I started!

So I guilted myself into starting the Sketchbook Project finally. I hate when I feel left behind so I set about doing my cover last night. Of course I chose the theme "Down Your Street" because I LOVE to do architectural drawings and thought I would do a global tour through my eyes. So here is the front cover which I completed last night..just 40 more pages to go! HAHAHAHAH

Sketchbook Project 2010

I really AM stressing out. I've had my sketchbook for over a month now. It sits there in my studio..mocking me. Blank and cold and cream colored. I tortured it a bit the other day - tore a page out of it - and certain I heard it wince. That's what it gets for being blank, uninspiring and uppity. And it has friends in high place too. Happy, gleeful, excited artists who are filling up the pages while mine sit empty and impatient. Oh yes, some of them have even taken their journals apart to reconfigure into something unusual and are now restitching them back together. And frankly..I want to SCREAM! I'm seeing how far behind I am and how uninspired..it's awful!

I went out on a limb and joined in the project and both life and my ADOLSS have gotten the best of me. I can't watch this train leave the station without me! I have to finish this..I have to leave my mark behind. This sketchbook is my scream to the world, "Hey! I'm out here you know!" and if I miss out - well it will have been self-sabotage and that damn sketchbook knows it. I want to be a title in the Brooklyn Art Library..I want to be a book that becomes old and tattered that someday someone flips through only to become curious as to who I was and what I did and where I lived. It's a small piece of immortality (even if only for a time) at a time in my life when I'm not even sure that I'll be missed once I exit the planet.

And then I recalled a poem by Edgar Allen Poe (one of my favorites really) of a raven that mocked him much like my sketchbook. And I thought for a moment that I could glean some insight until I recalled the whole story and remembered that the narrator in the poem actually dies from fright. *sigh* My muse better show up QUICK because there's no way in hell I'm going to die from the fright of a sketchbook.

Object Dar't happenings..

And so we all know that when school is back in session, life begins to become hectic gearing up for the frenzy that happens with the upcoming holidays. It's no exception for me. This Friday, I will be attending a benefit for the Grafton Food Bank where my artwork and furniture (www.trulyscrumptiouss.com) will be on display and for sale. Here is the invitation:

You are invited to

The 8^th Annual

Women’s Night Out: Stress-Free Shopping

Friday Night

October 22, 2010

7:00 – 10:00 PM

Grafton Municipal Center

30 Providence Road

Grafton, MA 01519

Do a little shopping and support the Grafton Food Bank!

All raffle proceeds go to the food bank!

Free Admission ~ Door Prizes ~ Raffles

*** New this year: ***

Girl Scout Troop 30260 will be on hand to collect any

canned food donations to the food bank at the door!

In addition, I have to announce some of my new pieces. I'm excited about several of them, (and I admit...not so excited about others) but I'm grateful for the experience and feel satisfied in building a body of work. I've been attempting to depict my town and the surrounding areas as seen through my eyes. Here's a glimpse:

Where my heart is..

So today, as fall officially announced itself (by requiring HEAT in the house), I felt the urge to come closer to home. Boston is and will always be a fascination for me. I have amazing memories as a kid growing up with regularly scheduled visits to Boston. It's changed a lot in 30 years with many historic buildings having been demolished (to my chagrin) but still retains many of the elements that were magical to me as a child. The King's Chapel gives me goosebumps and the old City Hall puts a fire in my belly. Walking the Old Granary Burying Ground  where the likes of Paul Revere and John Hancock stir the senses and bring the mind backward to what you stand for as an American. But my favorite will forever and always be Boston Common. The beautiful gardens, statues, floral scapes and my first love; the bridge. Which was the subject of my painting this time. I didn't do it justice but it's my interpretation. 

Boston Common Bridge