Since I've been doing a lot of work with clay, I was looking at the sculptures in a whole new light and getting reacquainted with the ancient Egyptians, the tribal people of Europe, and the Byzantines, trying to figure out what the process was to get the glaze the way it looked on those art nouveau pieces and ended up having a conversation with an older lady who had a day job as a chemist and took up ceramics, woodworking, and silversmithing in her spare time. We were talking about the joys of after-work art classes and the creative process as she pointed out things that I would have never noticed on my own.
I also got another entry in the Bad Pickup Lines Sweepstakes with "Are you an artist? You look kind of, like, artsy."
Thankfully, the crew showed up around that time, and we got a box of chalk and realized we had no real plan of what we wanted to draw on our pair of paving stones so we started doodling with rainbow colors as Muk played with my camera.
I love the way the chalk looks but I'm not a fan of the texture in my hands, so I ended up just watching other people work and people-watching. There were some incredibly gifted artists down there, and the day ended up being so beautiful.
I wasn't in the mood to go back to the west side just yet so I reconnected with some old friends who'd just had a baby, stopped by to visit one of my friends at the art school and finished out the night in Jerusha's apartment where zucchini bread was made and much laughter commenced.
I drove home feeling a little less sad, knowing that for all the messed up things that have happened in the past two years, there is still so much beauty, life, and love that I have been surrounded by that I really don't deserve. It's a strange and humbling thing.
1 comment:
Chalk is definitely one of those mediums that requires a skilled hand. Which I suppose could be said about any creative act, but I think it's harder to cover up the foibles.
Post a Comment