I've been very quiet lately, but here is a snippet of recent happenings...
My dear agrathea recently posted some wonderful pictures from Mardi Gras here
It was an absolutely gorgeous and sweet Fat Tuesday, and the St Anne's Parade was out in full force. The sun shone and the colors sparkled and you could feel that many people were finally able to put much of their sadness behind them, and were stepping forth butterfly-like into a new phase of life.
Life lately has been a blur of sleep and travel. How odd it is to have made three trips over the past four months... Hawaii, New Orleans, Miami. Not like my life at all, I never go anywhere. But during this time I have found that I am addicted to warm ocean waters--I don't care if it is the Pacific or the Atlantic as long as I can swim in it and there are palm trees. But I did miss out on going to Santa Monica where R is working right now, and I find myself pining greedily for the soft waves and palm trees in his phone photos. The Florida trip was far too short--I only dipped my toes in the warm waters of South Beach three times before I had to go home. I have some pretty shells to look at at least though...
Now it is time to make masks and to face the realities of my credit card! (Thankfully I got a cheap fare to FL, and New Orleans was a business trip). I also need to make some interesting art pieces for the Norwescon Art show, and decide if I will actually pay for con membership and a hotel room, or just send the art up there by UPS or with a friend. It would be nice to spend some time at home, the house, the dog and the garden all need some attention.
I am also feeling a wild urge to get rid of lots of things that are junking up the place. I came across a wonderful list of Buddhist teachings recently, and one of them caught my eye in particular: Unhappiness comes from wanting things we don't have and having things we don't want. So I have decided to try and limit my desires for things I don't have, more fully appreciate the things I have and love, and get rid of the things I don't care about.
My life has definitely taken a more spiritual turn lately. I grew up a spiritual person in a spiritual family, but ran into some serious disillusionment with our particular path when I was about 20. That was followed by almost of decade of feeling angry, lost and betrayed, and that despite everything I had grown up believing, that the world was really just a cruel, superficial, godless wasteland. Now, 10 years later, I am finally recognizing a few pearls in the teachings I grew up, and I am doing a lot of reading and research in topics like world mythology and religion. It is kind of like coming full circle--an integration of the lessons of my first 20 years as well as those last 10 years is what is what I really needed to find a good balanced view of the world. And of course, the learning never stops...
A completely unexpected surprise, I was invited to see the opening night of Cirque du Soliel's Varekai here in Portland! Poor R couldn't go as he was out of town working again, but agrathea got to go in his stead, and we dressed up in "Cirque Chic" as the invitation requested, and had a fabulous time. The show was wonderful and inspiring--so much more magical than the DVD! Video and photos don't capture a fraction of the colors and textures. I spent the whole show perched on the edge of my chair trying to figure out what different costumes and headpieces were made of, and thinking about new mask design ideas that would capture the characters. I also spent lots of time examining some of the other maskmaker's masks for sale that were on display in the VIP lounge and the concessions tent. While I was sad not to see my old Purple Guy mask there, it was very interesting to see the techniques and materials used by the other artists. But it is no suprise that my mask design didn't work out well for them, I came up with a paint scheme that was far too detailed--half of the cost of the Purple Guy mask was due to the very time-consuming painting. And your average customer doesn't even notice that kind of detail, they just notice the price. Ah well. A lesson I could apply to many of my other pieces perhaps.
On the sitar-front, practice has unfortunately tapered off again, but the interest remains, so I'll be diving back into it again now, and hopefully be able to start lessons once more in early April. I have stopped asking myself why I wan't to learn the sitar, and am simply satisfied with the fact I just want to study it. I don't really see myself performing it anytime soon, but I am not in a hurry anymore. But something I am rather excited about, is that the wonderful sitar-craftsman Tony Karasek, who I sent the measurments of my antique sitari (mini-sitar) has created a custom modern version of it, and is selling it to me for just over half the cost that fixing the antique was going to cost. I still want eventually to fix the antique, but having a travel-sized model that I am not afraid to travel with will help my studies immensely.
Well, that is all for now.