June 7th 2009

This is yesterday's picture, I just finished it. Didn't know what to do with it so left it for today. Will have to do two things tomorrow to keep up and that's okay.

I have had a problem in the past with getting pictures or projects about two-thirds finished and then getting very critical of them and not wanting to finish them. I seem to have got past that with this challenge, I just carry on regardless of how I'm feeling about what I've done because I have given myself permission to do bad art. I feel that I am free of the old voice that beat me up and then I would get angry and frustrated with myself. It was a vicious circle. I am really not so concered with the outcome, more just interested in finishing.

A friend from out of town called me today and we met for coffee at Granville Island. Had a very enjoyable visit. She is one of those wonderful friends who is always the same and is so accepting and without judgment. I really miss spending time with her, so it was a real treat to pass the time with her in a beautiful setting. The weather was warm and it got sunny later in the day.

On the way to Granville Island on the little Aquabus, we saw a seal. You don't often see much more that the tops of their heads and within a few seconds they are gone again. I love seals and am always reminded of Clarissa Pinkola Estes story Sealskin, Soulskin. The mythical story of a seal who is captured by a man, who steals her skin anf hides. The seal becomes a woman without it's skin and they marry and remain happily married for a few years. She bears him a child and when the child has grown she needs to return to sea but she can't without her skin. She begins to shrivel up and die. She eventually gets her skin back and returns to the sea. I can so relate to this story, hence my feeling of kinship with the seals.