linen, silk, wool ...
A relatively new linen jacket from Eileen Fisher, a treat to myself as I readied for treatment; a silk blouse, also from Eileen Fisher, purchased more than twenty years ago and still serving me well; and a drop dead gorgeous wool & silk scarf, hand woven by Marjorie Meyers Haber of mmhandwovens on Etsy, a recent Christmas gift from my daughter, Adeline.
and messiness ...
My studio is still terribly messy and therefore unusable, so the dining room sometimes does double duty. I had to clean up for Thanksgiving so now I am loath to get it all cluttered again. I prefer to sit at the table with a cup of tea and enjoy the view.
Maybe I could learn to create things without making a mess ... as did Mary Ellen Best, if we believe her self-portrait, at right, is an accurate representation.
Or I could take comfort in the words of Dasha Zhukova (Russian art collector and founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and Garage Magazine) who famously said "I like messy. What fun is tidy?"
I think I like messy, too, even though it can get out of hand. I like it the way I like insomnia. The hours between midnight and 4 AM are my favorites, even though it may be better for my health to be asleep during that time.
And, anyway, messiness goes hand-in-hand with genius.
* * * I'm a genius! * * *
Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the most genius artists ever, shared this memory: "I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist; or I'd draw a big ram's head, really messy. I'd never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman."
If you want to know about Basquiat, then this is the movie to watch:
My studio - astonishingly out of control.