Category Archives: The Artist’s Life

Legitimized by the Internet

Posted on by
Reply

It occurred to me that even though I have shared the recent publication of this article with my social network, my professional network, my family network and probably a few random people in between, that I have not put it out there in the blogosphere.  So as a formal announcement to all my loyal Marglish readers. I’ve been published!

Consciousness and Capability from The Story Department.com by Margaret M. MacDonald

Enjoy the read if you haven’t already.  Hopefully this will be the first of many.  This is very dangerous validation for an opinionated writer like myself.  I might actually start assuming that people want to hear what I have to say.

Re-Up Inspiration

Posted on by
Reply

You may have wondered why there have been such extensive delays between my last few posts.  It’s not that nothing interesting has happened over the past few weeks, quite the opposite.  I saw Joss Whedon talk to a sold out crowd at the Sydney Opera House.  I took my very first trip into the great state of Victoria.  “The place to be” according to the license plates.  I finally got my chance to see Tim Burton, The Exhibition, a jam packed show of twisted creatures and wild haired characters.  I felt very at home amongst them all.  I wonder what that means.  And I took my first trip to a Sydney emergency room.  They may have a public health care system in Australia, but it doesn’t make service in the ER any faster.  I think its about time the rest of us quit complaining.  I’m fine, by the way.  All five fingers are functional and the skin is growing back nicely.

I have also been busy dealing with that thing called everyday life.  Bills and groceries, logistics and planning, phone calls and meetings, forgetting my umbrella, missing the train by a split second, and hearing plenty of call hold music.  Why is it always so bad?  In fact, the only thing that seems to be lacking from my life right now, is some inspiration.  The images that normally dance through my mind and the voices that tell me interesting stories, have all been pushed out and replaced with to do lists and deadlines.  My mind looks less like the a color wheel of infinite shades, and more like the greyish mush that comes off on your hands after reading the business section.  How boring!

So I’m on a mission to rectify this situation.  I have to wake up those voices and clear the fog so I can see those images again.  The potential for fascinating stories and stunning images is all around me.  It was in Joss Whedon’s words when he talked about why he wrote.  It was in the manic eyes of Tim Burton’s scrawled out characters.  It’s in the puffy clouds outside my window, the sweetly scented spring air, the fascinating cast of characters I met in the emergency room, and even in the terrible call hold music.  So it’s time to sit back and let it all soak in.  Time to fill my head with ideas that are good, bad, or downright insane, and see what emerges into the tangible world.  I’m finally ready.  So come on Australia!  Inspire me!

In the meantime, check out more of my photos from Melbourne on flickr.

I Survived the Creative Process

Posted on by
1

For those of you who wondered why Marglish has gone through such a lengthy radio silence, know that it was not due to the death of my inner monologue or a lack of interest in sharing it with the outside world in bursts of bad grammar.  My creative endeavors have been drawn away from my writing and toward the other side of my personality, the mad designer.  For the past several weeks my inner sculptor, painter, decorator, bargain shopper and glue connoisseur has been working away at turning this massive block of medium density foam . . .

Into this theater set!

And it was all done from the comfort of my livingroom floor.  This truly takes working from home to a new level.  Wrangling these fridge sized blocks used up a lot of elbow grease, encouraged a few dangerous encounters between bare feet and dropped knifes, and covered my carpet with snowy pills of foam that would stick to anything within a wide static cling radius.

I also used my expert illusionist skills to turn much more manageable sized pieces of foam into the materials our budget couldn’t afford.

The fun didn’t stop there.  I also constructed all the props, which involved covering a number of odd items with brown paper.


Did you know that when a ballon covered in paper, still moist with glue, pops in your hands it makes quite a mess.

I addition to all the glue sniffing I did at home.  I also spent a fair amount of time being a diligent shopper, ignoring the stares I got as I elbowed my way through all the beige clothing at the local op shops, and politely refusing offers of help at the hardware store.  “No, I’m not lost.  I just like to go up and down every aisle.  You never know when you might find a random piece of industrial tubing that could be turned it a fashion accessory.”

All in all, I’d say my literal blood, sweat, and tears was worth the result.  Wouldn’t you?  


You can learn more about this set from immmagination.com and see the rest of the photos on flickr.  I’ve since recovered from all the paper cuts, hand cramps, and have managed to scrape most of the glue from under my fingernails.  Though, I think there are still a few snowballs of foam hiding under the couch.  I’ve more news to catch you all up on so keep your eye on the page for an increased frequency of creative rants and travel-logs.  In the meantime, I’ll be vacuuming under the couch again.