The Long Weekend

I slept a lot.  🙂
I listened to “Fragile”, by Lisa Unger, practically at one sitting–if lying in bed with my iPod going can be accurately described as a “sitting.”   This is a very good suspense novel, obviously, and I do recommend it.
For me, free time always includes art, so there was some of that, too.  I recently fell in love with an art supply I’d never realized was available (I’m very fickle in this area)–Liquitex Paint Pens, and it looks as though this affair may last a while.  🙂  After seeing them in one of my Somerset magazines, I clicked over to Dick Blick and placed an order.  They arrived very quickly and I have been playing with them–happily–ever since.  I love them because the colors are rich and vivid, and because, since they’re pens, they’re easier to control (for me) than brushes.  I made numerous ATCs (artist trading cards)–one is a sort of paper doll, with an ATC for the body.  I painted on a red dress and glued on a set of arms, then affixed a head and legs with brads, so they can swivel behind the card.  Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.  🙂  I also tried a technique I’d read about on a website, which I call “closed-eyes drawing”–you do exactly that, close your eyes and draw something–in my case, it was faces.  The result is abstract, of course, very Picasso-esque.  The idea is to work with the resulting sketch, open-eyed, embellishing, adding color and detail, whatever.  I did some interesting portraits this way–one of them looked a lot like Elvis :)–and had a lot of fun with the process along the way.  This exercise, like contour drawing*, is wonderfully freeing and helps me to loosen up–a gift, since I tend to be way too earnest about ‘getting it right’.  Aka, trying too hard.
Now, after reading your comments about the crayon episode, I have some new stuff to try.  Thank you for that, and for many other things–like your very kind words about the “Big Sky” books.  They are near and dear to my heart, these books. 
 Yesterday, as a grand finale to the long weekend, Wendy and Jeremy came over, with my beloved grand-dog, Margie, the cutest Golden Retriever ever.  While Jeremy colored and cut my hair (I was at the whip-and-chair stage again, because this, like dental work, is something I always procrastinate over, given my ADD-drivern aversion to sitting still), Wendy whipped up a batch of seafood etouffe, a mutual favorite, along with little cornbread pancakes.  This is a dish we discovered years ago, at the wonderful New Orleans Cafe, in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, and the Wendy/Jeremy version is just as delicious.
That about sums up my weekend–I feel fabulous today, rested up and ready to write more of “The Marriage Pact”.  I’ll be having another acupuncture treatment tomorrow, as well–always does me a lot of good.
This week’s contest is underway–just comment.  As usual, two winners will be notified on Thursday, and their names announced here on the blog on Friday.  If you don’t win, no worries–there’s always next week.
Be strong, be brave, and be kind–especially to yourselves.
 
* contour drawing is the technique of drawing an object or objects while looking only at the model and not at the paper, all without lifting the marker or pen from the paper.  It’s a GREAT way to learn to let go and create.  Try it!