A few weeks ago I went to Barnes and Noble, where it seemed that half of my current reading list was on the bargain table. After a mini-shopping spree, I then had to buy another bookcase. One of the books that I picked up was Steve Martin’s An Object of Beauty. Being by Steve Martin, I expected the book to be good. He has an incredible work ethic. I also expected it to be funny.

I was right and I was wrong. The book was incredible. It wasn’t a comedy though.

An Object of Beauty follows the story of gallery girl-turned art dealer-turned gallery owner Lacey as she navigates the New York art scene as a young woman from her early twenties to mid thirties. Within the book are references to both famous artists and artists I’ve never heard of, including some pictures of images. Martin’s prose is powerful: I fell so in love with some of the art just from his descriptions that I had to look it up myself.

It’s a powerful and rare thing for the author to draw you so far into the story that you feel like you are the narrator, but Martin does that through the voice of Lacey’s journalist-friend. You become part of Lacey’s circle but never completely understanding her motives nor can you begin to predict her next move. I found myself wanting to talk to other people about the book for the entire three days it took me to read it (yes, it was hard to put down, but life intervened). I’m passing it on to a friend. Check it out yourself and let me know what you think!

This morning, I read this blog post and was inspired by how honest it, and most of her posts are (I can’t say all, because I haven’t read them all). It’s not that I’m dishonest in my posts, I’m just not very transparent. There is a lot about me that I keep to myself.

Which isn’t neccessarily a bad thing.

But there is undoubtedly a connection that occurs when we are fully transparent, warts and all, with each other.

So I’ve been thinking a lot about that today.

There are many different schools of thought around journal writing and how it helps the creative process. I was an undedicated journaler in high school and college, but once I moved in with Chris I stopped for fear that he would find and read it and find out what really goes on in my head. Mostly, I just process thoughts verbally. But as I write and create more, I am seeing my unresolved thoughts forcing themselves out onto the page, into the lives of my characters. It’s my unconscious saying okay, if you won’t deal with this, I’m going to make Characters A & B act it out for you. Deal with it.

So I’m thinking about going back to journaling, even if it is irregularly. Then I saw this article about five great published diaries and my thought process changed from “how can I be more open” to “oh my gosh I would come back and haunt anyone who dared publish my private writings after I’m dead.” It feels a bit like an invasion of privacy to read someone’s diary, or any writing that wasn’t intended for the world.

But I am inconsistent in this thinking, because I am curious about what I can learn about artists through these writings. I recently purchased Dear Theo. Matthew Perryman Jones’s amazing song O Theo was inspired by the letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother, and I watched A Brush with Genius on Netflix. Before this, really all I knew about Van Gogh was that he was an amazing painter who cut off is ear. I named my dog (also missing most of one ear) after him. But I never realized how consumed he was buy his art. Obviously, his consummation reached a critical level. But if I could be only a fraction as committed as him, how much more could I accomplish?

I haven’t read The book yet, but I plan to. Which once again makes me nervous to process my thoughts in a journal or diary.

What do you think? Am I just nuts (entirely possible) or do you sometimes wonder how the authors of the diaries/journals that are now published would have felt if they knew their words would be read? I’m curious.

I needed to hear this today.

(No link? Click here to watch on Vimeo)

I am so excited about the necklace and earring set I posted today. I love them. So much so that I’m not going to even talk about the two items I renewed today. Head over to my shop, you’ll see everything there. But look at these (clicking on the picture will take you to the store page.)

Let me know if you love them as much as I do!

Shocking to think I was only 11 when this song came out… more shocking to realize it came out 19 years ago. Holy moly.

(if player doesn’t load, click here to go directly to youtube.)

One new listing today, and two reissues. These were all bought stones, but I’ve been playing lately with wrapping stones that I find. The rocks on this piece were found at a lake in Minnesota. I’ve really been drawn to the peace and calm of lake and river rocks for a long time, the picture above was the background for my desktop for longer than I remember. (Also a lake in Minnesota). I plan to work toward using more found stones, but I don’t think I’ll ever get away from using the beautiful cut stones that I find in bead stores completely.

Today is the last day of dichroic glass week. My final two pieces are live on etsy. Thanks for checking my stuff out!

Last night we went to the Franklin Glassblowing Studio and watched a demonstration. It was hot, but so fun to watch. Check out my pictures, and, if you’re in the area, check them out!

I’m at UtopYA this weekend. While my writing isn’t in the YA genre, I’m getting tons of inspiration just from being around other writers. More on that later. For now, here’s two of my new dichroic pieces for the week. Dichroic glass week ends tomorrow with two more listings and hopefully some pictures from a glass blowing demonstration that I might go to tonight.