Here's a challenge...

As my steps take me into Week Four of The Artist's Way, I've come upon an interesting task: "Reading Deprivation Week".

No reading this week. No books, magazines, newspapers. And I'm extending that to "No Facebook", since reading there usually takes up a wholllllle lot of time. The idea is to be able to Listen to what's going on within. To DO rather than to read. For someone who loves the printed word as much as I do, this is going to be very very interesting.

I already made up a litte "off for a week" sign for my FB profile and signed out. I'm also going to limit chatroom, Yahoo, and email reading - in other words, stay off the computer just as much as I can handle!

So, Reading is out. Writing, however, seems to be OK... so maybe I'll post a little more here. That's creative, right? ;)

"Remembrance."

After a long, long period of creative drought... I'm back in the workshop (newly christened "Studio"!) again. I've been working hard at trying to unblock myself, using "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron and faithfully doing my homework. Wasn't quite believing it, but all of a sudden ideas are popping into my head. Seriously. After years of drought, and only three weeks on this program!

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This week, while I was doing my Morning Pages (three pages, longhand, of just anything that comes into my head), a sentence popped onto the page:

"(God Says) Use what you have, and I will supply the rest."

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Yesterday, the form of a little necklace started rolling around in my head. My sweet husband and I are singing with a small ensemble at church Sunday morning, for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on our nation. I wanted something fresh to wear with a new black and white tweed jacket.

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Pale blue came to mind, in the form of some lovely blue lace agate beads I'd bought years ago. I had originally intended to make them into a rosary for my little Mom, but I never managed to get into the making of it. The more I thought, the more appropriate it seemed. Blue lace agate... Stone of high inspiration, supposed to help one reach high spiritual places. Calming of emotions, soothing for buildups of painful or irritated energy. I don't necessarily believe that stones have particular powers, but I do believe in the power of symbols on the mind and emotions - and what better influence for a memorial service for such an agonized, terror-ridden day?

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So, with those beads in mind, I went downstairs to the studio yesterday morning. And ended up sorting and cataloguing beads instead of making anything. Brainless work, it needed to be done, but I was suspicious that I was just delaying. Somehow it felt Okay, and I decided to just go along and see where I ended up. This morning, while writing my Pages, I suddenly found myself sketching and diagramming instead. Yesterday the idea was there, but fuzzy. Today, I was ready to start!

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Seems like a lot of to-do over just a simple little necklace. But I've been in such a drought, for so so long... the silver chain in my hands felt like water in the desert. The white clouds in the pale blue beads made me smile. My hands started remembering how to wrap the wire ends just... so. And I could just imagine Mom, my sweetest and best cheerleader, smiling as I used "her" beads.

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Remembering, on many levels. Remembering heart-rending pain and terror, remembering old beauty, remembering days when the world was sane and my Mom was here. Remembering how to do this work, remembering the joy in it. Calmness of spirit, coolness of blue and silver, and ready to lift my voice with my husband's and my friends' tomorrow in prayer and praise and solace for pain. So, only one name for this delicate little necklace:

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"Remembrance."

Working working working...

Craft show Saturday... what shall I make, what shall I make? I've got a good stock of herbal goods already done, main sales will probably be live herb plants from the greenhouses where I used to work. So... time to play a little maybe! I'm planning to put all of last year's jewelry on half price sale, so maybe a few new pieces for something fresh. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Update.

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Photo taken at class on 3-22-11... ALMOST THERE!
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The eggs are not done yet, and there's an area of nest by the far-right egg that needs detailing.
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And, this canvas has been around for so long, I'll have to touch up some worn spots in the background (not a major deal).
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I'm estimating a month, maybe... and I have ideas for the next subject already under way!

lost in the sticks... ;)
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Art Show Time!

Once every two years, our art studio has a Student Art Show - and this is the weekend! The studio holds us to "real" art show rules, brings in an outside judge, and basically helps prepare us for showing our work in the wide world. There is champagne for all, and tables full of appetizer and dessert-type nibbles brought by the students. (There's a competition for best in each category for the food - so we bring out our best!) We all pitch in to clean the studio, accept the entries, hang the show, and play host/hostess during the event. After the show we all head to a restaurant for the Awards Dinner, where the ribbon winners receive praise, adulation, and prizes.

So, today the studio was busy and buzzing, with everyone talking about final preparations. We're each allowed to enter two canvases, designated either "original" or "copy". Since I paint so slowly, I have only one entry this year - the goldfinch that I've previously posted in this blog.

To keep our "in-progress" canvases safe, the studio requires us to bring them home till after the show. So, I thought I'd post a pic of the progress on the daggone Blue Eggs In A Nest that I've been living with every Wednesday for a year and a half...



GETTING THERE... one stick at a time.

It's all an Illusion!

Some time ago, a good friend asked me to make her an Illusion necklace... I'd never tried one before, so I agreed to see what I could do. After a few starts-and-stops and much head scratching, here's what I came up with:
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Five strands of freshwater pearls in various sizes, with sterling silver crimps and findings. The ends are finished with 1/2" sterling bead cones, a lobster-claw style clasp on one side and a short length of chain on the other to allow for a little adjustment in size.





















All in all, I'm very pleased with how it's turned out. I've learned a few things that I'll carry over to the next one!

Okay... pictures done, and blog post made. Time to ship it! :D
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Gearing Up - here we go...

Craft Show Season is just around the corner... less than a month to go! I've got myself a brutal November shaping up this year, with a bunch of two- and three-day shows booked already.

SO! It's past time to get crackin - got the first batch of Cinnamon Ornaments in the oven this very moment.



Raw materials and equipment - ready, set, GO!!
One pound of cinnamon, one 25-ounce jar of applesauce... some extra cinnamon for dusting the countertop...







Concentrating on gingerbread boy and girl shapes today... these little ones will eventually get pin backs and be pins.






annnnnnnnd.... Ready for the oven! After they dry in there for several hours (turning over twice), I'll let them air dry for a day or so, then smooth the edges with a pocketknife. After that, I'll paint them to look as though they've been iced, and add a ribbon and jingle bells.




But for now.... WOW does the house smell GOOD! All spicy and warm and cinnamon-y, with rain coming down outside. It may still be hot out, but this is the first of that autumn "Snug" feeling for me. Time for a cup of tea and a curlup on the sofa. :)
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