thinking about turning points

I've had a lot of time this summer to sit still and think about things

and now that one of the on line artist groups that I have been a member of for a long time is "reinventing" itself and changing a lot of their "rules" to belong to the group -- including asking all of us to "reapply for membership"

this was not necessarily a decision I wanted to make right now, but I have been thinking that it may be time soon to make this choice anyway

and here's why --- this is the last piece of beaded jewelry I finished -- last October -- almost a year ago --

and even though I've been keeping up with reading the challenges, etc., from the bead group since then, I have simply not felt inspired to create anything for them

to a large extent, my tastes and style in this art medium seem to no longer be valid -- certainly the total lack of sales and very low number of views on my Etsy page for this medium indicate that --

part of that may also be that I have not been willing to make a piece like this one and practically give it away in terms of the price I charge for it -- my time is worth something, and I'd rather spend it in working on something that at least makes my soul happy!

like this piece, for example

I made it for my daughter in 2013, and I recently "recalled" it to do some updating

so now it has a lot clearer definition of the individual pumpkins and a lot better shadow

and I enjoyed doing that

there is the fact that all seven of these pieces are currently on display in shows or galleries right now which feels a lot more rewarding!

and there is the human factor

the community of fiber artists that I can actually be an active part of in this area is large and very rewarding

it may well be time to hold a giant sale in my Etsy store to clear things out (and maybe actually make a little money) and then to seriously consider revamping and re branding it --- or creating a freestanding website again --- or both

in the meantime, while I'm thinking about that, I'm still working on the big garden piece

the deck and the planter boxes are done, and I've started on the gate that goes at the far right edge of the decking

and I've started on the fusing of the ice cream freezer -- working on a piece of parchment paper over the line drawing lets me see what the pieces look like, and to move them around or change the colors until I'm happy with how it looks

meantime, I finished this reflection study, and I'm really happy with how it looks

this piece is about 13" x 13", and originally I was going to cut it down to 12"x12" and donate it for next year's SAQA auction

but I don't want to cut it

and I want it to have enough "presence" when hung that it looks like a piece of art, not just a big potholder

my solution to that is that I'm going to mount it on a canvas -- of course you can't get a 13"x13" canvas -- but I was able to get a 14"x14" one, so now I need to think about what color that 1" border all around it will be

my garden is starting to be more productive

I'm picking tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchinis about every other day now, and I should have green beans soon

YEAH!

the big deal here this week was the eclipse

we had heard that animals are impacted by this kind of solar phenomena

apparently Mr Benson didn't hear that

this was his "I'm watching the eclipse" pose --- sound asleep on the couch!

onward!

searching for a new "normal"

I'm stronger, but not totally recovered -- I went to my master class on Friday and came home pretty exhausted -- feeling enough better that I want to do everything that I was doing before, but still not there yet

now that I can manage stairs fairly easily, I've been back in the studio

and the first order of business was getting the three pieces that are going to the NCAR exhibit ready to hang

which meant that this 12"x12" piece had to be mounted on a canvas

and I had to find an appropriately sized box (a trip to a local small market did the trick there -- they were willing to give me a pizza box that I could paste a new label on!)

the other two pieces needed slats and wires and bags, and I've almost finished that part too -- looking good!

I'm working on the pieces for the garden piece

the only other piece I've done this way was the mailbox piece (that isn't quilted yet), and at the end I had a few issues with things fitting together correctly on that one, so I'm hoping for the best on this one -- hopefully I learned something the first time!

the sky/trees/fence part went together great, and the hose pieces (that will hang from the trellis at the front of the piece) are ready

so now I'm working on the decking that runs between the planter boxes

sometimes a piece returns for some "refreshing"

I made this piece for my daughter a few years ago, and it has returned to the studio so I can improve the definition between the individual pumpkins and improve the shadow on the floor

this will be the next thing at the sewing machine, and shouldn't take too long to get done

this photo of an old ice cream maker will be the subject of the next small piece

I think it will be a good companion piece with this milk can piece

so the map has been drawn and it's time to select fabrics!

we are actually starting to get some goodies out of the garden

last week was rainy and cool much of the week, but this week is supposed to be warmer, so I expect I'll be picking a lot more things out there!

ok -- just what is Mr Benson thinking as he sticks his tongue out at me?

only he knows, but it is a cute picture, and it might end up as an art quilt!!

Recovering

As my surgeon stressed to me before I was released from the hospital, recovery is not a linear path.

