Writers write, right? But how one-dimensional would we be if we did nothing else? The Vixens do spend most of our waking hours plotting and pantsing and pecking away, but when we step away from our computers in a bleary daze, we remember that we have families and hobbies which engage and inspire us. Here's how we recharge our batteries.
Maggie: I read, of course. But I'm also into art of all kinds. Years ago I designed an animalalphabet for children, spelling their names in unique letters. An 's' becomes a swan, an 'o' a ladybug, etc. I've sold these watercolor and ink drawings privately and for school fundraisers and have raised hundreds of dollars. I collage on a regular basis, making posters for the book displays in the library. I used pastels to design the wedding invitations and response cards for my oldest daughter, and did all the flowers, including the bride's and attendants' bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres and table decorations. I took several flower arranging classes---give me a hunk of that green foam and some blossoms and I'm happy!
Ely: Maggie is super-talented. For Christmas, she made me a book thong; it's so pretty! One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is knitting. It's something I'm proud of because I taught myself how to knit when I was in college. But, really, give me an instruction manual, and I can teach myself anything. I really have the scarf thing down, and I find it relaxes me. I love the really soft-feeling yarn, and the knitting needles that are attached to each other by a wire.
Tiff: Ely! That is such a virgo thing to do, just pick up a manual and learn it! LOL. In my spare time I read. I love reading, I love stories. I love research. But if you want something to not do with books. I like to pound away on the piano. Then yell furiously at myself for playing like a dolt. Then ask myself when the hell I'm going to start taking lessons already. Yes I'm funny that way. But I'm far from getting far with my music. I still play tiny snippets of the same songs. And really, there is only one song I can play on the piano (Moonlight sonata) It's rather sad, since I've been at it for YEARS! Clarinet was so much easier, but I've long packed her away. I even yell at myself (my husband is rather amused by it) when I mess up a passage that I know I can play :)
JK Coi: Tiffany, I'd love to hear you play one of these days. Even your "pounding away" would be so much better than any music I could ever create, since I'm so tone deaf. When I'm looking for something to do, I turn to the garage, where I go to cut glass. I picked up stained glass as a hobby even before I was writing. I remember wanting to find something to do with my evenings and the class was reasonably priced. A friend talked me into joining with her, but I was honestly hooked after the very first night. Maybe because this type of art/craft is the kind of thing that you can see yourself doing with a respectable degree of success after just a few lessons (definitely my kind of pastime), or maybe it’s because once you get started you know there’s a precise, step-by-step formula for getting to the finished product--which is weird seeing as how I don't use an outline for my writing, but I do like to have one for this other creative outlet. Afterward, the glass gets polished up nicely and you have a beautiful piece of art for your window, or a lampshade that looks great with the light shining through it--or in my case, I make Christmas tree ornaments (a quick one-day project for when I just need to work out my writing stress), and terrariums for plants (great mother’s day presents).
So, what it is you do to get away from the computer, to relax after a hard day at work?
Maggie: I read, of course. But I'm also into art of all kinds. Years ago I designed an animalalphabet for children, spelling their names in unique letters. An 's' becomes a swan, an 'o' a ladybug, etc. I've sold these watercolor and ink drawings privately and for school fundraisers and have raised hundreds of dollars. I collage on a regular basis, making posters for the book displays in the library. I used pastels to design the wedding invitations and response cards for my oldest daughter, and did all the flowers, including the bride's and attendants' bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres and table decorations. I took several flower arranging classes---give me a hunk of that green foam and some blossoms and I'm happy!
Ely: Maggie is super-talented. For Christmas, she made me a book thong; it's so pretty! One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is knitting. It's something I'm proud of because I taught myself how to knit when I was in college. But, really, give me an instruction manual, and I can teach myself anything. I really have the scarf thing down, and I find it relaxes me. I love the really soft-feeling yarn, and the knitting needles that are attached to each other by a wire.
Tiff: Ely! That is such a virgo thing to do, just pick up a manual and learn it! LOL. In my spare time I read. I love reading, I love stories. I love research. But if you want something to not do with books. I like to pound away on the piano. Then yell furiously at myself for playing like a dolt. Then ask myself when the hell I'm going to start taking lessons already. Yes I'm funny that way. But I'm far from getting far with my music. I still play tiny snippets of the same songs. And really, there is only one song I can play on the piano (Moonlight sonata) It's rather sad, since I've been at it for YEARS! Clarinet was so much easier, but I've long packed her away. I even yell at myself (my husband is rather amused by it) when I mess up a passage that I know I can play :)
JK Coi: Tiffany, I'd love to hear you play one of these days. Even your "pounding away" would be so much better than any music I could ever create, since I'm so tone deaf. When I'm looking for something to do, I turn to the garage, where I go to cut glass. I picked up stained glass as a hobby even before I was writing. I remember wanting to find something to do with my evenings and the class was reasonably priced. A friend talked me into joining with her, but I was honestly hooked after the very first night. Maybe because this type of art/craft is the kind of thing that you can see yourself doing with a respectable degree of success after just a few lessons (definitely my kind of pastime), or maybe it’s because once you get started you know there’s a precise, step-by-step formula for getting to the finished product--which is weird seeing as how I don't use an outline for my writing, but I do like to have one for this other creative outlet. Afterward, the glass gets polished up nicely and you have a beautiful piece of art for your window, or a lampshade that looks great with the light shining through it--or in my case, I make Christmas tree ornaments (a quick one-day project for when I just need to work out my writing stress), and terrariums for plants (great mother’s day presents).
So, what it is you do to get away from the computer, to relax after a hard day at work?
15 comments:
Maggie, I didn't know you were so artistic. That's awesome!
Ely, you'll have to teach me knitting. I tried it a few times with a book too, because my mom doesn't knit. But I just couldn't do it.
