“For Vincent, smoking was a great solace. He often recommended it as a source of comfort and a remedy against melancholy. So, too, was painting directly from life. As he had written to Theo, when he did that and all went well, he could lose himself in an ecstasy. ‘The emotions are sometimes so strong that one works without knowing one works.’”
The Yellow House
Martin Gayford
Our sweet kitty, Smokey. He is sorely missed.
Happy Friday the 13th!
Hopefully you have a super day filled with good vibes and sweet feelings! I have had a great week. This week has been a week of preparation and finishing orders...I am trying to get everything prepped, so that I can just pick projects up and make them. As I worked away this week in the studio, I had a Vincent moment, I think. I was working along, and I stopped all of a sudden and thought, “I really like to make things.” I mean a moment of complete joy, ecstasy if you will, in my work, and I have to say I wasn’t even doing my favorite part of my work. However, this week’s work has been creative and challenging in the best ways.
Carrie stopped in this week to bring me a top she finished, and I told her I was working on this really complicated prep for a quilt, and she said, “You mean you’re having fun?” She knows me so well.
I didn’t get more of the Anniversary quilt made, but I feel good about my work this week. Sidney and I have been participating in the Preview week for UNCSA (North Carolina School of the Arts), where he hopes to attend his Senior year of high school, and so some of my regular work time has been spent learning and feeling even better about the campus and programs offered there.
Unfortunately this week has also been about our family adjusting to the loss of our sweet kitty. He was 19, and so much a part of the fabric of our family. We will miss him dearly.
I suppose I have you all caught up now...I hope you have a week filled with love and joy in creating or doing what you love.
Have a great week. Stay safe.
Sending Quilting Love,
Ginger
Coming Next Week: That depends on you...what would you like to hear about? Leave a comment by next Tuesday or Wednesday! More about the Anniversary quilt next week, too! Pictures of my night time embroidery? Would you like to see that?
I am Reading: Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands. I finished both The Murder at the Vicarage and Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie. I started Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, and now I am casting about for what my mind needs next. The Mann novel was acquired at the library along with Blue Rose by Carol Muske-Dukes (poetry). I mentioned Virginia Woolf last week, but I picked up another fiery mind with Vincent Van Gogh. I started reading The Yellow House by Martin Gayford...I feel sure I mentioned it here before.