The Muses back in Sebastopol met this week to work on self portraits together. Not wanting to miss out I braved the chaos of my garage studio and decided to take the easy way out, using an old lesson I taught many times.
Take a picture of yourself using the Comic Strip filter on the Photo Booth app (if you have it on your computer) and print it out in Black and White. Then carve it up, glue it onto the paper and have your paint/gesso/collage way with it. Add words.
Just give me a space to paint and
I’ll find a way
SOMEWHERE
Between ceiling hooks and oil stained floor
There’s a place to thrive
In a maze of U-haul boxes
Partly opened and fully unorganized
SOMEWHERE there’s a place to paint
To cut and paste and draw and write
Because I’m hardcore. . .
Just help me find those scissors I left. . .
SOMEWHERE. . .
Confusion is often the name of the game these days, but one thing is certain. It will be many more months before life settles again into some predictable rhythm, (and the ability to find the good scissors when you need them!) So I just bought myself a new pair. The girl in the picture is OK, even though the snakes on the head sometimes get a bit out of hand!
This is why it’s good to do a self portrait at regular intervals in order to check in on yourself, or to look back at earlier ones to see if things might have changed. Here’s one from May this year when the Sh”!t was really hitting the fan prior to moving!
The look on her face before leaping the chasm. . .
susancornelis.wordpress.com 
You’ve braved the chasm and made the leap and then you landed on your feet! But yes, it does take time to settle in and made your house a home filled with familiarity and stories, warm and comfort. You are already making that happen. I’ve been at it for 8 months, and am praying that I’ll be ready to deliver this 1,200 sq. ft. home before my first year is up! I’m cheering you on!
LikeLike
I always appreciate your pep talks Lorna and was inspired yesterday after I finished the blog post to clear and organize more in the garage. step by step it goes. And I even connected with the contractor who had seemingly disappeared. . .the one who said maybe the studio conversion could be done by the end of this year! Wouldn’t that be something! And you only have four more months to reach that one year goal of being settled (so everyone says anyway)
LikeLike