Artful Adventures

A quick recap of the week-how did that fly by so quickly?

 Yesterday was a stormy,hot, humid, sticky icky kind of day, with storms hammering most of the state.  Just as it was getting close to the sun going down last night, it was storming and yet there was a spot where the sun managed to reach through and shine on top of a low layer of clouds.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but there were so many layers of clouds that were visible, making it strangely beautiful.

Not quite sure how last week flew by, but fly by it did!  Last week end Jeremy was here to help Gary take down some trees.  There's always some sort of glitch that happens so it never all gets done, but at least it's started.  In the middle of it, the chainsaw broke so that took several hours and an internet search to figure out how to fix it, and they were back in business.  Those 2 scare me when they do this-something ALWAYS happens, they've never gotten hurt but the potential has certainly been there! 

This time around, it was the ladder that took a beating.  A limb didn't go down as expected and just like that, the ladder got trashed.  But the good news is that neither of them were on it at the time!  Like I said-those 2 scare me sometimes! 

Gary did find time to rearrange some of his found metal treasures on a stump in the yard, and just like that we have new yard art!

Seeing that for this post, I'm just hitting a few things frm the week (more to come later) I have to share the baby birds:)  Chickadees set up house in a bluebird house (we have everything BUT bluebirds that use the 3 houses we have for them!) after hearing babies chirping last week end, it was time to investigate.  Gary was able to get a picture of them through the top of the box, but it has wire over it to keep unwanted critters out of there, so you'll have to look close to see them.  The 3 babies are all sitting butt to butt, so cute!    More & more flowers are blooming everyday, more pictures of that coming soon.  Funny story about the poppies, we tried for years & years to get a transplant to take of these flowers, what we didn't know is that once you get them, they take over!  After killing off some perennials with their rambunctious growth, we finally got them moved to an area that's not too bad, but they need to be moved again soon.  Last week, I was visiting Jen Worden's blog, and she mentioned how sometimes it seems like no art is being made, when in reality, it's really is being made, just not done & ready to show, and then all of a sudden there's a bunch that's done.  That's so true!  Once again, I have a bunch of things in progress, but nothing ready to post, although a couple of neckalces just need to be aged & polished and then they're ready to go.  But the canvas work, that's another story!  There's a bunch in various stages of completion, but with every layer of paint or glue, there's a day of drying it seems.  So my question is, when I see folks churning out a couple of canvases a day, how the hell do they do it!  Speaking of arting, Jen's challenge for this month is to grab one of the many art technique books you own and work through the book-great idea!  One of the books I recently got was Acrylic Revolution written by Nancy Reyner.  It's a great book with a ton of techniques, some of which I've done, but most are new to me.  The really nice thing (for me anyway) is she shows everything using Golden products which is what I use anyway, making it much easier to get the desired results, perfect!  And to make it even better, Michelle Ward's challenge for this month at her other site, GPP Street Team, is to work with a resist.  She's using wax (or crayon) for the resist, but there's a different resist technique in this book that I may try instead or do both, but any way you look at it, I can do both challenges at once, you gotta love it when that happens:)   Ok, I need more coffee!  One last photo of a portion of a shade garden we did last summer in the front of the house, which turned out even better than I'd hoped for.  Oh, one more thing-anyone joining me in sending in their skinny jeans?  Read the previous post if you need to refresh your memory, but lets all do this!

The party, the new year, & catching up

Last night was Gary's retirement party, he and 5 other retirees had one big party, the big final farewell.  Up until now, I don't think it had really sunk in that he was honestly retired.  Funny thing is that I thought he'd have major issues with it, as he doesn't do change very well.  Well, surprise, surprise, it's been me with the issues!  Never even crossed my mind that all the "alone" time that I've had was over, and it's been quite the transition, my little world & routines have been turned upside down.  But now it's time to make a "new normal", including geting back to regular blogging and consistent studio time.  More about that later, for now, back to the party--                                                                

My "baby brother" Kelly and his girlfriend Tina, joined in the celebration.  We live a couple of hours apart from each other and don't see each other nearly often enough, now we'll have the time to make the road trip up to visit more often.  Having all this time off is still a wierd concept!           

Jessie (on the left) and Michelle arrived after work, they're still reeling from the surprises we all get after purchasing that first home.  But they're doing fine with it, are happy, and will have the place whipped into shape in no time at all-with a little help from this end on color choices:)         

Last but not least, Jeremy drove up from Madison with his girlfriend Aloka (not sure if I spelled that right!) to help celebrate.  Is she gorgeous or what!!  This was the first time we've met, and it was a most pleasant experience, she's a real sweetheart who promised to take me around to all the bead shops in Madison, won't be turning that offer down:)  

With everything feeling off-kilter, Gary retiring and then his surgery, the holidays, finally the party, I never did get around to doing a post about the New Year, and if how fast January is speeding by is any indication of the year ahead, it's going to be a wild ride!  For now, I do want to thank all of you for continuing to stop by, for the support and wonderful comments that you all leave, and to wish you all the very best for 2008!   With permission granted, I also want to share this post  written by the talented Patricia Anders on her blog.  She so beautifully expressed everything I wish for each and everyone of you.  Patricia, thanks so much for allowing me to share this! 

For my art buds, remember that artists, like writers and musicians are magicians, creating from nothing, with a germ of an idea we create the magic that feeds the soul, and the spirit. So, whether you do it part time or full time, may your well not run dry this year, may the ideas overflow as you  wake each day with blissful intention and may your adversitys, your road blocks and mind blocks be minimal.

for those of you raising kids, or working jobs, here is hoping you find the time to sing your soul, at least once a week, at least for a couple of hours. That is my wish for you.  While I would love for your etsy shops to explode with sales, its not really about the sales. Heres hoping you explode with enthusiasm for developing your own vision, without fussing or fretting about what people think or if it will sell or not. When you create for the joy of it, for the learning of it, when you lose time while doing it, then you know you are living your best self as its about the journey, the outcome is simply the residue of that journey. Not happy with the first one, it means you are suppose to make another, and another and another, as an artist it is your job to create! quit cleaning the studio and buying more supplies! create! and that is what god wants you to do, and remember you don't have to show every thing you make, be your own best critic and  don't let dissappointment paralyze you, let it compel you, be on a mission, the more you make, the closer you get. Let your intuition direct you, no fear this year, thats my philosophy, hope you like it. XO

                              

An invitation from my husband!

My husband saw how much fun I was having, talking about the upcoming Bloglandia Ball, that he wanted to play too:)  He actually made this art piece with absolutely no help from me at all-he picked & dried the flower petals himself that he used to create this, and even wrote up an invitation!  We've been married for 29 years, and he still manages to surprise me once in a awhile-his little poem he wrote for the invitation about knocked me right over-I had NO clue that he even knew what was poetry was!  So here it is-his art & his words.  If you feel so inclined, please leave a comment, so that I can show them to him.  He was afraid that it "wouldn't be good enough", and I'd love to show him just how great it really is.   

come to the ball

mother nature received a call

will you please come to our ball

so she came in fall’s full array

in the moonlit night she danced away

g.l.p.