2023 Art Show Schedule

 

 

 

Trying something new

  Here I am sharing a work in progress.  That's not easy for me to do. But I hadn't touched base in a while and wanted to share what I've been up to, other than the Flash Sales I've been flooding my social media sites with, my alternative to art shows right now. I'm sharing something I don't anticipate ever taking the place of my ultimate creative expression, my photography, but something that is sparking my interest none the less. "Painting". I need to keep reminding myself that its ok to try something new that you aren't good at yet. That experimenting helps you grow in all areas of your life. So, here's a couple of images of my work in progress. Yes, I do have a real life easel ordered to make it easier. I'm curious to see where we'll end up. I'm using some old, textured glass saved from my window projects in place of a canvas or board. I'll try to be brave and share the finished results, warts and all. Hope with me that I make it through with both ears intact. (tortured artist joke) Wish me luck!

Be Well,

Quilts and Metaphors

     I found a quilt top in my fabric stash. It had made it through several "destashings" but I have no memory of buying it. It must have been an estate sale years ago. It has been pieced by hand and some by machine and it is all together charming. It does need a few repairs though as you can see from above. A perfect opportunity for me to indulge my visible mending habit.  

         Here's some images of the old quilt pieces I plan to use to get the fabric patches from.  

They are bits and pieces of old quilts I've picked up over the years and managed to keep.  In fact one little bit is a pieced top tacked onto at least two older quilts. Look at what I found in the very center of the wooly mess.

That once cherished quilt made with the tiniest stitches buried deep but still there at the center. 

Stay with me. I will, I think, get to the metaphor part I hope.

As I work to separate the layers of the quilt I was going to use to patch the "new" old quilt, I thought about how it seemed to reflect so much of what was going on around me in the world. The layers of history. The damaged and useless bits. The mistakes stitched in and buried deep. Instead of fixing the surface and attaching it to a damaged and disintegrating core, I will do the work and find the pieces that were worth keeping. The pieces that would serve the new quilt well. They would reflect what I value. The new quilt would be stitched with the best bits of the old. The bits that are wrong, broken, and no longer part of a quilt of beautiful different pieces joining and coming together as a whole, with a common purpose of comfort, art and honor? They aren't welcome in my life.

There are good things to keep but much more that no longer works and no parts of that need to be kept. 

I hope you and yours are keeping well. Wear your masks. Wash your hands. Make sure you're keeping the good parts of your quilt and getting rid of the rotten bits.

Thank you friend,

Don't Fence Me In

  It happened again.  I've described in the past how I will stop and be focused on something that caught my eye.  I'll take several photos, get just the right angle or wait for the light, only to turn and find what I was supposed to be looking at in the first place looking back at me.  That's what happened with this lady.  I was looking at the birds on my right only to turn around and burst out laughing at the Black Baldy checking me out.  Lesson reinforced. Pay attention.  Look for what you may have missed.

Be Well friend,

Window Gifts

     I took a break from my Spring.  I took a break from what I thought was going to be my Spring.  I was forced to take a break from what I thought my Spring was going to be.  We pretty much all did.  I didn't want to focus on promoting my work and sharing pieces that were for sale.  I felt kinda bad about it.  Like, I "should" be doing that, this is how I support myself,  but couldn't make myself.  So I allowed myself to not do that and let that part go until I was ready to take that up again.  It took about three weeks.  Then I got the opportunity to participate in a virtual art show Art Gone Viral and I replied Yes without thinking.  Afterward was when all the doubt three weeks of inactivity allowed to materialized.  But you know what?  By my saying Yes I sent a signal out there.  I was contacted by lovely folks that had purchased pieces from me in the past and were ready for more, generous friends determined they would spend some of their stimulus money on supporting artists they know, people found my work on my Etsy sites and started buying again.  And one lovely woman who had bought a large #WindowFramed piece from me a couple years ago thought of me when she was replacing the windows in her historic home (see the image above).  She contacted me to see if I would have a use for them.  She wanted me to have them and she wanted to commission a piece from one of them for their home, as a remembrance.  This generous gift touched me very deeply.  It affirmed that opening myself and my business back up, literally and figurately was the right thing to do and at the right time.  I WAS going to need more windows.  Everything is going to be ok.  Thank you Francesca for sharing the window gifts.  I promise to find them good homes with good people like you.  I'm ready to get back to work.

Be Well my friends,