Piles and Piles of ....well, you know...

Today I'm feeling my un-inspired-to start-some-art-ness a little more pointedly. I'm looking at blogs of fellow artists who are producing work that far surpasses mine and with a far greater frequency. I was thinking that with almost no shows to be Tivo'd (or in our case, recorded with the dvr), I have no excuse not to be working on art. My diningroom table is a sliding mound of paper and whatnot (books, unmounted stamps, mail, scraps, cds, future projects, duct tape, etc.) and the same can be said of my sadly neglected 'art desk' in the other room. Since my laptop has taken residency on the diningroom table (it hasn't moved from the first time it was plugged in here), the diningroom has had little to no hope of EVER being used for eating again.

Poor thing.

Also, since we are trying to empty out the play/art room so that the old wallpaper can be ripped down, the toys are slowly taking up permanent residency in the diningroom. Add to that, the large clothing rack that held our winter coats and is now holding drying laundry and waiting for the next clothing swap to be scheduled. Once THAT swap is over, it is going back to it's old home over at the Klines. Then of course, there is the odd, empty cardboard box here and there, an as-yet-unused winnie the pooh kite cast off in a corner next to a basket of formerly-fragrant pine cones and some now-dry-laundry piled up in a chair off to the side. It's tricky to even see out the beautiful windows in the diningroom because of the stuff cast off everywhere.

So all that being said, even though I'm kind of in the mood to do some art, I am feeling an overwelming sense of duty to CLEAN UP FIRST. And since I am in no mood to clean, I'm telling YOU all about it. Whine, whine, moan, whine....

Last night, I was feeling that familiar itch to create that I've actually NOT had in like months. It took me a while to even identify WHAT the feeling was, it's been so long since I was inspired to create anything.

But, instead of sitting down to a clean workspace and working on some projects, I went upstairs and started cleaning up my bedroom.

My bedroom is the upstairs equivelant of my diningroom table with pre and post-avalanche mountains of clothes on every available surface. Poor Richie couldn't even open and close the drawers of our shared dresser because of the sliding piles of clothes and belts and who-knows-what-all that was stacked there.

(I just looked up the word 'avalanche' to see how it was spelled and found these dictionary definitions that suit most piled high surfaces of my house to a 't':

av·a·lanche /[av-uh-lanch, -lahnch]

noun, verb, -lanched, -lanch·ing.

1.a large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward.
2.anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity: an avalanche of misfortunes; an avalanche of fan mail.

–verb (used with object)
5.to overwhelm with an extremely large amount of anything; swamp.

So, now, in addition to adding a little sumpin' sumpin' to my blog, I figured I would list some of the really amazing blogs that I've been looking toward for some inspiration today. Check 'em out when you get a minute and let me know if they either (a) confuse you or (b) inspire you to go out and make some art of your own!

http://m-is-for-martha.blogspot.com/

http://smallcreations.blogspot.com/

http://www.suzifiner.blogspot.com/

http://chelise.typepad.com/

Incidentally, after almost completely picking up all my various pieces of clothing and accessories, I discovered several items of clothing that I had forgotten I owned, gave myself a few new outfit options for the upcoming convention AND cast off a whole pile of stuff to the 'probation' closet in the guest room. I've decided to put those items on probation since it's been so long since I've worn them and, although they are well loved, I'm not sure they will actually get worn again. If they don't get pulled out for a wearing anytime soon, they are going to be moved to the for-the-next-clothing-swap pile and I will bid them 'soooo long'.

That's all for now! Lots to do (duh) and I can just about see the bottom of my coffee cup which means I have no more excuses for sitting here at the computer. Hasta la pasta!