I found an old drawing I did while rummaging through old piles of paper. I forgot all about it! I said to myself, like someone coming out of a long coma: “Oh, right, I draw cartoons!”
I used to sit in front of the television and draw the talk show hosts’ and newscasters’ caricatures. TV is not my favorite sport but it does make me doodle. Youtube has statistically not had the same effects on my doodling. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m busy clicking away with my mouse and I don’t have idle doodling hands. Can anyone figure out what faces these are? I don’t think the one in the upper left corner is a famous person.
I used to have this great fear of the wood shop in college. I also hated walking into lumber yards. They still have that “good ole boys” feel to them that makes me and my gender feel small. However much it has been in my head, I’ve had to learn how to overcome it because, frankly, I needed to use the tools to build my painting surfaces. I realized I still had some power tool anxiety when this fellow artist dude at my last art exhibit commented on the construction of my frames. (I build the backings to all my paintings.)He said that the miter saw would give me more accurate cuts. I chatted with him how I make them with my little jigsaw and make the best of it. He then says: “But, um, I guess your wood cuts have a certain charm.”
Translation: You saw like a girl.
I grinned and nodded and then vowed that no good ole boy was going to be able to say that to me again. Take back the power in your power tools, my friends!
Enter Jean’s very own miter saw. I am playing with my new great tool: the mighty miter saw. Forty-five degree angles are so sweet. I don’t know why it took so long for me to get myself this machine. It’s a new day for me and the miter saw. Stay tuned for some out of this world wood construction! 
Quick, send ideas! I’m in a creative block! Just. Plain. Stuck. Help me get over the bridge.
If you read the title differently…I could also be living on a creative block in the city right now…but it’s getting cold and I think everyone walks their dog and then goes inside to watch TV. It’s just feeling like November in Chicago. Sigh. Nope, not in a city block of creativity. My brain is blank.
In the meantime, I will look at the pretty yellow leaves while they’re still there.
