The things I love to do – Art Assignment Answer

This is Lauren’s answer to Lisa’s Art Assignment posted here.

1. Watch a movie
2. Go for a hike

3. Hang out at the beach
4. Yoga
5. Read
6. Look up at the sky
7. Randomly find cool artists on the Internet
8. Talk with people about art
9. Organize
10. Watch something funny
11. Write
12. Bake

13. Go for a drive
14. Wander through my neighborhood
15. Eat ice cream
16. Cook an elaborate meal (I let my awesome hubby take care of that one for me.  He made his famous chili. So delicious.)
17. Wash the dishes (only when I am in the right frame of mind.  But, this act can be very meditative.)
18. Sit in the sun (with a sun hat and sunscreen of course.)

19. Chase and play with my dog, Neko
20. Talk and laugh with my son, Everett

There’s my list!  All the items in bold I was able to accomplish this month. I promise I washed dishes this month, I just wasn’t able to get to that meditative state I like to get to while cleaning them.  Honestly, I haven’t been able to get there for quite sometime.  I rush myself to clean these days because I usually only get about 20 minutes at a time to do it.  Soon, I hope to get a groove with cleaning where it becomes more of a calming and therapeutic activity. I have come up with amazing art ideas while cleaning in the past and would love to be able to do that again.

I didn’t even have to plan to make art around one of the activities, it just happened.  When I was hiking around Mount Diablo I was inspired by the curvy juniper trees and a new photographic series popped in my head.  It’s called, “The Lorax.” I have collected several images of trees over the years as I often ponder what it must be like to be one, so I think it’s time to turn these photographs into a series of work.  Here’s just a small sample of my favorites. Let’s see how many different trees I can photograph in my lifetime.