shift

first things first.... i'd like to all welcome you to shari and ashley and my new book club blog. ship of fools . go check it out if you are so inclined. [and ashley has some GIANT news on her blog! so exciting!!]

while driving home yesterday after what felt like the longest day teaching - the word "shift" kept rolling around in my brain. i am really liking my drawing class and yesterday i tried to get them to shift their perspectives. i asked them to ONLY draw the negative space in a still life - not outline what they actually see. usually there are 1 or 2 for whom this is actually EASY - but for everyone else it's a stuggle. what excatly IS negative space when one object butts against another - how do you move from one section of negative space to the next? there is always the student who is SO fearful of making a bad drawing that they take no risk. even though i assure them that it's not a "good" drawing that i'm after. and yesterday i had the pouty student. the one who didn't really get the assignment and because they are naturally talented and have always been able to draw well they get frustrated and shut down. my job is to attempt to get them to re-focus and actually do the assignment. part of me wants to just yell at the top of my lungs - you are SO LUCKY to be able to spend 3 hours drawing today. i won't have 3 hours to draw today. it's a luxury. enjoy it! of course there are those that struggle and struggle and then voila! all of a sudden something clicks and that SHIFT has been made.

i have been thinking alot about what i might need to shift and change in my life, in my work, in my studio, in my brain.... [big things and small things]. i think part of this is surfacing because i'm unsure what i'm going to be doing after Jan. 1st for a job job. i have plenty of jobs, but i always like to have something steady so i have an idea of what my income will be.... and i don't have that lined up right now. and that is nervewracking. but i am trying not to focus on that. i have things to grade, stores to update, websites to build, artwork to make, applications to get out [one due monday!], gardens to weed.... [need i continue?]. yesterday mav was talking about life being like chapters in a book. i like that metaphor very much.

so - if you are local and have nothing to do on saturday - come to the the richmond art center from 4 to 8pm. i'll be there and you can see the new doily installtion. i'll post pics of the show soon....

and if you are curious - above is the yellow fire alarm box at the macarthur BART station. i used to pass it every day when i worked in SF. i loved it. and never photo'd it. got to that finally!

have a great weekend!