My March…

The weather is starting to cool down and the days are shorter. It's dark again already when I get up for work. The plum tree is starting to drop its leaves, but many of the other plants in the garden seem confused. Some are growing vigorously after the recent rainy weather; while others are still hunkered down as if they're expecting more hot weather soon. Maybe they know something we don't!

The night-time background when I
check the weather in the morning.
On a more personal note, I've made some changes at work. A few months ago, I had the opportunity to apply for a promotion, and I received it, which was quite nice. However, since then, some changes occurred that I didn't anticipate and the situation has become increasingly stressful. All of this was affecting my home/crafty life as well, as I was too tired to do any arts and crafts, and the eczema on my hand, which gets worse when I'm stressed, was preventing me from doing any fibre crafts. So a couple of weeks ago, I did what any self-respecting sensitive artistic type would do -- I asked to go back to my old position. Since then, I've been much happier, more motivated to write and do art, and my eczema has started healing up.

What I've been painting ...
After a break of about a month, I've started art-journalling again. Even with my hand in the state it's in, I can still hold a texta and do some scribbling. I'm interested in the concept of Asemic Writing (marks that look like writing but are actually not). So I've been writing passages using my scribbliest handwriting, deliberately trying to make them unreadable. Often the words are snatches of phrases that I've heard while watching TV. Later I like to cover them with semi-transparent layers of paint to make them even more difficult to distinguish (and mysterious, hopefully!).

What I've been obsessing over ...
Earlier this month, I finally found my notes on creating my own writing system. I'd been working on it on-and-off for several years, but when I moved house, the notes got packed away somewhere. No matter what I unpacked, no matter where I looked, I couldn't find them. I was getting very frustrated indeed! Finally, one weekend, Husband and I made a last-ditch attempt to find them. Finally he found them in his wardrobe, in a shopping bag full of electrical cables. I was overjoyed! Since then, a fair portion of my spare time has been spent in continuing my research. I'll dedicate a post to it soon to explain the project in more detail.

What I've been reading ...
I've taken up The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein again, which I started over a year ago. I find it hard going, not because of the comma-sparse, semi-stream of consciousness style, but because of the endless name-dropping and repetitive episodes recounting evenings spent with a revolving-door of various famous people. At other times, I remember that Stein wrote this supposed 'autobiography' of her life partner Alice B. Toklas, which does nothing but talk about Stein herself throughout. The audacity of it amazes me -- it's as if she wants to prove that she can self-aggrandise along with the best of the male artists and writers of her generation. Then there are the poignant moments, like the mother who wanted to return to Paris in the middle of World War I to bring her son's overcoat to him. At the moment I'm about half-way through; I don't know how long it will take me to finish!

What I've been photographing ...
Enough words; I'll leave you this month with some more photos I've taken in my daily walks in the city.