Author: Carolyn A Pappas

October 5, 2015

We had a bountiful pear harvest this year.

This season is the first one that yielded a significant number of pears from the pear trees (Bartletts, two of them). The first year, there was nothing and the trees had to be dug up and rotated as they were planted improperly. The second year, we got pears on one of the trees but someone stole them! This year, the trees were heavy-laden with pears. One of the trees had fewer, fatter pears. The other tree had more pears, but they were generally smaller. We canned most of them already, but we saved some of the baby pears for eating.

October 1, 2015

Lost and Found

This is a drawing I did in my sketchbook last July but I promptly forgot about it and never posted it. It was drawn from a snapshot taken at Dunn Pond circa 2010. This past year I haven’t taken my camera out a lot or gotten outside to draw much, so I am delving into my photo archives. This particular scene would be better presented in color as it is a scene of fall foliage in front of brilliant blue water.

Recently, I found an artist online who I used to follow for years but she somehow didn’t get transferred over to my newsreader when Google Reader was discontinued. I didn’t remember her name – all I knew was that she was of Filipino descent and she had an unusual title for her blog. After a lot of googling I found her again at Ces and Her Dishes and her real name is Cecelia Adorio. She creates elaborate and imaginative pen and ink drawings based on a wide range of subjects, mostly botany and wildlife. You can also find Cecelia on Behance and Instagram. I encourage you to also read her blog posts, and not just look at the pictures, as she is informative and she often gives me a chuckle.

September 27, 2015

Inktober is almost here

It’s that time of year again for Inktober, which is a pen and ink drawing challenge every October. I will post some pen and ink drawings of my own. I wish I had the kind of time on my hands to post daily, but once or twice a week will have to do. When strapped for time, pen and ink is actually my favorite way to work because it’s so simple and easy to pick up and put down.

September 14, 2015

I’ll Run Till the Sun Goes Down

This past weekend I’ve been reading this book nonstop (instead of studying microbiology). I have been online friends with David Sandum for a few years now, but I really feel like I know him so much better after reading his new memoir about overcoming depression and anxiety through art. I pre-ordered it months ago and it showed up in my mailbox last week and I was so excited.

Every chapter starts off with an excerpt from David’s journal from that particular time in his life. I love that the chapters are short and sweet, making the book easy to pick up and put down. Also, David tells his story in such an easy, conversational way that it really feels like you are sitting down and having a little chat.

I could really relate to David’s struggle with finding traditional corporate jobs unmanageable, and struggling with the pressure of supporting a family when he couldn’t seem to “get his act together.” After years of battling crippling depression and anxiety, David finally found his place in the world when he discovered art and it gave him an outlet and a sense of purpose. Unlike so many biographies of artists which can have sad endings, I really found it inspiring to know that today David is a successful, full time artist with a loving family.

The biggest takeaways I had after reading this book are the value of maintaining strong friendships and the importance of sheer determination when facing obstacles. I really found it inspiring to see someone with so many struggles make something of his life. Also, I found it interesting to read about Scandinavia in a realistic way (i.e., not being portrayed as some kind of utopia).

September 2, 2015

Back to the books

Painted bookmarks (watercolor) with handmade tassels.

I made myself some new bookmarks in preparation for the fall semester that started today. This time I am taking all of my classes online which I have never done before. Some people have trouble keeping themselves disciplined with their self study schedule, but my years of homeschool have prepared me well.

I took a few weeks off in between the end of the summer session and now. By the end, I was really itching for school to start again. I was very overwhelmed with my intense schedule over the summer and I just could not wait to have some time off to do whatever I wanted with no demands. I was anticipating a really productive time doing a lot of painting and drawing, etc. Interestingly, I found that my expectations did not match reality. Instead, I ended up losing my motivation, getting way off my sleep schedule, and wrenching my shoulder so that I did not do much drawing at all. I realized that I function best when I have some sort of structure to my day (but not too much) with defined work to do and have to fit my artwork in between everything else. Lisa Congdon wrote an interesting post about how her expectations did not match reality when she recently went on a three week artist residency.

I’m interested to see how this next semester works out because I will mostly have complete freedom over my school schedule. Will I end up getting more artwork done? I hope so!

