Ahhhhhhhh!

I am so happy!

While I still have lots to do, my head is now above water. I finished - or rather totally re-painted one painting last night and put the last touches on the other. The studio is not in perfect shape, yet, but it is straight enough to manage. Now I can work some and organize some.

I must go through all my paintings, repair any chips or scratches, and have a whole pile of them ready for Open Studio Tour this weekend.

My little open studio exhibit will be all day Saturday and Sunday on the patio - hopefully with a friend, if she is well enough. So now I need to turn my daytime attention to the front yard. In my opinion, it always looks a little weedy - even though there are none. The plants just have that look. Gotta see what I can do about that and pick up and spread several bags of mulch. Then I will need to sweep up all the berries that fall from the strawberry tree.

Work at the Art Center is a bit slower now. Whew!

Didn't Happen

The papers are not filed. My studio table is not clean and organized. I didn't finish all the chores on my list. Not one bit of that happened.But I am on the way to Portland for the encaustic retreat. I do believe I can finish the last of what really must be done while I travel, though.

And my new Mac is in place in my studio. I plopped it on my desk, plugged it in and briefly considered whether I should finish my work on it or Papa's PC. I decided getting the Mac set up with my email accounts would be about as easy as using the PC. It was! So fast! I was up and ready to work in no time. I downloaded two programs I need and will probably need one more before seriously getting to work. But all that was fast and inexpensive, too. And I love the trackpad.

I hate to leave Mac there all alone while I fly away for four days. Waaaah! I wanted to play.

And I hate to leave Buddy and Roo:( I wanted to play with them, too. And I hate to leave Papa on his own.Yikes. Sad. But the retreat will be great once I am there.

Time to fly.

Ah, they just announced pre-boarding for my flight.

Even Closer

So of course I got way behind again, and I still have not really started painting. But I still say I am getting closer. I have been busy with meetings and putting up a retrospective exhibit to celebrate the 60th anniversary at Art Center Morro Bay. The show is a hit and the reception tunout was pretty good. Now perhaps life can get back on track......well, after I return from the International Encaustic Artists retreat in Portland. I will leave this Thursday morning and return on Monday afternoon. Though I will miss home, this retret comes at a good time for me, I think. I will get my hands back into paint and wax, see new ideas, tools, and material, watch demos, and hear presentations. I should be inspired and ready to work when I get back to my studio. My goal is to file every paper I can, put all the extraneous art stuff away, and have a new board waiting on my table - ready to begin a new piece.

Of course I have stuff to do before the filing begins. Somehow I need to make this happen, though. And I will need to pick up my new Mac sometime in the next few days.

I have seen reallly beautiful encaustic art recently. My brain is busy reviewing what I have seen and gleaning ideas and techniques I can use in my own work. This should help.

I have a new iPhone, making some of my calls easier to make. That is a good thing.

Stay tuned and look for new work soon.

Still Recovering

Do you know that when you need a break the world doesn't stop and let you get off for a few days? I tried. I did little beyond sit on the couch, cook a tiny bit, do the laundry, and point where to plant a tree to the gardener. Kids have been here some, and I have had one meeting. Other than that I read a book and played a video game, conquering the top level. Of course they have encouraged me to go through it again with a harder version, and I am working on that. Oh, and yesterday I went to lunch with a friend. Trying to catch up with her and others I have neglected for months.

The result? So now I have all the piles of stuff I didn't do for the last four or five days waiting for me. And I haven't painted. Still feel I am getting close. In a meeting about a possible 2013 exhibit, I came across some beautiful illustrative art. Very inspiring. Intimidating, too. But I can feel my fingers itching. And suddenly, sitting on the couch is not acceptable.

It Is True This Time

Not too long ago,I said that I had come to the end of several big projects and might be able to breathe again. And paint. I lied. Didn't mean to, but I did.

The last two weeks have been some of my busiest ever. Sort of like moving. A few helpers and I had to pack up one hundred paintings to be shipped out. I knew packing would take time. I wasn't looking forward to it, but it had to be done and I was in charge. I accepted that. But, whew! I didn't realize I would have so many problems getting shipping labels from artists or run into so many complicated sitautions. One artist had moved, so her new address on her package didn't match the one given on her UPS account. FedEx didn't want handwritten labels. I had no labels from many of the artists, and they didn't seem to know how to get them. I could sputter on, but at this point, I am tired of hearing myself talk about it. The job took the better part of nine days. Absurd. I made calls to artists, to UPS, to FedEx in the middle of the night - and you get India then.

And I had to, and wanted to, put in some grandmothering time. And there was a reception at the Art Center. We had just held a clay class - still trying to get masks fired. And went to meetings about the exhibit we want to present in 2013.

Painting? No way. I guess my brain needs to recover. I am reading books, finally getting in the mood to declutter the house, and just catching my breath. We are cooking at home again, I walked yesterday, and finally got to have my toes done this afternoon.

But I feel the urge coming on. Soon.

Inaugural Exhibit

About a year ago, I wrote a grant for Art Center Morro Bay, hoping for funds to purchase a laptop and projector to use in promotional presentations about the center. Of course that meant, if we were awarded the grant, that I had to design the presentations and give them.

We also asked for funds to add storage and a display wall in our Activity Room - primarily to use for our children's program.

We were awarded the grant, presentations are underway, and the new storage and display area are installed. Cork was applied to the wall earlier than I expected and loomed bare and large. A large reception was coming up, and I needed a kids show. I am surprise it took me a day or so to realize I had plenty of material right in my garage. I have hundreds of Buddy's drawings and some of Roo's paintings. That sparked more ideas, and I called the man who installed the wall to ask if his daughter would be in the inaugural show, too.

Check out the results in the pix above. Problem: Buddy and Roo were in Colorado. I am sad that they didn't get to see their show, but I will share it with them here. Their work had to come down to make room for the children's summer art camp work.

The juror for our encaustic exhibit, Consequential Fusion: Messages in Wax, spent a long while examining each of Buddy's drawings and photographing them. I am proud.

Ahhh!

Ahhhh! Home! Yes, the trip was fantastic, but I will tell you that when the intersection of Old Creek Road and Hwy 1 offered a gorgeous glimpse of the Pacific this afternoon, I thought perhaps I might be just as impressed with home as with any other place on our tour.

Then Papa and I rolled down the windows to take in the cool beach air of Los Osos. More ahhhhs. The house is tidy; the dog and cat seem happy to see us. Red flowers are blooming in the front yard. I checked my messages to discover the Art Center had sold another encaustic painting (not mine, but one form the IEA exhibit), and all the other messages were good ones, too. Now we are home with glasses of wine. Life is good.

As was the last leg of the trip - Bakersfield to Los Osos with a detour (literally) to Kern National Wildlife Refuge. Tillie the car girl had no clue how to get us there. The map was vague, and iPad offered little better. So we wandered. A CA Wildlife Official intercepted us, told us we must really be lost (I think he meant stupid), and set us on the right path. But all in all, we liked the adventure. And we finally reached Kern. We saw four or five great blue herons, great white herons and another roadrunner. Fun. The scenery was inspiring. We will go back next winter when the bird population is at its best.

Now to unpack, do laundry, and hopefully settle into a slow, comfortable pace. Is it possible?