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bags packed – check
cat food replenished – check
find items that went missing Wednesday = found one (right where I put it of course), the other may be in my class bag. End of month business issues – check unless something has slippeded my mind, always possible.
Packing the class bag was exciting. The work in process pleases me and all the odd bit are going to be fun to work with. It should at eat make a ood jumping off point for the studio discussion/
see you in Michigan!
Billings hosts a hot air balloon rally every Summer. On Sunday the dogs and I watched as the balloons filled and lifted off. Beau wanted to help. Seeing the sky filled with the color of these things is so cheery.
It is deep Summer now and the veggie garden is supplying wonderful taste treats (still no ripe tomatoes though).
This morning does feel Friday-ish for some reason… time to get to work! The new collection of “little words” is waiting and there’s a 9 a.m. appointment. Ah, for a real weekend with sand and surf and no place to be…
Sam-the-golden-wonder-dog has been home with Beau and me this week.
Watching the dynamic between the two dogs is interesting, especially in the morning. Sam is approaching 11, old age for a retriever. He had a bad injury as a very young dog and the resulting arthritis slows him down. His attitude is good and he’s happy but his style is different.
Watching him with Beau reminds me of the proverb “Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill”.
Sam is a serious working/hunting dog. The closest thing to a bird is his training dummy.
Beau’s game is to steal the dummy from Sam at every chance then run around in circles trying to entice Sam to give chase.
Sam watches.
Eventually Beau, being young and NOT a retriever, gets distracted, whereupon Sam gets the dummy back and the games continue.
I am easily entertained when it comes to the four-leggeds in my life.
Hooray! the deadlines are met! early, sort of.
All three phases of my project for The Quilt Show are in. (Members can download them as .pdf files)
Images of three new pieces are off to the Curator for a traveling exhibition.
Now attention and focus can shift. There are lots of other items on my list.
taxes need to be amended
a writing project – edit!
preparation for Fabrications in a little over a month, this will be my 5th year there, I think. Repeat retreats are wonderful. It’s such a great opportunity to really work with people over time.
New work that has been on hold for too long. The human scale folding pieces have been on my mind for a couple of years now. It’s time to start working on them.
meanwhile, in the garden:
These dark red hollyhocks are out by the garden gate and visible from my large studio window. This is a good red.
Raspberries! the taste of summer, just beginning to ripen now.
Teasel. A volunteer in the East bed that we let grow, much to my dismay. It has taken over. The leaves are nice for sun printing and it is rather a statuesque plant, however…
It would be good to devote a day to digging out the young plants.
again? still? some weeks feel as though every day is a Monday. This has been one of them.
We enjoyed some cooler weather on the heels of very hot days. This made working in the gardens a top priority. Once we get into triple digits the task becomes watering and weeding, thinning, trimming, pruning go on hold until it is cool enough to enjoy being outdoors. Or, if not enjoy, then at least tolerate. I did not get everything done that was on my list, but a huge dent was made. This is a good thing.
One of my soft spots is the “volunteer seedlings”. It is difficult to pull them until I see what colors the columbine are for example. The standard yellow/red blooms can be pulled but what if the purple and white ones were! horrors… I’d much prefer to have them in the paths until a fair decision can be made. 
It’s the same thing with the hollyhocks, a sentimental favorite in the “cottage garden”. The deep reds are elusive, the pale pinks ubiquitous. Once it is clear what color a given plant will flower out, then I can remove it or let it stay.
A few years ago I planted black hollyhocks. They should flower this year.
While doing all the ruthless thinning and weeding this week, thoughts of editing were roiling about. How is this garden work similar to editing in the studio? Not everything that grows can be left in place. There would be too much competition for available light, water and nutrients. Not every idea or attempt in the studio sees the light of day. Some things go away before pen is taken to paper, paint to canvas, needle to cloth. Others pieces are started, a process or an idea is worked through and the work is edited out, leaving room for the challenging task of making something new, learning abut the concept, exploring the image.
Lately I have been working to deadlines, something avoided for the last several years. My preference is to make the work that is waiting to be made and when an invitation or entry opportunity presents itself, pull from the completed and available pieces. It is a challenge right now to have faith that the pieces in process will not require editing out, weeding from the path, culling…
Each day a little more is revealed in the studio excavation. It had seemed the silks were gone but no! more have been unearthed. These will be packaged as scraps, 6×9″ bags, see the store page.
Another “little rooms ” is finished and in gallery four, .
I still need to photograph and list the works on paper as well as all the wonderful embellishment boxes…
With all the heartache and income interruptions created by the open heart surgery, It is time to launch a major, my studio to your home, sale! By Saturday, April 10, it should be ready to go. Something for everyone, I hope!