I've had some really good days -- I was able to make the trip to the Costco where we shop to get what we needed there --

and I've had some not so good days -- like the day after that Costco trip where I was pretty wiped out and spent most of the day snoozing in my chair

I have been back to the studio to work this week

this small piece is a test run that I had started just before I went to the hospital -- I needed to explore how I was going to create a reflective surface on the water of the big Rio Grande piece

I'm pleased with how the reflection of the mountains in this little piece looks, so I will be using this approach on the big one

work on the fence for the garden piece is moving right along now

this is a pretty big piece -- about 55 inches wide, so it's taking a while to built fencing and lattice that wide!

one of the things I missed this month was my class in Boulder with a great group of fellow artists

I was totally amazed when this floral arrangement arrived the day after that class from the whole group!

our garden has begun to actually produce!  we picked two of these lovely cukes this week, and the tomato plants are starting to set fruit too -- yippee!!

I was notified this week that these three pieces were accepted into a local show that will run from the end of August through October 1

for the first time I actually need a spread sheet to keep track of all the different places I currently have work on display --- WOW!

Mr Benson seems to be sleeping with one eye open here --- no doubt he's keeping an eye on me! 

I'm getting stronger every day

The Lost Week

when I last posted here I was working on projects, entering things in shows and getting ready to go any have what was supposed to be a relatively easy procedure to have a polyp removed that was discovered in my colonoscopy

uh, not so much

the polyp turned out to be twice as big originally thought, and while it seemed that every thing was fine, at 1:30 the next morning I was back in surgery having part of the colon removed because the bowel had perforated (and when they do that surgery in the middle of the night, you get a nice 8 inch incision full of staples as a "souvenir", and they don't mess around with taking "just a snip" off the edges)

and just to add insult to that injury, the antibiotic that took care of making sure I didn't develop peritonitis left me open to another nasty infection -- c. diff

so in the end, what was supposed to be an over night stay ended up being a whole week in the hospital and I'll have a lot longer recovery period

my home coming was made quite festive by the roses on the table and the amazing batch of chicken and dumplings that was the evening meal on Sunday

one thing that the longer recovery period means, however is that I will not be able to do the Artist in Residence program at Caribou Ranch this summer

I'm pretty bummed about that

the up side of the reason I can't go this year, is that I have been invited to do it next year without reapplying

cool!

before all the "excitement" I had started doing the quilting on this piece

I decided to start at the horizon line and have done most of the stitching in the green area

I still have not figured out exactly how I will make the reflection look more "reflection-like", but I have a bit of time to think about it as it will be a few days (probably not until next week sometime) before I can get back to my studio to work on it

I had also started working on the fence for the garden piece, which was rolling right along

I'm hoping to get back to this one by the end of this week since it is hand work that I'll be able to work on as soon as I can tolerate having the box it's in rest in my lap

the last couple of days in the hospital, I felt well enough to be watching the view from my 5th floor room and snapped a few pictures of sunrise and hot air balloons

I may be able to use these for some art pieces in the future -- sunrise photos are always useful for picking off parts of for landscapes

while I was away,  I was notified that these two pieces that I had entered in shows did not get accepted

bummer

which means I'll be watching for other shows to enter them in

this piece, however, was accepted and will be part of a show titled "Gone to the Dogs" in the Niza Knoll gallery in Denver.

whoop!!

very cool news indeed

and while I've been out of commission, Mr Benson has been hanging out at my daughter's house

one evening she sent me this cute "get well card" from him

I'm hoping to have him back at home tomorrow afternoon -- I think by then I will be able to manage taking care of him, and it will give me a reason to walk slowly to the mail box so he can check all of his "p-mail" messages

and for the next week or so, the focus is to heal and get stronger

onward!

another week, another show entry

it's complete!

and I did the entry yesterday, three days ahead of the deadline

Whooo Hoooo!!!

and so the waiting begins on this one too

still fiddling with this piece before I start quilting on it

I didn't like how dark the clouds there in the center were -- wanted something more orange

but now that those new orange ones are in, I think they may be TOO orange, because now that's the first thing you see, which was not what I had in mind

I may not be done fiddling with this one

I've been working on the drawings for the next big piece

it's based on this photo, that I've been wanting to work with for a while, but just now feel like I might be able to actually do

we'll see how that all goes!

a little utilitarian stitching seemed in order after finishing the big quilting project, so I whipped up two pair of pj bottoms -- one pair for my son in law, and a matching pair for Mr Cute -- my daughter had picked up this great flannel for them

both pairs from start to finish in about an hour

this I can do practically in my sleep!

the DH has been busy in the garage workshop again

these dining room chairs are over 100 years old

and now that the stain has been freshened up and new seats installed, they should last us a few years more

looking good!

Mr Benson got a new toy this week

a toy he got a week before had been decapitated within half an hour after he got it, and when I posted a picture of his handiwork on the FaceBook page of the place that toy came from, they sent him a whole new toy!

he's loving this one too