Another year older!

I turned another year older yesterday, it was a beautiful sunny day, 72 degrees. We celebrated by buying me a new digital camera -- I'm so in love with it!! I think it's smarter than I am but it's fun to be learning something new. The years go so fast I sometimes feel like I'm caught in space - just spinning - not making any headway. Here's my first attempt at painting "in" the picture - I've not yet learned to edit in the camera though.

Making progress! My dining room is a dining room again! Finally have everything that's going back to the studio - there. Items that will be stored in the garage are in boxes waiting to go out. Lots of empty boxes waiting to rearrange the shelves and cabinets in the garage so I can store my "not used every day but want to keep handy" items :) This will allow me to have more free working room in the studio and I can move things in and out depending on what I'm working on. Sculpting supplies in one area, painting supplies in another and space to store various projects I'm working on. Right now I have a mosaic in progress, a couple of sewing projects and a special memory project for my family. I like keeping things together so when I have some time I can just pull out the bin and everything I need to work is right there. The down side to that is having enough supplies to store several projects :) But at least I know where things are -- ie, I know my alcohol inks are with the spoon books I'm making for Christmas.

Finished a couple birthday gifts and ready to start on Christmas. I still have to finish the living room drapes but I'll try and work on both at the same time.

Rainy Sunday

Our wonderful Indian Summer seems to have come to an end. The rain started this afternoon and the temperature is dropping. It was nice though to be able to have the windows and doors open while we were painting. Now comes the fun part of painting a mural on one wall in the bedroom...I'll work on designing it while catching up on other things this next week.

The studio is ready to move back into - but where do I put all the stuff I took out? I want to keep it organized and uncluttered so I can find what I have when I want to use it. It's wonderful always having just that little item you need, but it's often buried under a stack of other little items waiting to be used. I started with fabric, several bins have gone to the attic and books were next. Three boxes to "go", not sure if I want to sell them or just donate them someplace. Another two boxes I'm not ready to get rid of yet that will stay in the garage. Those that I want to keep available on a daily basis have gone back onto the bookshelves, just in another room. My fingers are itching to get back to work, I'm so glad we got everything painted and cleaned but now I want to do something a little more creative.

My sculpting group has thinned out, several moved on to other pursuits. I miss our get-togethers, seeing what everyone is working on and feeling the vibes that come with a group of artists. I have several things scheduled that won't put as much pressure on my right hand, after many years of working in the clay arthritis has become a problem. To give it rest I have other outlets ready, a mosaic to finish, some needlework to frame and some will be made into pillows for gifts. A painting I promised last year, a scrapbook to finish for my granddaughter -- more than enough to keep me busy when it's too cold to be outside. Potted the last of my starts that I'll overwinter in the house so now it's just the cleanup before winter is here.

And, yes, I'm still working on the book (s).

Halloween

I don't have any little ones anymore but still enjoy Halloween and all that goes with it. Here's some pictures of my favorite little goblins and big ones too!

Fall is here

We've had rain, cold and sunshine again, very strange weather this entire year but the sun is shining today. We're still working on the house - sorting as we go along. We move everything out, paint and then before we move it back we go through everything, choosing what to keep, what to give away and wondering why we ever kept "that"? It's such a good feeling but takes so long and seems like we're never going to finish.

I'm doing well, taking the winter off from teaching any classes to get things here in order and make it easier on my family. It's been a year now and I've gotten into the routine and it's become a normal way of life for me. Thanks for all your good thoughts.

The new website has been delayed but I am taking time to enjoy doing some things just for fun and will have new items to show once everything is back to normal. Hope everyone is sculpting, sewing, collaging or whatever make you happy!!