Happy 4th of July -- Independence Day

Summer seems to speeding past a break-neck speed. Wasn't it just Memorial Day? So much can happen in a short time.

Here I am teaching college student the joys of knowing and understanding art in the first short semester of the summer and -- poof! -- I do not have a teaching job in the fall! After this coming week, which holds my husband's birthday and my parents' 53rd anniversary (on the same day), essays, exams and final grads, I will be free -- at loose ends. What to do?

Suddenly I am freed from the espectations involved in teaching -- not that I am happy about that.

I am waiting for the heavens to open up and tell me what I am supposed to to with the rest of my life. Perhaps this is a time for me to take stock of my life and start getting serious about my art and my jewelry. I have been dabbling all my life. Maybe now is the time to test myself, to push myself creatively. I have been following the artistic adventures of my blog friends in the left-hand column for about two years now. They have led the way, now it is my turn to march to a very different drummer than before.

I would appreciate some encouraging words. How did you get started? What prompted you on your crative path? Is the adventure worth the anxiety? What is the best advice you got/can give in starting an arts-based business?

To tempt you to your keyboard, I am offering a pair of earrings to one randomly selected response. Since life promised to be crazy this coming week, I will draw the winner on Saturday, July 11th.

Share this with your blog friends, the more responses the better. I am looking forward to your encouragment.

One Lovely Blog Award

I love reading the blogs of talented, intuitive, inventive artist-types. While in the midst of Summer School (I am the instructor) there is a real time crunch, so I have been very late in announcing I have been honored with the “One Lovely Blog Award”. I am so humbled by the other folks that have also received this award, artists like Catherine Witherell over at Happy Day Art who honored me and Beth Hemmill at Hint Jewelry who has one of the blogs I regularly follow.

After all my school work is done, I like to spend some time reading the blogs you see listed in the left-hand column. I feel connected to these lovely people whether or not I comment on their blogs on any kind of regular basis.

Now, since I have this opportunity to acknowledge their inspiration for me, I would like to honor the following artist/bloggers with the “One Lovely Blog Award” I just received:
Lynn Davis
Richard Shilling an earth/land artist
Cluny Grey
Clever Endeavor
all the lovely folks at Art Bead Scene, the very first blog I followed

and Nina Bagley at Ornamental (though she doesn’t “do” these awards, you still need to see her blog)

To accept this award the Rules are simple: Acknowledge who honored you with the award in a post on your blog. Pass the award to 5 -- or more -- other bloggers that you have discovered (and think have a Lovely Blog), then contact them to let them know they have been chosen.
Please check out the honored links. You will see they are, indeed, lovely and very eclectic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I have said, Summer school has been fast a furious since my husband and I have returned from the Netherlands. I am three-fifths through the five week session and the class is going well. I have barely had time to think of all the lovely, wonderful things we saw and did in the Netherlands.

We went to Haarlem to the Frans Hals Museum and visited the cathedral at the center of the great market. We traveled with a tour group to Delft to see how the famous pottery is made and then to The Hague to see the seat of government.

We return to The Hague on our own to visit the Mauritshuis Museum to see the incredible collection. This collection has many Rembrandts, Rubens, Breugels, and three magnificent Vermeers. The View of Delft was surprisingly large, and the Girl with the Pearl Earring was exquisite. With the three Vermeer paintings at the Mauritshuis and the three at the Rijiksmuseum we saw this trip and the other one that we saw last year, I have seen 8 of his 35 known works.

We also visited the van Gogh Museum for a wonderful exhibit of his night paintings.
We traveled to Ghent to see the Ghent Altarpiece (see previous post), which is everything and more than I had imagined. I knew it was large, but I had not envisioned just how large it is. The “little” Adam and Eve figures are about five feet tall!

Our friends Vijnand and Anneke came to Amsterdam for the day and took us to hidden places most tourists do not know about. We had great fun finding the hidden catholic churches amongst the store front and in the Red Light District. We spent some time in the Begijnhof a sort of "lay" convent for pious women. We also tasted local fare in the croquets served at a very popular deli. It was lovely to spend time with them.

We also visited Utrecht, which is a beautiful cathedral town. We spent quite a bit of time in the cathedral and in the museum in the former Catherine Convent (Catharijnecovent), where there was a fantastic exhibit of illuminated manuscripts as well as a fine permanent collection of religious arts.

It was very difficult to return home after all such an engaging vacation. We had the opportunity to see so much art, but we also soaked up the culture – Amsterdam is an incredibly beautiful city and I am sure this was not the last time we will visit there.

