Temperate Tuesday

Here is part of the listing for 'temperate' in the thesaurus: self-restrained, restrained, moderate, self-controlled, disciplined; abstemious, self-denying, austere, ascetic; teetotal, abstinent.

The meaning I am referring to is "self-controlled, disciplined".

As I find myself looking into the maw of the new year, I find that I am drawn to make some resolutions and being more disciplined is one of mine. I find that I am not structured enough in my day. Don't get me wrong, I don't want a schedule, but I don't want to waste so much time either. Some days I find it is getting dark (granted that is pretty early in the day) and I haven't accomplished much at all.

For example, I intended to do a small watercolor yesterday and I did not. I didn't totally waste the day, but I didn't get to the watercolor. Granted I am not feeling up to par, but I am afraid that is not a really good excuse. I just have a head cold and am a little achy and unsteady. It seems like the unsteady part might actually contribute to a better chance to make a really loose painting (she said with a smile).

I did make a shopping list, clean the refrigerator, go to Meijer and get the groceries, put the groceries away, make pea soup, work a few crossword puzzles, make dinner and do dishes, but that doesn't seem like a great deal to get done in a whole day. Oh, and I sketched a bird.

I have a few things that I would like to accomplish in 2011 and I like making lists, so here goes:

- set aside time for art each day
- participate in the sketchbook challenge
- go to a life drawing session
- learn to do digital art (take the time to really learn Art Rage)

And more in general:

- listen more
- spend more time with family and friends
- get more sleep
- keep a cleaner house
- cook more
- budget my time and my money better

I am sure I am forgetting something very important, but these will do for a start. What about you? Do you make resolutions? I don't generally make New Year's resolutions because I am forever nagging myself to change, but I thought it might be a good idea to actually write them down.

Oh, here is the little sketch I did get done yesterday.

This is supposed to be a yellow warbler. I think I should have drawn his beak open in song.

I am off to have a healthy breakfast and then walk the treadmill and then am going to set aside a bit of time to do nothing but art. I also need to get another journal made. I think I will make one for the Sketchbook Challenge. It will be fun to actually write in one of my own.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to "see" you again tomorrow.

xoxo

Resolutions and Virtual House Cleaning

Huh! I should probably be doing real house cleaning - but what fun is that?!

I am trying to streamline my computer time to allow myself more time to do all the creative things I want to do. For example:

Some time ago, I bought the supplies to do encaustic painting and tried it a couple of times on consecutive days and then put it away - I want more time to play with it.

A long time ago, I borrowed a light table from my dear friend, Nancy, and have yet to take it out of the box. At the same time she let me use some really cool buttons and metal things with wonderful designs on them to use to play with clay and foam stamp making ideas. They are still in the box, too.

I have a large basket filled with interesting, mostly flat, pieces of wood that I am intending to paint or otherwise alter. They just sit neglected in the basket.

I have supplies to make cards, a Wizard, a drafting table and books on calligraphy (and of course, pens), I have texture in jars to play with, I have a few "steampunk" gadgets to play with, I have a bazillion dominoes, both classic and bamboo to play with, the list goes on and on.

Maybe that is the way we all are, but I was absolutely overwhelmed, so last night (or was it early this morning) I did some virtual house cleaning. I began with my subscriptions to Yahoo! groups. I weaned myself to 5 smaller groups (I think I stayed in one large one) so that I would actually get more out of them. Later today I am planning to go through my blog subscriptions (I subscribe in Google Reader and have about 200 subscriptions). Some of them don't post any more. Some of them have changed, some of them are about things I am no longer interested in. Some of them are not what I thought they were when I subscribed. This is going to take some time and then I have to be more selective with the mouse on the "subscribe" button.

Meanwhile, I am still eating wisely and trying to get this cough under control. Here is yesterday's lunch:

Yes, I was eating it at the computer!

I saw a really cool tree with cross stitched pics in it and it reminded me of one of my favorite ones that I made about 25 years ago that we still parade out every Christmas and hang with the dated ornaments along the dining room wall. It is a little blurry, but I think you can see it okay.

That is Tigger hanging down at the top.

You know it is hard for me to be at the computer very long without opening Photoshop and playing. I got into making patterns again, but decided to try making them by aligning the edges instead of using the Offset Filter. It is more difficult than I thought.

Here is what I have so far:

 

 

 

Well, I stayed up too late last night and just got up about an hour ago.  The hubster is waiting for me to get ready to head into town with him to pick up the ham and shrimp and other supplies for Christmas dinner and to do any last minute gift purchases.

Gotta go; hope to see you again tomorrow!

xoxo