Well, happy 27th birthday to me.

It's interesting: 24, 25, and 26 were great. But something about 27 is bothering me. I'm not liking the number; I think because it's entirely too close to 30.

Not that 30 is a bad number. When I was younger, I always thought I'd "know it all" by the age of 30, because THAT was when you really are an officially an adult. (Or so my pre-teen brain had determined.)

I think what bothers me is that I haven't accomplished a lot of the things that I thought I'd have done long before this point. Chief among those things: motherhood.

I am instead trying to concentrate on what I HAVE done. There are certainly lots of things I'm doing now what I could never have imagined. So I guess I have to believe there's some sort of bigger plan to it all.

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I've started experimenting with drawing and painting again. I think the last time I picked up a paint brush was in high school. I used to spend a lot of time drawing and painting, and I loved it. Then I lost interest, and lost the meager skill that I'd gained over that time. So now I'm back to square one.

I went out the other day and bought a Moleskine watercolor notebook, a 2B pencil, a set of 12 Prismacolor watercolor pencils, and some brushes. I've been experimenting and enjoying it thoroughly ever since. I forgot how fun it could be.

So you may see quite a change in the work I post here. I haven't abandoned photography and I really hope to pick up my camera again. But I'm also really interested in pursuing this renewed interest in painting. I'm also really interested in experimenting with some mixed-media collage and art journaling. As soon as I get our scanner set up again, perhaps I'll scan more of that work in so I can post it.

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I finally have a REAL home studio space. I'm so excited about it. I have a hard time calling it a studio (because I'm not, and will never be, a "real" artist) but that's the only term that really encompasses it all -- except perhaps "creative space". It's my home office (for the freelance web design I do) and my room for sewing, knitting, spinning, soapmaking, painting, and all the other arts and crafts I dabble in. (Whew!)

I just finished painting the room Sunday night. (You can see progress photos in this Flickr photo set.) It's SO bright and cheery. I love it. Now I just have to figure out how to lay out the room with adequate storage and work space. I have some ideas -- so we'll see how it goes.