Breaking out of my rut, by cleaning up the studio! That seems to be the what my muse demands of me today. I’ve done extremely little in the way of work in my journal today; I wrote a list, and I added a couple of stickers. Yes, I use stickers in my fancy altered art. Sandylion, no less. I’m such a rebel! ;)

Seriously though, my muse must be pregnant or something, she is nesting like crazy. But I suppose a pregnant muse is better than a barren one – I just hope I don’t need to eat pickles and peanut butter to get her to let me make art! I’ve sifted through a small mountain of random bits and pieces today. In the process I’ve thrown out at least 7 gunked-up and painty foam brushes, unearthed approximately 26 fortune cookie fortunes saved over from the past heaven-knows-how-many takeout dinners, filled a grocery bag with assorted paper items to be recycled, and piled up a good sized (but much smaller) heap of paper items to save for collage. To keep myself company, I’ve been listening to podcasts and YouTube videos, in particular this podcast interview with Kelly Kilmer and willowing’s YouTube video of “10 Rules for Life“. I’ve listened to both of these twice through today, I am enchanted by both of these new-to-me ladies. I am seriously considering signing up for one or possibly even two of Kelly’s classes when she is here in MA at the end of the month. And I may just have to reward myself of a print of the 10 rules when I finish cleaning this studio of mine!

Mirror-ShrineI would have embedded the YouTube video, but I crashed my computer when I tried – yikes! So instead there is a link to it, and for your viewing pleasure I’ll give you a lovely picture of my new and improved mirror shrine. I’ve had this awesome mirror for many years, with the cool swirly frame and a little shelf below, but lately it’s been neglected. All my pretty little doo-dads were overflowing and strewn every-which-way and stuff had started to pile up in front of it. I moved it to the wall behind my computer a few days ago and finally spruced things up today. I tidied up the various knick-knacks, stuck my shiny little “dream” star to the mirror, and twist-tied a broken plastic tiara to the top. The art doll is not my work, she is the result of a round robin my super-fantastic artsy momma participated in, and she gave her to me for my birthday a few years ago. My mom rocks. (And made the head, crown, and the -oops- slightly battered wings… gotta spruce those babies up!)