Cool mornings, (very) warm afternoons...

Its been so long since I wrote anything here!I have been busy, and happy, and am so in love with my new little kitten! I really just wanted to take a second to do a "Gratitude Rant"...I love my husband, my healthy cats, my dear group of friends, my house, the weather right now, and all of the things I am doing and learning in my life. I never would have believed that I would be this happy at this age!! I AM grateful for that!!

Last week of Summer School!! Beginning of some "free" time!!

Thursday I'll give one final, and then it will be the end of another chapter, but not the end of the book!! The next chapter is to complete the final touches to the Studio, and begin to do some serious art. I have about three weeks...need to get my fall classes in order, but doing some art will be important, too.

Finally got a little rain last night...a real blessing in the middle of this amazing heat wave we have been having. I will feel what the rain is like and attract some more.

Progress on my basement studio

After a long absence from my blog, here I am to say that I hung a swag over the French doors in my studio today...it looks marvy!! And, I started a painting on one of the doors in the studio.I am using a painting by Arthur Rankham as a model, but will be changing it a LOT from the original. But I have discovered the wonderful world of the artists who illustrateed childrens books early in the 20th century...Arthur Rankham,Edmund Dulac, and Warwick Goble. Their paintings are filled with princesses and faries and mysterious places. The lighting in these paintings is magical, and the detail is just amazing!! I hope someone finds this post and discovers these artists, and loves them as I do.

Monday! Summer is HERE!

It is like a sauna already this morning! But, the studio in the basement is finished and waiting for me to come to work/play this morning. I haven't done all of the things I wanted to do this summer, but I have done a LOT! Just having the studio is wonderful. It is so bright and welcoming now...I could stay down there for a long time...and it is so cool in the basement, ummmmmm. I have preped about 10 pages in my art Journal and will go down to work after a walk with a friend in the morning air before it gets too hot. I am grateful for my friend, great places to walk, and my new studio!!

Studio on the HOME STRETCH!!

The studio room is painted...just have to get things back together...blue tape is still on the edge of the ceiling/wall, and on the edge of the floor/wall...furniture in the middle of the room. But, it is ready to organize and come together as a REAL studio with all of my art supplies in the same place!! Yea!!

Today was my first time EVER doing Encaustic wax painting...VERY cool stuff this!! I learned a LOT just doing one "painting"...you can't understand something unless you actually DO IT!! Words are nice, and they give some guidance...but, actually living something, doing something, experiencing something teaches much more than words can tell you.

Monday

Basement studio is LOOKING GOOD!! Gonna paint the work/play table today and it will be good to go. I took all of my scrapbooking things dwonstairs and will go through them today and get them more organized to use with the encaustic wax that I am excited about right now. I also want to committ to Art Journaling everyday this week. I have been slacking off on it lately. I love to journal...don't know why I let it slide sometimes?? Well, I'm off to Wally-World for some paint!! More later.....

Summer School Begins...

What a schedule! TIME! That always flowing, elusive element of our lives...I have some of it this summer!It is a great gift to be able to have coffee on my deck, to love my kitties, to plan some projects and then actually DO them!! To walk through my house any time of the day and see how the light changes on the floor and through the windows as the earth rotates on in axis through space! WOW!Don't misunderstand!! I LOVE to be out and about, going and doing...but right now, today, I am enjoying my day of peace and quiet joy! All is well!

Last day of class this semester!

So HAPPY tomorrow is the last day of class this semester...just finals after that...then a few days off. And, I plan to take them OFF!! Off meaning I need to clean out closets and finish the basement/studio so I'll have a place to REALLY set up my Art Journaling stuff. I will take one day to go antiquing though...maybe a ride up to the mountains (from which MUCH inspiration comes!)Maybe a day on the back deck with the kitties...another source of inspiration and lots of laughter watching the girls on the deck sniffing the air and curling up in the sun...funny and sweet! I love my life...all is well!

End of the Semester

I think the next two weeks are going to be VERY long!! I am SO READY for this semester to be over...not for the usual reasons, but I feel as if I am on the edge of a whole NEW me!! My schedule for this summer and for next fall is AMAZING!! I wished for more time to "do art", and that wish is going to manifest very soon. I am a vibrational match to the challenge, and can't wait to dive into it. I need to clean up some things in my house to open up the time even more, but I AM ready!!

Working at Moe Joe's

I'm trying...really I am! But, it's Friday, the weather is PERFECT, and I'm having a hard time concentrating on work!! Gonna help with the "Art Event" tonight at Lee Hall...Although I'd rather be home, it is nice to be able to help my friend. OK, I'm going to do some work now! I have an hour before I have to go get ready to go to Lee Hall.

The sky is a perfect blue bowl over us ...without flaw or cloud...the leaves are still the soft, beautiful green that you only see in the spring...and, the rain yesterday washed everything clean. As I said, today is a PERFECT day!!

Saturday afternoon

We went to see Alice in Wonderland this afternoon. A fun movie, lots of "eye candy!!" The drive there and the drive home was BEAUTIFUL! All of the tiny green leaves are opening at the tops of the trees...like a thin watercolor wash of soft green paint. Have you ever noticed how many shades of green there are in nature? Amazing! Jonquils have finished blooming, now the dogwoods and redbuds are starting to bloom...spots of bright lavendar here and there are a lovely site! It was good to get out for a while. Fighting a cold/allergies is not fun! Watching spring arrive IS fun!

Evaluations!

My classes have to evaluate me today, and I'm GLAD! That means I don't have to lecture quite as long in each class...Fridays are always the days when I want to go home! Especially when it is SO BEAUTIFUL out!! SO GLAD the weather is warm...I feel as if I am "opening" and relaxing back into real life!

