Size matters

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Mary Beth Frezon

“I want to be very intimate and human. To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside your experience, to look upon an experience as with a reducing glass. However, when you paint the larger picture, you are in it.” Mark Rothko

So when I start making something I generally start with a pile of pretty small pieces and start making bigger or different pieces. I have a pretty good idea of what size it’s going to end up being. I don’t start out thinking it’s going to be 8″ x 10″ and have it end up wall size. There may be some difference but not much. Part of that is that the process is labor intensive. I’m not going to make 3000 extra of my building block pieces and then wonder what to do with 2750 of them so what the heck make it that much bigger. There are some who start out making pieces and go until they run out of fabric or desire (ahem – you know who you are…. ;-D) Myself, my norm is to figure it out before I start.

Having said all that, I cut out and dug out a lot of blue squares. Some grey ones. Last night. Pile of them on a board on the ironing board. I’m not sure they’re the right size to start with but I’m going to try a few of them and see how it goes.

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Baby it’s cold outside

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Mary Beth Frezon

Just in case you’ve been mumbling about your thermostat, an interesting story in the NYTimes about folks living with little or no heat by choice.

Often when it gets really cold I re-read a book about life in 18-19th century New England which talks about what life was really like and how very very cold those houses were, especially if you didn’t lay in enough firewood in advance. Mainly the book is about debunking some of those romantic myths like the family gathered around that cozy hearth, mother spinning, etc. It was hot by the fire and freezing a few feet away…

So put on a hat peeps if you’re cold. And don’t be complaining to me!

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A turn of phrase

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Mary Beth Frezon

It was a rainy night
We took a taxi to your mother’s home
She went to Florida and left you
With your father’s gun, alone
Upon her small white bed
I fell into a dream
You sat up all the night and watched me
To see, who in the world I might be.
~~Rainy Night House – Joni Mitchell

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heat wave

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Mary Beth Frezon

The cats have been sticking tight the past while because the temperatures have been lower than they like (even though I keep reminding them that they, not I, have little fur coats). They come poking around later in the evening when the clock thermostat kicks off for the night. They pretend to be disinterested, even wandering away for a bit after I actually go to bed. They don’t fool me. They just don’t want to hang around while I’m settling in. Sometimes one will perch on my knees while I’m reading, peeping up over my book, sometimes giving me the “how much longer will you be lady?” look.

I scritch the ears or belly of whoever is handy. I laugh at them for leaving their nicely arranged and warmed spots when I arrive. I repeatedly tell them that if they had any brains they would go under the covers where it’s really warm – with or without me. They pay me no mind. They look briefly at the little warm cave I offer them down by my knees. They bolt off as though pursued by something. These three cats have never been under-the-cover sorts. Oh well.

Most nights I get to read a bit in peace before they start jumping back up to claim their space. Last night I read aloud to them a bit and they watched my face with interest, ears and whiskers bristling. Arthurian tales only held them for a moment and they didn’t offer an answer when I asked for the name of Morgaine’s sister. I don’t know if they were holding back there. As far as I know they’re still working on The Lord of the Rings; they haven’t returned my all-inclusive copy yet.

Oh yeah, the heat wave! It was 27F when I left home this morning!

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What to do, once you’ve done it

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Mary Beth Frezon

From OK Go, a bit of advice about what to do after the big hit (true regardless of the medium):

Anything that works gives [others and yourself] a reason to push you in the direction of the thing that works,” Kulash says. “You can spend your life imitating yourself. …how am I going to be that person that wrote this thing four or five years ago who I just don’t associate myself with anymore … it takes some pretty big acts of courage to be like “I’m not going to do anything like what I did last time

That last part made me sit up and roll that sentence around aloud a few times as I was driving along. How freeing!

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