JK Stained glass? That is so cool! It sounds so hard to do.
And you know that every time I see a piano I get an itching to play. I hated seeing the piano in NJ everytime I walked by I'd see if by chance they'd unlocked the cover.
Nope, they must have known I wanted so badly to play it! LOL
I'm feeling very NON-creative. I'm not really artistic in anyway. Aunty Cindy taught me how to knit at Nationals but I haven't picked it back up since I got home. That stained glass thing sounds like something I might be able to do. Maybe when I get 10 minutes of free time back in my life, I'll look for a class.
Tiff - You don't play that badly. I've been priveleged enough to hear you and it's amazing you can do that without any real lessons. Lessons on the piano anyway.
Maggie - Where do you find the time to do all that?! What amazing talent you all have.
You know what I loved best about this blog--other than finding out more about you uber-talented people? It was that each part blended together like it was just one big conversation in a salon. It was just so cool. *LOL*
And I agree with Tiff, Ely, that's such a Virgo thing to do. *LOL*
I think I would love to try my hand at stained-glass. I sometimes scrapbook a little, but I'm not very talented at it. I'm more a mimic than creative, you know? I also prefer crocheting to knitting; I just have a better talent for it. (I think knitting is harder. *LOL*)
All interesting pasttimes.
Terri, I know! There aren't enough hours in the day.
JK, I'm a great admirer of stained glass windows in churches. William Morris (pre-raf fame) specialised in it and his deep crimson is absolutely gorgeous, not matched by any other glass maker. I think (not absolutely sure) that the Morris technique involved adding chemicals to molten glass and doesn't sound like something you could do as a hobby. Does your technique involve staining just the surface of the glass? I also wonder whether any of Morris's designs and colours reached churches in the US.
Fascinating hobby!
Ely, I can just see you sitting by the fire, perhaps with a large cuddly kitten on you knee, clacking away with the knitting needles. My mum had a knitting machine and would turn out sweaters by the dozen. Trouble was she never mastered the science of measurement, so they were always much too big. As a writer she would have been a pantser. I only wore the sweaters when visiting her! From the precision of your writing I'm pretty sure yours would class as bespoke.
Maggie, I'm intrigued by your animalalphabet. When you say the S becomes a swan, I assume that you add lines to the letter to create the image of a swan? My granddaughter is having some difficulty with writing and I'm frequently trying to make a game out of recognising words and letters. There are some good children's books that help, but your idea sounds promissing!
Tiff, I've always regretted not playing a musical instrument. After learning that Einstein played the violin to relax, I once gave it a go but alas, the teacher concluded that I had no talent! I can just see you playing the moonlight sonata with the window open and a breeze rippling your hair. I just know that those delicate writer's fingers couldn't possibly pound the keyboard!
Q--I LOVE the pre-Rafs! They were so awesome...though my favorites were William Hunt, Frank Dicksee (he was later though), and John Waterhouse. There was a special showing at the St Louis museum with a lot of their original works and they were so gorgeous to see live!
Hey, I'll have to get some of their prints for my house now!
Q--I guess I do it the cheap way, because I just buy my glass in sheets in different colours and finishes. I have a cutting tool, and instead of using lead trim, I use copper foil for the edges and then solder the pieces together
um, unless it’s a very substantial piece (which I haven’t done in a long while), because then for stability, you have no choice but to use lead at least to frame the piece
Talented gals. But what is a book thong? It sounds interesting. And it sounds like the only thong I would ever be interested in too. :)
Do your fingers hurt from playing the piano, Tiff? Like do you find yourself having to crack your knuckles or find your fingers getting stiff? I've always wanted to write a heroine or hero who played piano, but I am not at all sure what a piano player goes through in terms of things like that.
Hmmm... well, I wish I could knit. I asked my mom to teach me a few weeks back and after watching her for about 2 mins, I just gave up. I just don't have the patience for it... or the hand-eye coordination. :) But then I think, if I ever have to make my own clothes or something or risk freezing to death, I'm screwed. (I always think of worst case scenerios, and I like to be prepared. hehehe) So while I'm not being neurotic about that, I like to watch the Bold & The Beautiful and most sports. But taking a class like JK's sounds nice. I'll have to look into taking a class whether it be for stained glass, cooking, etc.
Tiff, My dad actually sold pianos for a while. Did we ever have one? Nope. My girls all took piano lessons when they were young so I could live vicariously. I did play the cello for a couple of years until I got tired of dragging it a mile back and forth to school.
Kris, I'd probably slice my fingers off doing stained glass, but I'd love to see your stuff. Ely, my mom tried to teach me to crochet and knit but I was majorly hopeless (can't sew either...can't even thread the dang machine). She made my dolls cool outfits, though, LOL.
Georgie, book thongs can be made with fishing line or waxed cording. They have beads at either end and get tucked into the books like a book mark. Very simple to do---just tie tiny knots. I've started to collect random beads to make more.
When it comes to making art and music, I am an appreciative audience. That's the extent of my contribution.
I feel like a dud among this talented crew. All I do to relax is read more, spend time with the grands, visit with friends, and sip an occasional glass of wine. :)
Hellion, I have all the waterhouse ophelias in my bedroom... small oils.
Georgie... no my fingers don't cramp up. After extended playing the feel awkward but i never crack any bones, groses me out! LOL
Q, that's some imagination you've got there! And I guess I only pound when I'm angry! LOL Otherwise I like romantic piano music.
Wow, you guys are multi-talented. And Maggie, that is so artistic. I'm so not a visual person. Tiff, I'd love to hear you play too. I've always wanted to play the piano and I've seriously considered buying one soon so that me and my kiddo can take lessons in the future. :)
I like to crochet and I love to cook. Those are my only other hobbies besides reading and writing.
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