Shop early, make offers, let’s clean all this stuff out to make room for new work, new ideas and fresh starts.
what a ride it’s been. this is the first time in over a week that i’ve been able to sit at the computer for more than 10 minutes..
Michael is home from the hospital (open heart surgery on the 15th), Right now everything is slow motion, small distances, little movements, lots of adjustments. It will be five weeks before he can drive again.
I will be home for the duration. As his mobility increases, I hope to get back to work… all those ten minute incremental routines established while my wrist was healing will come in very handy <G>.
Everything comes into sharp focus in this sort of situation.
Modern medicine, sheer luck catching the situation, what is and is not important…
“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Earlier this morning, a friend described February as “the month of 28 Mondays”. Perfect!
This is usually a month that I welcome. Once it is over, March is here, bringing Spring and all those nice changes. This year Winter has been relentless. Even though this, the shortest month, is nearly done, it seems the ice ruts in the streets are permanent.
The crusty coating on paths I usually walk with the dogs is stuck in a freeze/thaw, freeze/thaw cycle.
We have had more gray days than not. I miss the sun.
The last few weeks have been spent away: a wonderful visit to Berkeley, my first trip to Northern California. It was a delight. Then just enough time at home to repack and off I went to Iowa for the annual retreat. Driving allowed Beau to go with me. As always, he acquitted himself very nicely, made friends, had a good time. He travels well and is a good companion, helps me maneuver the ice, keep track of everyone and remember to exercise every day. Now I am home until the latter part of March.
Then there’s a workshop in Florida, the Retreat in Colorado Springs and a new Retreat in Ann Arbor, MI. see my schedule page for details.
Right now seems to be time a good opportunity for re-grouping, pulling in, paying attention.
some photos from this morning’s daybreak:
what lovely color as the sun rose. Now it is gray again.
Off to walk the dogs and then will spend time setting things in order around here. what a repetitious adventure that is! wouldn’t it be nice to do it once and have it done? where are the pixies???
December 28. I am already writing “january” and “2010″. This past year has presented many challenges and much heartbreak. There have been roses and bright spots amongs the thorns and clouds – it is all an opportunity for growth, eh? My regular end of year, beginning of the next assessments got shelved in 2008 and 2009 due to all the emotional demands of lives in transition. Essentially the goal was to get through it all.
This year the reassessment process began shortly after Thanksgiving. It is slow going as I try to look at life clearly.
On my list of things to change:
greater studio discipline. This means more time for the studio work and less spent on line. Now that my head is clearing this will be easier. Still to do: create more clear space by sifting, sorting and clearing out things no longer appropo to my work.
more time and energy for self-care: Over the last few years much of my emotional energy has gone toward family in stress, to grieving and to coping with multiple layers of loss. This has depleted my reserves and now it is time to pay attention: improve my diet, walk more, continue with therapies for my back and neck (still damaged from the car wreck in late April), and take more time for play.
Working smarter, not more or harder; Consolidating where it can be done: streamlining the teaching schedule, being more disciplined about the on-line work and doing a better job of keeping up with writing obligations. Letting each aspect of my professional life feed the others.
The word that underlines all of this for me is “mindfulness”. When mindfulness is part of my daily life, inspiration and wonder are ever-present. This informs the creative work, makes me a better teacher and allows me to offer more at every layer of my life.
As always, having a seamless life is important to me. Compartmentalization is handy for lists and schedules but not a good tool for a person who operates in a global rather than linear manner.
There are specific intentions in each of the areas of my life and perhaps there will be a time and place for discussing them. Or maybe the blog will bevccome an arena for keeping on track with moving through the year. We’ll see.
Meanwhile I wish for you a peaceful transition into the new year, good health, and time enough for the parts of your life that are most important to you.
Dusk is falling. The day is winding down – except for the fact that the list for the day isn’t any shorter. sigh.
Spaces have been cleared, a lot of paperwork dispensed with, emails answered, a grocery run accomplished (once the vehicles could be started. Apparently 10 below is too cold without help from the block heater.) Some new items are uploaded to the Etsy site and prices are dropping on the web site. Eventually things will find new homes and my storage spaces will clear up a little more.
I know I have been busy and productive, it just doesn’t feel that way. The problem is that everything takes longer than I think it should.
My ability to accurately gauge time investments seems to have disappeared.
Maybe it is an age thing. Perhaps it is true that there are more distractions in the household these days and that gets in the way of my ability to focus.
At any rate, the days are very short and I am looking forward to Solstice.
The East Arbor does not look like this today.
It looks more like this:
We had a short and cold Spring. Summer disappeared in a haze of emotion and Autumn was abbreviated by a record breaking freeze in early October. Little wonder that I am ill prepared for Winter, which officially, isn’t even here yet .
