This month's painting time was absorbed by making costumes for my kids, grieving the loss of 3 terrific people I know who died too young, and clearing out the garden for the future. The last act has been therapuedic, symbolic, and practical.
Costumes: Son Michael has been making cartoons of dogs and cats wearing Vatican-style vestments for some time now. He decided he'd like to dress as a Vatican Cardinal for Halloween. Guess what? There's not a big demand among kids these days to dress as Catholic (or any) clergymember! So I will count making his costume, including the chinese-food-take-out-box looking hat, called a biretta, as a creative endeavor. (Did I mention I had to do all this with no pattern?)
Grief: it has been a long time since death has felt as close as it has this month. It is always painful to loose someone you are fond of. It is especially heavy when that person is a bright light to others, with the potential of many more years walking the planet with us. It just cannot be made sense of, even with my faith in a loving creator and the promise of an eternal life beyond this one.
Rhoda, Andrea, Rudy: you are sorely missed. See you on the other side!
Journalling: If you keep a sketchbook, journal, personal notebook, or have thought you might like to, then please check out this video of Austin Kleon at Book People: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pktz3rPM2QI
It's a creat crash course (or refresher) on many styles of journalling, and Austin includes examples from journals of many well-known artists and thinkers over time.
Thank you for reading this and Happy All Hallows Eve
