Too Much of a Good Thing

I've been hanging out in one of those overloaded-with-possibilities head spaces ~ so much I could do, so much I want to do, hardly know where to put my foot next...  The mud will undoubtedly clear in the next day or so, this is just part of my creative cycle.

I've had to let my body be my guide lately ~ after three days of mostly only hand stitching last week, my back bothered me for another few days.  So I haven't gone any farther on that project.

Then I'll cut and tear paper for the better part of a day, and my hands will ache for a day or two.  And so it goes.

Anyway, my plan is to complete Fiberactions' January 15 challenge project in the next day or two if I can, before "leaving" for Venice this Saturday with Mary Ann Moss.  There's still room in the class if you've got a hankering to spend the holidays in Venice creating a travel journal right along with Mary Ann while she's plying the canals in a gondola on behalf of the rest of us. 

I haven't yet completed my shabby Autumn Journal -- have given myself until New Year's Eve to finish that.  I do like the idea of a seasonal journal ~ my next one will be a Winter/Spring Journal.  The stitched pages (to be written on later) are complete, I'll just need to make another shabby journal cover.  Maybe I'll get to that during my holiday staycation -- which is actually happening right now but I keep thinking of as a future thing.  Because I'm on permanent staycation anyway, so it really doesn't matter.  It's just a head game I've been playing with myself lately.

Other projects for my staycation ~ more paste painted papers, more painted papers period, monoprinting with the Gelli plate I've had for several months and haven't used yet, and deconstructed screen printing on paper.  Will I do these?  We'll see.  I'd like to, but I haven't done much printing since I moved into Rose Cottage over two years ago, because of the limited-space-to-spread-out factor. 

Another interesting aspect of trying new things:  the lag time for me ~ between when I first see some media or product or tool I want to experiment with, then have tried alternatives and possibly found them lacking, then have decided I can afford to purchase whatever it is, then have actually bought and received it ~ is usually so long, that I'm often onto other things by then even though I've finally bought this goop/tool/whatever.

It's laughable, and I KNOW I'm not the only one this happens to.  When my conspiracy-theorist self is doing its thing, I can fantasize that this is the plan, by the corporate creators of all the goodies we artists use and lust after.  As though they're saying to themselves (or their shareholders), "Let's just create more and more incredible stuff that everyone thinks they need to have.  Whether or not they ever use it is NOT our concern."  Indeed.