things I love.....

In preparation for painting I took these photos, plan to use parts of them for an abstraction.

At the edges of my ability to organize...I leave on Thursday and need to be prepared to teach 6 different classes..

Art and Soul Retreat and Creative Castle, anyone going to be in Portland, OR or Newbury Park, CA?

There will be a sale night at the Embassy Suites at the Portland airport on this coming Saturday night, lots of good stuff for sale!

My teaching at Creative Castle will have an ongoing trunk show while I am teaching...October 9-11.

Hope to see some of you out there.

Animated carrots.........

What will they do next? They came to visit in our CSA package.

surgery is scheduled....

originally I had thought that I would schedule surgery for earlier in December when I got a most incredible invitation to go to Japan to demo and teach both felting and glass! I feel like the luckiest gal alive!

This gets me home from Japan on Dec. 19 and into the O.R. December 22, leaving me 5 weeks to gather my wits, indoctrinate the physical therapy and see what my limitations are before heading to Tucson.......

all I can do is take it as it comes, and invite whatever that is instead of hiding behind a wall of fear...i say to myself...and you.

this life is so full and rich....and short.

i am going to paint today, giving myself that luxury as I then need to choreograph the next two weeks....pack for two different gigs in two different cities.

i have finally found the person that i trust to give me a 'thumb replacement'. yay.

with thanks.....

...To you out there in 'blogland' for noticing and commenting so encouragingly on my painting results! There is so much going on in my mind and world. This past week is a blur....from my lovely time at Squam, spending two days with the incomparable Mary Beth Shaw and finding Kathy Dorfer and Stephanie there at registration, how cool is that????.... Bunking with a new found friend, Coco.....only to scurry off.....feeling like I had given birth .......to meet up with my sister and dad in Portland, ME where we spent the night, got up and headed up into the Rangely Lakes area of Maine to meet up with Tom and Sean where we spent our day aside the beautiful Dodge Pond and captured the stories of my dads life on film (of course it is no longer film....) and had such a special time. I can't thank all of you enough....for showing up just when you were needed, and doing your 'jobs' flawlessly!

Squam Lake........

Where I gained the courage to push paint around. uh oh......am loving it, wondering how I might proceed, wanting to head directly to an arts supply store....tomorrow, heading into Portland,Maine. Perhaps I will get lucky there?

urchin distraction/abstraction

It's sick how much I love urchins...and pods.

Tiara turned Necklace.....

I had intended to make a tiara, it just kept growing and has a new life as a necklace. My life is interesting right now, with plans and projects filling my days nicely, happily in the studio.

Loving the weather, filling orders, thanks for your interest!

I see Shunji tomorrow, it's been months since I've been under his care. Shiatsu isn't what I ever would have thought of when someone said 'massage', he breaks through barriers, I swear.

The Empty Nest.

It was a really different experience dropping Lily off as a sophomore, things were on a much lower hummmmmm. Her new room assignment is a dorm room that feels like a tree house, I loved it.

I took a detour through the turkeys, pigs, chickens, lambs and horses.......the sky was a 'Simpsons' sky, accompanied by georgeous colors, smells and temperatures. Sadly I drove home, just feeling like some measured time is lost.

I am home and catching up~ slowly. My adventures have been action packed and full of so many details that my head is sometimes swimming.

Lily goes back to school tomorrow which leaves Michael and I in the empty nest again. She is ready.

Today was lovely, spent time with my friends in and around Boston, the day splendid. I'm a big fan of September in New England, the weather and air quality can't be beat. Blue, clear, puffy white clouds, 70 degrees. I was remembering the feeling of Labor Day on Cape Cod when there was a mass exodus and the cape returned to those of us that lived there year round, all errands became much simpler. You didn't have to hibernate if it was raining outside, a trip into town on a rainy day was always a challenge, all of the people that had come for a beach vacation would explore the towns and villages and totally clog up the passageways.

I have started to update my 'shop' page, a bunch of cool metal shapes are now available for sale, more to be added tomorrow.

This acorn is accompanied by a cuttlefish casting of a heart done by Sarah Nelson whom I used to teach with at 'the Worcester Center for Crafts'.

I have some time this month.....to catch up, jump forward and hopefully get some fresh ideas going. A painting workshop mid month is starting to capture my attention and has me thinking of subject matter, I want to abstract the inside of some pods, of course.

I really have had a fine time since my last entry here. Philly was fun and the Felters' Fling was exceptional, what a lovely group, 60 felters! I had the pleasure of transporting 3 other instructors, Jeannette Sendler, an incredible woman who lives in Scotland and has done some inspired projects, all over the world, have a look......and Karoliina Arvilommi , and Rod Welsh (whose website is down).They are felters from Finland who guided a dozen women through a rigorous process of hand felting the most incredible rugs and were a joy to spend the day with. It was such a comfort to see friends made over the last 7 years and to meet new ones, gain courage from talking to friends about their experiences with the surgery that I am contemplating, see my friend Pat from MassArt days, and to uncover layers of friendship. That only happens over time, and can't be forced and so beautifully illustrates the truth that none of us are one dimensional, we all have a story and a series of experiences that mold us into our current permutation.

We traveled together into NYC and the Cooper Hewitt Museum where there is a felting exhibit going on currently, we had a nice lunch and I took them to a hotel where I left them and I headed back to NJ where I picked my car up with a new fuel pump......wow.