Friday, August 15, 2008

daylilies





















One more walk through my garden to say " see you again in 2 weeks" to all my flower friends. Here are some of them, smiling full blast. Their faces are so different, even if they all belong to the same Daylily family. I keep inviting other members of this family in and a new bed, dedicated to them only, is being prepared in a sunny spot. Mid-July to the end of August, they all come out to show off: as soon as one face wilts, a fresh one pops out on the same stem! But they get tired of this after a while and become introverted, showing only their slim foliage.

Yesterday's presentation went so well and my teacher asked the invitees "Doesn't she look like Lucille Ball"? I remember watching Lucille and Dezi Arnez in "I love Lucy" as a kid and she is a comic icon. More comments: my role was sad and funny at the same time, touching but not pathetic, "real" because I showed the motherly side of my homeless character. One director felt that my strength was in the writing of my dialogue. I am learning that the more often I play the role, the more it evolves and deepens. We are aiming towards not acting but BEING (as in life, I realize). The art is the performance and the actor is the canvas. I begin with a blank canvas. I work on the painting until I feel it is done but looking at it afterwards, again and again. I know what I would do differently and I can use that insight for the NEXT painting/ role.... refining and simplifying it until I reach the truth.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Inunnguaq

I stand corrected about my rock sculpture......by coincidence. Kate helped me jumpstart my publishing skills and got a link going to Wikipedia. That site informed me that the rock cairns made to resemble human figures are named Inunnguaq and are not to be confused with Inukshuks. Definately, my pile of rocks is a male figure.

In the meantime, my sunburn has faded into a nice tan outline. I'm prepared to head out for our vacation on the Atlantic ocean at Cape Cod, about a 7-hour drive from here. It feels like an eternity since I opened my blog because so much has happened. I met all these amazing people who reacted to my write-up on Kate's blog and learned so much technical savvy by staying posted.

Tonight is the final evening of my 10-week acting course Phase I at the Montreal School of Performing Arts (MSOPA). I will be on stage performing as Sarah Blinski, a homeless woman. As a student, I was required to create a character from this name and write a monologue for her. I have a tiny bit of stagefright right now knowing that movie and theatre directors will be there. Since jumping out of an airplane at the "drop zone" in Empuriabrava, Spain I know it is all about the thrill of fear.

"If what Proust says it true, that happiness is the absence of fever, then I will never know happiness. For I am possessed by a fever for knowledge, experience and creation".
Anais Nin

Monday, August 11, 2008

Make an Inukshuk

It is a hot July morning and my partner and I decide to make an Inukshuk, which is a figure built with rocks. Inukshuks were originally created in the northern parts of Canada by the aboriginal people, to help them find their way in the vast territories. If there is one thing we have plenty of on our one acre, it is rocks of all shapes and sizes. We rolled the larger rocks onto our dolly and then dragged them to our chosen spot.We are a good team: I design and adjust, he places and comments. Here is the result of our efforts. It took us about and hour and a half. Also the results wearing a bikini but no sunscreen.