Writing, Reading, Reflection

Have you ever met yourself coming and going?  The last two weeks have been this way for me. I have so many irons in the fire, and I’m trying desperately to keep my head above water while keeping a smile on my face. My personality is such that I don’t allow my stress to show, which makes this a huge thing for me to even say here “in public”.

My art room is finished, but I’ve only been out there once to make something. This will change on Saturday. I’m purposefully staying late at work to get all my grading and planning done there so I won’t be dragging anything home this weekend. I don’t want to be that teacher, any more, who hauls home bags of work every weekend and finds herself complaining, hating her job, hating the kids.  My solution: stay at work until it’s done. Simple as that. Of course, that means a work day of 7-5 several days a week, and today that reached 5:30.  It’s worth it, though, in the long run. This way I’ll be able to spend quality time doing stuff I really want to do–reading, writing, making some art piece, watching movies, hanging out with friends or my boyfriend.

So, enough complaining and contemplating work.  Here is the first thing I created in my art room. It’s an altered mirror from the late 1800’s.  I combined the poem “In An Artist’s Studio” written by Christina Rossetti, a copy of a painting by Rossetti’s brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and his “object” in the painting Elizabeth Liddel. The four things–mirror, poem, painting, object–create a wonderful juxtaposition of how we view things, especially women. If you’ve ever looked into the mirror images in literature, it’s fascinating. There is something so compelling about how women get “trapped in the  mirror”. Even today, I made the comment to Eric that today was a big day when he saw me without makeup.  Why do we worry so much about what we look like? Sure, to be healthy and in shape is one thing, but to be consumed with how we look in the eyes of others is  curious. Since  the beginning of time, there have been stories about looks. Just think about Narcisus.

So the mirror is a wonderful piece that encapsulates all of these things. As a piece of art it’s mediocre, but as a compilation of the four things it makes for great conversation!