More Playing with Glass

Thought I would share with you another stained glass repair that I have been working on for ……..probably about six months or more now. It was/is a big job. It consists of two panels, each one about three feet wide by two feet tall. The panels are mirror patterns, meant to hang one above the other creating a much larger pattern when combined.

The panels were in pretty bad shape, having been mangled quite a bit. You see this in old salvaged stained glass and let’s say they needed some tender, loving care.

Hindsight

Just the other day I was telling a friend how I find it interesting that most of my major ailment and many of my minor ones throughout my life have manifested on the left side of my body. Now that may not seem odd to most people but most of my life I have been a frustrated creative.

If you adhere to the right brain/left brain theory of functioning you could theorize that it is my creative right brain speaking to me in the only way it knows how.

As a child one of my favorite pastimes was playing make believe. Conjuring up fantasy worlds where the Beatles just happened to be the boyfriends of myself and my friends. I also have vivid memories of  staging dance routines in my garage where the world would simply fall away and I would be in front of an audience dancing my heart out.

In high school, I used to write poetry and I also made attempts at drawing and painting. Unfortunately, I never took any classes so I never learned to experiment and stretch as an artist so those fledgling talents never evolved.

A while back I was looking through my high school yearbook and was saddened to find pictures of drama and art club members. I don’t think I was even aware that those types of classes were offered at my high school. How clueless was I? Although, I don’t know if I would have taken those kinds of classes even if I had known they were available. I was not a fan of high school.

Even as an adult I have tried my hand at all kinds of crafts and creative pursuits, but I’ve never fully committed because something has always held me back. Although I am a firm believer in ‘you are never too old to learn something new’, I can’t help but wonder what direction my life might have gone in had I taken advantage of some of those creative classes when I was young.

 

Playing With Glass

I don’t think that I have mentioned it yet in this blog but I am a stained glass artist. It is a medium that grabbed me by the throat and would not let go. I had always marveled at the beauty of stained glass windows, the light streaming through the translucent colored panes or the prism affect of finely beveled designs. Rainbow makers created by the hands of humans.

I fell in love with the craft of making stained glass windows in 2004 when I took my first stained glass class. I was immediately hooked. Glass as an artistic medium had everything that intrigued me as a creative, color, physical presence, hands-on techniques, and uniqueness. 

Every Journey Takes Courage

Two weeks ago I started a series on The Three Cs of Feeling Empowered. I planned to write about confidence first because I feel that confidence is so fundamental to empowerment but it occurred to me that before you can develop the confidence to take charge you first must overcome your fear. Fear? Fear of what, you might ask.

• Disappointing people
• Of what others might think
• Failing
• That you are not worthy
• Abandonment
• Being out of your comfort zone
• Physical threats

Need I go on?

5 Years of In Print

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the I Am In Print 5 Year Celebration. In Print is a premiere writer’s organization in the stateline area along the Illinois/Wisconsin border. We meet most month’s in Cherry Valley, a small community tucked around the I90, bypass 20, I39 interchange between Rockford and Belvidere.

Staying Positive by Stopping The But

Millions of people in the world are inflicted with what I’m calling the ‘But’ problem. You know them too, perhaps you even ARE one.

“Isn’t it a beautiful sunny day today?”

“It is, buuuuuuut…….. it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.”

“You must be so excited about starting your new job!”

“I am, buuuuuuut……..I won’t know anyone, and the commute is long.”

“Your kids are so adorable, and well behaved.”

“Thanks, buuuuuut……….you should see them when they’re cranky, they’re little monsters.”

Gaining a Different Perspective

I have the Devo song, “Whip It” stuck in my head right now but I would change one word; “When a problem comes along, you must flip it. When something’s going wrong, you must flip it.”

A while back I wrote Running at 50+. I had become very discouraged about a running program that I had started. Although I had been running my Couch to 5K (C25K) intervals faithfully for almost two months, I didn’t feel that I was getting any stronger. In fact, it seemed that I was going backwards (figuratively, not literally; that would have caused more problems than being winded). After some research, I discovered that I my running pace was too fast for my fitness level.

I am happy to share that the solution, slowing down my running pace, worked!

Doubt

I had another topic in mind for this week’s blog post but then I ran across a youtube video of Mary J. Blige and Taylor Swift singing Mary’s song Doubt  and it struck a nerve. 

I just recently had a rather momentous birthday and it shook me a bit. While I have accomplished much and I have loads of things to be grateful for, I’m not where I was hoping to be at this stage of my life. I have been fighting doubt all of my life and I think it’s finally time to give up the fight.

Wait? What? You think I’m going to….Really? That’s what….?

Farewell Major Tom

News broke yesterday of the death of cultural icon David Bowie – musician, actor, artist. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. Sad of course, especially for his family and friends. I have to admit, though, that I was never a huge fan of his however, there are definitely some songs that bring back memories of my youth. And naturally I remember his wonderfully anti-conventional stage presence. If my parents thought the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were going to cause the youth of the world to go to hell, imagine what they thought of David Bowie!

Each time we lose a legendary artist like Bowie, I feel that much closer to the loss of an era, my era. Maybe it’s just because of my age that I’ve started to recognize more of the celebrated people passing these days. Kind of makes you stop and think, doesn’t it.

Here Musey, Musey, Musey.

What do you do when you are stumped creatively? I saw a wonderful video on TED.com the other day. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love spoke about the elusiveness of creativity and it got me thinking about my own dance with my muse. As creatives, whether our medium is paint, music, a camera, glass, ceramics, or words, we all have moments of doubt and frustration.