humility can be a good thing?

Bro is like Dad and actually thinks out his moves in a painfully rational way.  Bro says he played chess a lot when he was trapped on a Navy ship.  Perhaps my slap-dash method is flawed?  I decided that Bro as 5th child needed something to excel at, so I choose to let him have this, especially since getting better at chess would require effort on my part and I don't intend on allowing myself to get trapped on a Navy ship.

Almost done with second corner
See, painting leaves on the floor is like Dumbledore's pensieve.  I pull off excess surface thoughts so other thoughts can bubble to the top for me to consider.  For instance, yesterday an Indian man told me about women's current status in India, which seems a lot like how it was when I was a child in the US.  He is concerned about his daughter's future and I see the connection of playing chess with Dad.

Chess with Dad was a lifetime ago.  It seems like such ancient history that I wonder about bothering to think about it at all, but it allows me to see how I think, what motivates me, how I can use that knowledge to improve my present.  The project isn't the floor, it's me.

Tired of being blamed
BTW, my dog smells much sweeter, but I still catch traces of skunk in my house despite washing everything twice and the dog many more times than that.  Wikipedia's map shows skunks are an American thing, so you folks in other parts of the world just don't know the horrors these cute little critters can inflict!

19 comments:

  1. Your illustration is beautiful and I like your comment - "the project isn't the floor its me". Reminds me of another quote I like - "its not the pursuit of happiness but the happiness of pursuit." The more I live by words like that, the happier I am.

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    1. Thanks Tracy! And what an excellent motto to live by!

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  2. Your illustration is beautiful and I like your comment - "the project isn't the floor its me". Reminds me of another quote I like - "its not the pursuit of happiness but the happiness of pursuit." The more I live by words like that, the happier I am.

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  3. Once it's finished, will you allow anyone to walk on the floor?

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  4. You think better while painting - yes! I think better while walking in the woods. Or a park will do. But when I'm done I don't have a beautiful floor.

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    1. I think better in the woods too, but this project is like bringing a little of the woods home for those times when there's snow outside :)

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  5. From Susan (whom Blogger won't let post on this site): Really beautiful painting, Linda...and what a project! Now that I'm getting older and wiser (mostly the hard way), I'm beginning to suspect that the "project" has *always* been me, in everything I do and have done. Sigh...it's a big project.

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    1. I'm a big project too. That's why I needed to paint a big painting!

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  6. The floor is looking terrific Linda......better keep the skunk away from it! x

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  7. The floor is looking terrific Linda......better keep the skunk away from it! x

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  8. Thanks Jane! I'm feeling a little hopeful that my puppy has learned her lesson for now :)

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  9. I am sure you floor is going to be wonderful. If you see each leaf with a detail eye, what does it count if hardly anyone else does? I like your way of looking at the process - as your pensieve. At least it has made you realize that chess takes a lot of practice. Just like painting, no?

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    1. Since this opus is for me, I don't think it matters at all, though it's nice to get patted on the head once in a while :)

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  10. I didn't know other places don't have skunks. Lucky us. The floor is really coming along great.

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    1. Thanks! I'd be willing to send my skunk to another country so others can share in the life-affirming experience!

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  11. What a great thing to be able to have time (and the ability) to think, whether about events that happened many years ago or are happening currently. Keep those thoughts percolating, for your art's sake and vice versa!

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