winter tightens her grasp on us all

The temperature is dropping outside; my feet are cold, though this room is the warmest one in the house. I'm wearing one-piece striped pyjamas that look like an old man's long underwear (without the escape hatch in the back, however), and wish they were the feet-in-the-feet kind as well, for added warmth. I suppose I'll sleep in my socks again tonight. I'm already tired of not being able to open the windows at night, of the layer of dust constantly present due to forced air heating (in spite of my efforts to keep up, and I'm all out of Swiffers); tired of putting more clothing on at night, instead of taking it off, and tired of restricting my calorie intake to compensate for the greatly-reduced amount of exercise I'm getting the past two months. Tired of dry skin, dry hair, dry eyes. Tired of salt stains on my shoes.

Good thing there's always something to keep me busy on the weekends. I've just posted some updates over at True Companion, and in spite of the crappy turnout at our closing reception for Raveling Mercies I can feel good about that project and the work I completed for it. I received the most People's Choice votes for my piece, but since it's a show I curated myself I certainly cannot give myself the award; so I traded places with the second place winner, and it's a privilege to have shown with her in any case. She only had one less vote. I hope she takes her husband out for a nice dinner on the modest award check. Over the past few weeks I've heard some helpful comments about my work, and that's the best reason to show.

For instance: Though the theme was dark (starvation in Somalia), another artist admired my "playfulness" of technique, and the way I integrated text into the piece. Someone compared the fabric piece to a watercolor, in the way the colors and shapes flow together rather than being pieced with regular precision. Someone else said it brought a tear to her eye. I wasn't able to get much technical advice but I wasn't expecting anyone to judge the work harshly in that light either. I can feel good about the piece. (It's called "Keep Looking" and you can see it over at True Companion if you're interested -- just follow the link in the sidebar.)

Oh, but I'm tired now. Had a headache today, have to be up for church in the morning and shouldn't push it. Just washed my face and now it and my hands need lotion...sleep tight, all you dreamers.