Remember that pen I spent over an hour looking for, that I finally found waiting in plain sight? I was asked about it, and basically the question was why it mattered, was it for something special. My response was that I just happened to want to use it for some writing I was going to do. And while that was true, there is a little more to it than that.
I have four, maybe five, pens that I consider nice or fancy. Two of them really are, at least as far as I can tell and the other two are more just nice and you can get refills for them. One of those is one that is made of wood and has my middle name carved or etched into it. I got that instead of my first name because they were out of my first name and I wouldn’t get a chance to see if they were going to get my first name because they were closing. In addition to it having my name etched into it, it also has Cypress Gardens etched into it. I bought, or it was bought for me, when I visited Cypress Gardens just before it closed. The other one just showed up at my home one day. I think someone left it. It happens to have a nice metal barrel and is well balanced and a nice weight. Neither of these were the focus of that search.
The pen that was, is one of the for sure nice pens. I have two Cross pens that were gifts when I was a teen, one for Christmas and the other, I believe, was for my high-school graduation. I knew where the one from Christmas was. I still have it in the case so it’s easier to keep track of. The graduation one was the one I was looking for. I don’t remember if it came in a nice case originally. It did come with a padded sleeve to keep it in just like the one with the case. Anyway, because it only has the sleeve it can be a little harder to keep track of. This particular pen has a nice matte black finish with the bits of gold trim and I happen to like the feel of it.
What I was writing wasn’t anything special, just some notes for some projects, I think. But I wanted to write with that pen because sometimes writing with the fancier or nicer stuff can lead to a shift in thought or perspective. And honestly it wasn’t that I was consciously looking for that shift in perspective, it had more to do with feel. I wanted that solid feel of the metal, and the even weight, and the way it would glide across the paper. It was purely for the aesthetics of the experience that I wanted to write with it.
I’m also trying to remember to “use my good stuff”. If we are fortunate to have a nice something, pen, set of dishes, instrument, whatever, many of us, I think, succumb to the mindset of saving the good stuff for a special occasion. Often without defining what that special occasion might be.
So. I was going to do some writhing and wanted to use my “fancy” pen.
And that’s the story of the pen, that I spent and hour or more looking for.
In other news.
I did get to spend some time painting and drawing this past weekend, as I had planned, though not nearly as much as I planned. And though I’m a little disappointed at that I’m really happy about the reason and the results. I spent a good bit of Sunday cleaning up, cleaning out, and reorganizing the studio. And it feels so good now. For some reason I tend try to put too much stuff in there and end up crowding myself out and gumming up the works. So cleaning out the studio was a good thing. I then spent large chunks of Monday working on a drawing in the fresh, uncrowded atmosphere of a clean studio. It was heaven.
Art wise I don’t have a lot new to share. I did more work on the taekwondo painting and it feels more complete now. I also did a bit of a glaze over the flower part of the flower painting to add some color depth. I have not started paint on the other painting yet. I haven’t decided if I’m going to start it before my upcoming Orlando trip for the day job, or wait until after I get back. It will likely depend on how compelling it becomes between now and then.
And that’s all I’ve got for this week.
Cheers!