four things | sixty-three | Miss Mustard Seed

Our temperatures have been warming, and the snow is slowly melting, so my regular morning walks are back.  It feels good to get outside and to get more steps in each day.  I used to feel like my days were pretty consistent through the seasons, but I’m starting to learn I have pretty distinct habits and routines for each season.  I get more home projects done in the Spring and Summer (both inside and out).  I do more painting and writing in the Winter months, I read more, sketch, and knit.  In the Spring, I organize and rearrange. In the summer, I spend more evenings outside working in the garden beds and less time at my desk.  It’s just interesting to observe, and it gives me permission to embrace those seasons rather than feeling like I’m not doing enough of a certain kind of work at any given time.

Here are my four things for the week – Paper, villages, technology, and backgrounds.

what I’m reading

I’m still reading the Van Gogh biography, but I like to jump around from one book to another to give my brain some different ideas to play with and ponder, so I started reading Paper: Paging Through History.  As someone who loves both history and art/writing materials, this is right up my alley.  As with all history books, it is told from the author’s perspective, which I don’t always agree with (he assumes evolution and doesn’t acknowledge some of the miraculous “coincidences” of the natural world and the possibility of God’s sovereignty over history), but it is still a great read.

There are some people who think learning about paper would be incredibly dull, but I am not one of those people.  I also like watching paint dry, so there’s that.

what I’m watching

When I’m not watching the Olympics, Jeff and I have been watching Britain’s Village of the Year on Amazon Prime.  It’s a fluffy show, but it is a wonderful tour of quintessential British villages, and it’s a delight to watch.  It’s sort of like taking a little flyover tour from the couch.  I have already let Julia know the places I want to see when I visit her in the UK next, but the list is definitely growing as I watch this show.  In addition to Cornwall and the Yorkshire Dales, now I want to go to Snowdonia and the Jurassic Coast.

As a side note, I did a bit more genealogy work and found my ninth great-grandfather was born in Truro, Cornwall.  He immigrated to the US in 1650, was appointed Deputy Governor when Lord Baltimore left for England, was a member of the House of Burgesses, and owned over 7,200 acres in Maryland before his death.

what I’m loving

“Throughout history, the role of technology and people’s reaction to it have been remarkably consistent, and those who worry about new technology and its impact do well to reflect on the history of paper.”  – Mark Kurlansky

The introduction of new technologies has been a part of my business story.  From the day I pushed the “start a blog” button on Blogger in 2009, bought a DSLR to replace my film camera, finally upgraded to a smartphone, and joined social media platforms, I’ve embraced new technology and used it for my business.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, or maybe it’s because my relationship with some of these technologies feels increasingly tenuous, but I find myself feeling suspicious and skeptical about some of the new technologies we’re experiencing and those that are on the horizon.

This quote, along with other lessons from history, has reminded me that almost all new things once felt scary and threatening.  It was eye-opening to learn that even the idea of writing things down was once considered a cheat for stupid people with poor memories.  Memorization was the way to go, and strong proponents of that idea opposed literacy.

Just good thoughts to chew on…

what I’m working on

In the large project I’ve been working on for a commercial client, I’ve been painting cottages and animals using photos I took in the Cotswolds as references.  The paintings don’t need a background for the project, but I painted the animals in a way that lets me go back and add one to create a finished painting.  So, this week, I’ve been circling back and adding backgrounds to these cows and sheep…

All of these paintings will be available in my next original art sale.

What have you been reading, watching, loving, and working on?