In just a few hours (51.5 to be exact, but who’s counting) I will be winging my way to Amsterdam for a couple of weeks. My husband and I have rented an apartment about 5 blocks from the Rijksmuseum and another block away from the van Gogh Museum. I am taking my camera and hoping to get lots of photos I can include in the e-textbook I am writing from my class. We are also going to visit some of the other towns ands cities in the Netherlands as well. And I certainly hope to see the Ghent Altarpiece in the St. Bavon Cathedral.

Delft, Gouda, Haarlem, Rotterdam, Ghent, Bruges, Den Hagg (The Hague) – and more, I can hardly contain my excitement. If you have been in the area, tell me what I “Must See”. I do not want to miss anything!

Get Excited and Make Things!

Creative people are adventurous!

So, if you would like to participate,please leave me a comment and your e-mail. The first five people will receive something from me in the mail. Here are the rules, and happy posting!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. This is an adventure!

2. What I create will be just for you with love and good wishes. It will be made of actual materials, not of cyberspace.

3. It will be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be!

5. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your Blog and create five things for the first 5 people to respond to your post.

6. Send your mailing address after I contact you.

IIMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if you do not post on your own blog to pay this forward.

This text was used from fabfibers.blogspot.com

Thank you and spread the love!

Spring Busy-ness

It is the busiest week of the year for us, well, for my husband. Between last Sunday and this coming Sunday (Easter) he will have conducted or attended 12 church services. I will have attended most of them too. It is Holy Week, the opposite of Mardi Gras which kicked off, this whole Lent thing. (Technically, it was the day after Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday that started it, but you know what I mean.)

This Lent has been one of the most introspective I have had in a very long time.

Along with the expected “denial thing” more time was spent working out my “stuff” than ever before and I have actually made some changes for good that have impacted the way I see myself and the way others see me. With the help of good friends and fellow seekers at church, I started a group, a support system, to help me get my chaos in order. My universe is by no means well organized yet, but I have made a start.

I have been working feverishly on my e-textbook with all its stops and starts. I have only just begun taking advantage of two or three hours a day that I did not acknowledge before -- the time between “alarm-clock Lindi” (our pushy little b*%$#h mini-schnauzer) and “make tea for Hubby and Me” usual beginning of my day. I have said it before, but not here, I do some of my best writing in my pajamas.

One of the things that I do each day is to read the blogs (see the left-hand column) of artists who love their work and their creativity and whose words resonate deep in my chest. I want to be creating beautiful things too, but cannot seem to find the time. So much to do – teach, write, church, family, home.I am looking forward to our time in Amsterdam, to get some perspective and to relax in a different environment without all the usual tugs at my time and attention. I will be working, but I am sure it will not feel quite so much like work.

Proving Myself

Friday we had our Taxes done and it was a harrowing experience.

I know, I know . . . everyone hates to do their taxes. Well, let me tell you that as a clergy household and with me working part-time teaching at University and part-time being an artist, and this year also being an author, this was the worst ever. A bunch of the expenses I was hoping to deduct didn't pan out and we ended up having to pay a pretty penny . . . money we had set aside to pay for our trip in May to Amsterdam.

What's more, I felt I had to justify myself. The preparer asked about my art quilts saying with a smile, "Are you sure you don't make blanket-type quilts?" Fortunately, I had my laptop with me and fired it up to showed her all my art I had recorded there. I showed her my Reluctant Accomplice quilt . . .
I showed her my presentation quilt . . . (to which she said, "that's -- interesting.")

I showed her two of my larger quilts (48"x72"), one a contest quilt in an international competition (finalist out of 900) . . .and the other, a commission . . .

and a published piece (Quilters Newsletter Magazine December 2004) . . .

and what was most lost on her was the direction my art is taking now -- art jewelry. Hopefully it will be better next year. In the meantime, I'm proud of my portfolio. My question for you is, "Have you ever had to justify yourself or your art?" Tell me about it, I want to know.

Tiger-sized Dust-bunnies

Yesterday was very eventful and rewarding. My friend Rene (as in Irene) came up for a working visit. She's a highly organized, neat and tidy, clean queen. We opened up the french doors in the den to the backyard and took out all the "stuff" except the heavy furniture. She then sat me down on the deck to deal with all the papers -- piles and piles of it. I had to toss, shred or keep every little bit of it. Meanwhile, she was in the den tackling my tiger-sized dust-bunnies and cleaning like a fiend! We made so much progress.

When we came back from lunch and an errand, she sat me down at my newly uncovered Arts and Crafts Movement antique desk I purchased last year but didn't immediatley occupy. She brought in all my jewelry tools and supplies and I organized and made homes for them in the desk. Here are some pictures of them in the wild (at the consignment store) before it cam home with me. (By the way, does anyone know anything about the furniture manufacture "Stone's Patent"?) I must apologize for the quality of these photos.