August 13, 2015

A much needed rest

I took my last final exam yesterday and then breathed a sigh of relief. It is so good to have a small rest. I spent the day today working in my sketchbook. The artwork I have made over the past summer has been slim to none and I have been craving some time to sit around and draw. I have had a desire to make very imaginative drawings in my sketchbook and I am so excited to get into a more regular creative routine again.

Here are some things I have come across online recently that I found inspiring:

Nick Neddo forages in the woods of Vermont to find raw ingredients to make handmade art supplies. I would really like to learn to make my own ink and charcoal.
This article describes the philosophy of UltraRomance, a man who has designed his lifestyle to involve the least amount of work as possible so he can have more free time to ride his bike.
I really enjoyed this short film about Jake Weiddman, “master penman.” I have never heard of that title before, but this man truly takes pen and ink to a new level.
The Ten Things is an animated short (an excerpt from a longer film) that outlines some really inspiring philosophies about life.

July 17, 2015

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

I read this book a few months back and it has really stuck with me, which is rare for a nonfiction book. I am someone who has struggled for years with what Marie Kondo calls “rebound.” My relationship with organization is similar to what some people deal with when yo-yo dieting. I go on a massive cleaning spree and have things under control for about one week, but things quickly fall apart again. Over the past four years or so I have really improved, due to drastically reducing my living space and possessions accordingly. Even still, I continue to struggle, as I have not been able to stick to a long term solution. When my summer term is over, I am going to do a purge and fully implement her method. I will report back on my findings.

This is one of my favorite passages of the book:

If you have read this far, you have probably noticed that in my method your feelings are the standard for decision making. Many people may be puzzled by such vague criteria as “things that give you a thrill of pleasure” or “click point.” The majority of methods give clearly defined numerical goals, such as “Discard anything you haven’t used for two years,” “Seven jackets and ten blouses is the perfect amount,” “Get rid of one thing every time you buy something new.” But I believe this is one reason these methods result in rebound.

Even if these methods temporarily result in a tidy space, automatically following criteria proposed by others and based on their “know-how” will have no lasting effect – unless their criteria happens to match your own standards of what feels right. Only you can know what kind of environment makes you feel happy. The act of picking up and choosing objects is extremely personal. To avoid rebound, you need to create your own tidying method with your own standards. This is precisely why it is so important to identify how you feel about each item you own.

–Marie Kondo in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, pg 125-126.

July 3, 2015

A Pause

I’m at the halfway mark of my intense summer school schedule and I’m breathing a small sigh of relief. (On Monday I get started on my second dose of Chemistry.) I have taken to making small abstract sketches on graph paper in cerulean blue. I find it relaxing when I am feeling studied out.

Also, I have been trying to work out an issue with my images. I have noticed that my images have been appearing very fuzzy since I got my new computer with a high definition screen. I didn’t notice it before I got my new computer, but now I want to fix it so that my artwork will look great on Retina and high def screens, which everyone will have at some point. I tried out a new plugin for WordPress which generates these Retina images and I will have to do some more experimenting with it to figure it out completely.

May 24, 2015

The last long weekend

My last day of work was this past Wednesday and I’ve taken the past few days off before school starts to take care of some things around the house and to do the last of my pleasure reading until the fall, The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley. This afternoon is probably the last of the family parties that I will be able to participate in until the Fourth of July.

In other news, Michael Nobbs has redesigned his website, Sustainably Creative, and has now made his podcasts freely available. I have followed Michael since I was part of the Everyday Matters Yahoo! Group and I really respect his ideas. He also has a really nice British accent and a generally soothing voice.

My tooth is also feeling quite a bit better—not perfect, but better.

May 17, 2015

Self Portrait with a Smile

I’ve been dealing with chronic tooth pain after an accidental blow to the face this past January and I ended up getting a root canal done on Friday. At least in the short term, it has seemed to make my problem worse. This drawing was an attempt to get my mind off my tooth pain, which has pretty much overtaken me.

I was overdue for a self portrait, as it has been about four years since my last one. I have also never drawn myself smiling. (I am so thankful that my smile is still intact, even though I can’t bite into anything.) I also drew my glasses, which is another element of difficulty. This drawing is not perfect by any means, but I think I captured my likeness and my spirit. My three year old daughter took the reference photo and I was feeling very joyful at the time. When I was working on this drawing, my daughter walked into the room and said, “Mama, why are you drawing YOU?” and I couldn’t help but start laughing.

I also took the opportunity to update my About & Contact page.