Monday, October 17, 2011

Poly Styrene


Titled 'Poly Styrene' of  X-Ray Spex
Inspired by the song: Plastic Bag

Please read more about Poly HERE


I used to collect books about quilt making, wreath making, canning and Amish crafts. I used to have a subscription to Martha Stewart's 'Living'. There was a time when I wanted to be normal. I craved to be crafty in an acceptable way. After the fallout from being a promiscuous anarchist in high school, I chose the path of redemption by marrying a conservative 'Golden Boy' and succumbing to respectable stability. I did cross-stitch and drank Coors! But not for long! Before I knew it, I was shaking things up again, making life difficult, veering down the path of passionate, gut-wrenching dream-following. . .which hasn't turned out so bad. . . I married the 'Bad Boy' who turned out to be a good boy (and a great dad) and we drink lots of great beer together! But things haven't settled down. It seems that the older we get, the more we are still figuring things out, especially now that we are in full-blown, mid-life crisis mode! One of the biggest challenges I seem to face is striving to be true to myself, in spite of how it fits in. It's too easy to get caught up in the image of what I think I'm supposed to be, or what I suspect others want me to be, but the old-fashioned rebel in me wants to go back to what I know best, the parts of me that will never change (or grow up).

I recently met Anna Magruder, an amazing painter I really admire. We got to talking about subject matter and what inspires us. She told me how fascinated she is with the complicated beauty of women's faces and the stories they tell. I told her how I seem to be struggling with WHAT to paint and that I hadn't had a 'muse' since the Mohawk guy I used to draw in high school. It sounded silly, I know, but she told me to go back to it and start there.

Funny how long it takes us to get back to where we started!