Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: advent calendar, art, artist, cactus, drawing, still life
Okay. I have gotten much more into the holiday spirit. I think that having a four-year old makes it so. Just to add to his frenzied excitement about both his upcoming birthday AND Christmas…I bought an advent calendar.
I know. All my architect friends will fall off their chairs in horror. Look at that pitched roof! Whatever. I always loved advent calendars as a kid. This is even better because I can put stuff in it! My son loves it. However, he keeps asking me about what’s behind the big door. I am now feeling that the silly little christmas ornaments that are behind that door will be a big disappointment. Hmmm. What to do.
I did alter this thing a bit…notice the colors within the boxes, and the colors on the back of the doors. Yes, I added those. Laundry is not being done…chores not completed, yet I persist in “improving” this thing. A true sign of neurosis. Actually, the true sign of neurosis is this:
These are some of the ornaments that I had in the advent calendar. My son is hanging them up on this garland (with my assistance, of course). The neurosis is that I DESPERATELY want to separate those two ornaments from being on the same link. See the two together in the middle? It is taking all of my willpower not to change the way that my son has hung it. This is a real period of growth…not leaping in to “fix” what he does. Leave it be.
Our Christmas cactus is looking good this year!
Try to ignore the filthy window. This lovely plant on the left was a gift from my husband’s aunt and uncle when they came by to visit my newborn son. So, I associate it with his birth. I am relieved that it is still alive, as I am terrible with plants. I either over-water them, or leave them to shrivel and die…not intentionally, of course. I hope that this plant will be around next year…
Not as much art done this week. Too much holiday stuff to do. It’s kind of non stop. Part of me will be glad when the holiday craziness is over…the other part will be horrified that we will be in the bleak winter.
See how dark this winter light is? I just went outside to take this photo, and this is how it turned out. Yikes. Notice the phone message scrawled in the upper right. All famous artists do stuff like that. It makes it more “authentic”. This is what the scanner did to that picture:
Really not good. Shoddy equipment. The scanner basically washed out the whole thing and made it all look more “scratchy”. Sigh. Maybe winter photography is beyond me.
That’s all for now…I hope to have something even MORE brilliant to post next week… let’s hope that I’ve done something more than drawing a digger for my son…
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slightly wonky 
Wow, I loved reading this post! In fact I loved it so much I read it twice. It was quirky (OK, slightly wonky), personal and just plain delightful. It gave us a glimpse of you process, your human side and your life.
I would TOTALLY fix those ornaments! Screw it, it’s your house too, haven’t you been dealing with enough things out of place?! I also love the advent calendar. I’m ga-ga for advent calendars. Did you know they make Lego ones? This year we have a Playmobil one (but you probably saw that when you were here. I really like the idea of filling your own, but the pressure of thinking “inside the box” might split me in two. Maybe you can sketch an advent calendar?
Didn’t you mean in the Bleak Mid Winter? You know, just like the hymn we always sang at Westover?
I love your pear getting drilled…I sort of feel that way about the Twelve Days of Christmas: And a partridge in a pear (getting drilled) tree!
Comment by growingmuses December 9, 2011 @ 8:39 pmI’m NOT touching those ornaments. He’s actually now put two ornaments together TWICE. I have to grit my teeth when I walk by…which makes no sense as the house is a mess, and I’m struggling with the arrangement of those ornaments? A clear sign of neurosis…
Comment by slightlywonky December 10, 2011 @ 11:04 pm