As of 1:30 p.m. I went on a reading hiatus. No reading books, e-mails, letters, blogs, Facebook, art books, magazines, etc.
I am reachable by phone. And I am reachable if you put the word URGENT in your e-mail header. (I check e-mail headers, and unless you're one of my weird relatives, my neighbor across the street, or Fine Art America saying I've made another sale, the e-mail is set aside until the end of this project.)
So what will I be doing instead of reading? I'll be reporting about it. After all, it's a READING hiatus, not a WRITING hiatus!
So here's my first report, not even 100% into my first official day of not reading . . .
Here's where it gets tricky. I'm working on a collage. I'm rummaging through papers and I find an old check dated October 19, 1878. (Thank you, CJ.) It's for $100, made payable to Moss, Reynolds & Co., on a check from the Bank of La Porte, California.
My first inclination is to go online and research La Porte, California and Moss, Reynolds & Co. But NO! I'm on a reading hiatus! Just 2.5 hours into a reading hiatus! Heavy sigh.
So what did I do with the rest of the day? I did a bit of tidying and collage work in the art studio. I put away a few pieces of camera gear in the photo studio. (Doesn't it sound grand saying "art studio" and "photo studio?" Well, they ain't grand! Those of you who have been here know how tiny those two little places are. But they're MY places, and that's what counts.)
It was a sunny warm day so Chris and I were out on the front balcony late in the afternoon, having a "beverage of choice," just sitting and talking. Now here is where I would have had a book to read. But nope, that's not the deal. So I brought out a book of collage photographs, called Collage Masters. Unlike Playboy magazine, where you read it for the articles, not the pictures, this was definitely for the pictures!
Then I (sigh) watched TV. Charlie Rose was good. But watching a spoiled brat try to choose a condo to buy in Hawaii? "Eeeuwww. It doesn't have my granite countertops. It doesn't have the gas stove I want. And this carpet just HAS to go." Such a sense of entitlement and such a lack of perspective got to me, so, click, over to a Trailblazers basketball game. Watched maybe 15 minutes and I was done. Have you heard "Mike and Mike?" The Trailblazers announcers? I wish they would announce my LIFE, because apparently their team can do no wrong. It's embarrassing.
I sketched a bit. I watercolored a bit. I looked at inspirational art on Pinterest. And that was basically my day.
NOT READING IS NOT EASY. Especially if you're a habitual reader. And today another day begins. Wish me luck.
Carol Leigh
