Working in circles

So, it occurs to me that I've become mildly obsessed with circles. I've kind of realized for a while now that I'm drawn to circular shapes in art, but lately it's moved past "interested" to "OK, back away from the compass". I doodle circles. I paint circles. I paint circular egg cups. I've also been crafting with eggs, which though not a true circular shape, close enough. All of this makes me wonder if this is a womanly trait. I recently received feedback on an item I sold in my Etsy shop in which my wonderful buyer (the fabulous girl behind Skin and Tonic, previously mentioned in this blog) mentioned that she too, is fascinated with circles. What gives? Is it the organic shape? Is it reminiscent of the roundness of our curves? Why do circles feel so comforting? I suppose it makes sense that we encircle someone with our arms when we hug and our mouths make little circles when we kiss. Do men prefer circles or the more geometric squares? Who knows.

But here's a circle-themed poem that I committed to memory so many years ago, for your enjoyment:

Outwitted

"He drew a circle to keep us out. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took him in." ~Edwin Markham

Clutter

Oh the disorganization. Oh! Since the move to the new house, it's been a struggle to find everything in the mounds of boxes, still to be unpacked. My studio is built, but filled with said boxes so I am forced to craft, paint, and serve dinner on the kitchen table. The aftermath is a scratched up, painted up, cluttered kitchen table. What's worse is that I've begun the "spread". Craft supplies are creeping into the computer room, to the foot of our bed, my dresser, the bathroom (no joke, I have paintbrushes in the bathroom). So, it forces me to wonder if this disorganization is widespread amongst the artsy types. I'm hoping for a good excuse.

On the upside, amid all the clutter I was able to find some time to make some odds and ends. I have a plethora of wooden egg cups for my candles so I decided to paint some up and turn them into pincushions. I had read that if you put a tiny layer of super fine steel wool in them, it will help keep your needles sharp, so I added that. I think they turned out to be pretty cute. If you want to check them out, visit my shop, Lil Fish Studios, on Etsy.