Red and yellow and violet oh my...

Mini update: It's been awhile since I wrote in my journal. I stopped because it felt too whiney - so me-me-me.

I've completed 2 observations, plus 1 one more is drafted. Completed, "point", "line", and "plane" assignments and am working on the optional color assignment. I feel like my eyelids have been peeled back and I keep saying -- I never noticed that! It's a funny experience to feel as though I've never noticed color in the same way that I am doing now.

I've oohed and awed over color before, but this exercise in looking at harmonic and similar colors (warm vs cool) is deeper and more aware. I literally walked around with my camera and a cheat sheet hunting colors.

I've taken many pictures now on this project and as with other assignments, I feel like they're drafts, some "will do" but they are not quite hitting that sweet spot. That spot is when the design element and the art element intersect that feels right.

I had no idea that photography would stretch me so much. Being a bit picky and perfectionistic, I know I get stuck on little details of framing and level of detail, depth of field. Getting stuck on details can serve the picture but also acts as a hindrance to moving forward, and moving my eye and imagination to fresh perspectives and insights. I know it's detrimental, but it this "mind" has a mind of its own.

This stickiness shows up at work, in my attempts at writing, the years of joy and frustration that I've spent learning to sing (and struggling), and acting (and struggling) and competing for a role - anything creative. Feels like two magnets that repel each other.

See I went down the road explaining my 'stuckness' when I wanted to enthuse about how this color assignment has brought me to bring wild flowers into my little apartment, and set up on my kitchen sill the white and yellow flowers that I picked on the way to the West Oakland post office. No I look at these delicate papery faces with the yellow sun in the middle when I wash my hands and wash my dishes. A red rose I stole from a neighbor floats in a cyan colored vase sits next to potted plants in the living room.

I spent a good 20 minutes at Whole Foods selecting scoupfuls of spices and grains that would look gorgeous and inspire.

Oh! That is the other thing -- I have become less of a cook over time but a few weeks ago, the cold weather inspired a pot of chili -- all that red! and the pretty peppers - red and yellow and green. Selecting and cutting vegetables - I feel more connected to their beauty. Today 2 women at the Bargain market told me how to select collards (young leaves) and to pull your fingers down the stem to take off the leaves (the stem is tough).

The lentil soup with collard greens came out nicely, by the way. I have been educated and nourished in more ways than one. I didn't lift my camera up today but it deepened my life nonetheless.