Just a moment...

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to those who left a comment on the blog or emailed regarding my Thursday post. My confession to spring time blues and skull splitting sinus headaches seems to have struck a cord with many...who were generous enough to share their own stories with me. For that, I am truly grateful. 

The photo above was taken on Friday while out and about with my daughters. The discovery of the partial circle on the aged wooden wall was unexpected - it hadn't been there a few days before - which made it one of those little hidden joys one sometimes finds when least expected...and all the more precious because of it.

That's how I feel about the blogging world and the friendships it has brought. The blog was begun to get my name and art back out there in the art world after a 2 year hiatus. The friendships are the hidden joys that have occurred as a result...yes, of not looking for them, not expecting them.

And for that, I am grateful beyond words.

Thank You!

Renewal

Rust renewal, that is. My rusting season has been brought to a temporary stop. The gears begged for a break, a chance to rest and renew their rusty coat. They're currently lounging around on the deck, enjoying the fresh air, soaking up the sun and nightly dew baths, listening to the birds sing of spring.

Me? I'm fighting off the thoroughly lousy mood this time of year brings now that we live in such a tree infested area. Each sprouting of a leaf means less sunlight reaches our house, means our backyard is fast becoming an enclosure of green, means...well, that I'm a not so nice person to be around right now. And that's an understatement.

I'm wondering, am I the only one who gets this springtime...moodiness, blues, grumpiness, blahs...call it what you will. Am I? If not, what do you do to overcome it?

Spring cleaning

Spring has settled in...finally...well, I think so. And about time. It's the middle of June after all. Spring's arrival has brought with it that age old urge to clean, to declutter, to rearrange, to simplify, etc.

On Tuesday, I carried two 18" wide hollow doors, freshly painted with blackboard paint, up to the studio. The dilemma was where the doors should be placed. In all honesty, it must be admitted that I left the studio a mess, disaster zone really, when I flew to Pam's for our art retreat. It was, and still is, in dire need of cleaning and organizing before any kind of serious art-type work could even be contemplated in there.

As I stood inside the doorway, holding the blackboards and perusing the studio, that fabled spring bug bit and bit hard. A drafting table that once was my work table in studio 344 at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, but these days was just one more surface to collect a pile of stuff on, was removed to make room for the blackboards. You see, they carry two important messages...my mantras...so they need to be seen from any angle.

The plan is that the blackboards will hold more than my mantras. There's an art to do list, calls for entry due dates, ideas that need to be remembered, etc. But first, the rest of the studio needs to organized, decluttered and cleaned.

By the way, would anyone like copies of Cloth, Paper, Scissors? Or American Style? Be happy to pass them along.