Thursday morning-April Fool's Day!

Sitting at my computer this morning, the light coming into my small office was brilliant! I have always LOVED the morning sun in our house! It pours into our master bedroom with a life giving force each morning (unless it is overcast! Smile!) And, in the afternoon, it pours through the tall windows in our entry, and through the beveled glass of the front door it makes rainbows on the floor. The spring and the fall are the best for the light in our house because the leaves are off of the many trees we have in our yard. But, the leaves are there during the hottest time of the year and keep the house cooler. I know this is a silly thing to ramble about! I was just thinking how BEAUTIFUL the light in my home is (lots of different kinds of light here!!)

It's Monday!!

This world does NOT slow down, so I know to keep my engine running and keep-up!! Monday's are a little hard because of living at my own pace all week-end, and then coming back into a much faster pace...but, it's all good! By Wednesday, I will be in my "groove!"

Fundraiser for the Art Department at Clemson

What a fun and full day! I have been working after work for several days this week to help set it up, and had orientation this morning for the event tonight. A BEAUTIFUL venue...some good art and some not so good art. People paid big bucks for stuff that I would have never called "art". Next year I will have something in the show...will people say the same about my work? Probably. Art is such an individual thing!! And that is a GREAT thing for people to openly choose what is beautiful/important to them and (hopfully) be proud of it and show it in thier home.

I'm excited about the challenge I have given myself to have something in the auction next year!! I am so tired, I will sleep good tonight!! And I will have a dream to guide me..................

Spring Break is over...with a VENGEANCE!!

Lots of things went really well today! I'm not going to think about those "other" things!! It's always a little hard to come back to school after the week-end, but REALLY a challenge after being off for a week. But, all of the classes went well and I got a lot accomplished, so all is well that ends well...time to go home and meditate, get back to my quiet place, and remember what Scarlett said, "after all, tomorrow IS another day!" Wish springtime would come back and stay a while!! I know it's coming!!

Saturday as a work day?!?!?

What is up with THAT!?! I tried to work today, and have ended up playing for several hours. I am journaling almost everyday, and getting better as I go along...or I should say more creative! I was afraid of the "page" as I started, but my layers are becoming more complex and more visually interesting...I'll have to post some pictures!!

Basement almost ready for the transformation into a REAL studio! Just a few more things to do, and I should be able to use it by next week-end. That's going to be wonderful to have a place to put everything...not having "caves" where everything gets lost. AWSOME! I am VERY GRATEFUL that I have as much room as I do to make a complex, multi-media studio...the room is a great gift from the UNIVERSE!!

New Inspiration! New Focus!

I was waiting for some new focus to "hit me" that didn't have a lot to do with money...I have spent tons of money in my lifetime (since I got an education and a REAL job!!) But, right now the money is a little tight, so I am excited about this new re-focusing, actually,on art. I am so inspired and so ready to get organized to just DO IT!! I have lots of art supplies all over my house, and I am going to gather them together and organize them in my basement (where there is plenty of room to spread out). It may take a few weeks...I'll keep you posted!!

Going to Asheville Thursday and can scout out the antique shops for inspiration jewelry!! FUN!!!

Warmth!!

Oh my goodness! It is so warm today!! I wore a jacket this morning, but now at only 10:30, it is really warm. I can feel my spirits lift as I walk in the sun...the birds are singing and the students have more smiles than usual...it feels so good to be outside!! I am only inside because I don't have my lap-top with me! I'll have to sneak a few minutes in the sun before I have to go back inside for class.In this moment, in this place, all is well!!

FRIDAY!!!!!

Friday afternoon! My favorite day (after work is over) with Saturday and Sunday stretched before me! A jewelry class tomorrow with an artist whose work I LOVE, so it should be good!! Clean out the basement next week, and I'll have a STUDIO to work in over Spring Break! It feels like spring today...not quite warm enough, but the sun is bright and the sky is blue with a forecast of warmer tomorrow and Sunday! I am SO ready!! I LOVE the spring and then the fall. It is so beautiful then where we live.

I'm going to kick back and enjoy my Friday evening

Artsy-Fartsy me, and GRATEFUL me

OK, I'm VERY low on money right now, so I'm making a birthday card for my friend. I have all the things needed for a much more beautiful card than Hallmark makes! Why do we often think that we can't do that? Don't get me wrong, I do like Hallmark cards...but to get a card that someone put a little of themselves into is really nice...much MORE than just a card! Hope my friend will like it. I KNOW she will, or she wouldn't be my friend. She's the kind of person it is good to spend time with...positive, positive, positive!! SO GLAD I have a handfull of people like that in my life!

I'm feeling the creatitivity!

I'm at school where I teach art history...have a runny nose, am thirty pounds overweight, am "old" and am feeling VERY creative! Surprize! You never know when the urge will strike! Wish I had some paper and drawing pencils with me...used to carry them around all the time, and never used them. But, I have been thinking about drawing and painting lately...probably why I am feeling creative. If I'm thinking about it, it usually comes.

I have REALLY been thinking about doing some projects with all of the fabric I have in my messy basement. I need to go down there and clean up so I can see what I actually have!! I LOVE beautiful fabrics, and would love to start fabric hunting again.

I saw some abstract works where pieces of fabric were put together and sewn with beautiful threads...little charms and beads and thingies were put onto the fabric, and they were framed as if they were oil paintings...very evocotive and interesting. Thats what I want to do, but have to clean up the basement first. Spring break SOON!! I will clean up then, for SURE!!

Here I am Again...

I need to make time to do this!! My life is filled with things to do...that's GOOD, but...

First day as a blogger!

Hello! What a strange and wonderful world we live in...