The party is over......

My daughter Jennifer Elaine  married Dan Gannon yesterday in a ceremony at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in West Sacramento...over 300 attended the wedding and it was a fantastic time.  Only a few glitches here and there, but nothing monumental...just fun things to remember.

Dan is a farmer, landscaper, knower of all things out doors and Jenny is kindergarten teacher for Waldorf .........and the entire  Waldorf community showed up for this wedding of two of their favorite people.  Loads of family on both sides, friends from both sides showed for this fantastic event.

Dan's daughter, Frankie was the flower girl and as she announced once dressed "I'm beautiful".....

Grandpa Mike Gannon took loads of pictures and gushed after her all day long.

From the wedding, a small amount of family and wedding party gathered at Jen's home in Tahoe Park, now Dan and Jen's and Frankie's home in Tahoe Park for a mini reception......

They stripped the house of furniture and things and set up this huge dining table for 20 with a harpist playing throughout the meal....Chef Jenni Brewster served a fantastic delicious meal...yummy food for all.  A delightful day for both sides of the family and we met some very nice people along the way.  Jenny and Dan are on their way today to Mendocino for several days of "being alone with each other" before coming back the day before Thanksgiving to set up their house, move Dan and Frankie in before starting back to work and school.  Jen's two sons, August and Jack attended, adding to Jenny's delight and happiness.  It was good that her sons rallied around and supported her in her new life with Dan.

And now Grandma Weezee can get back to her regular life, the wedding dresses are hung in the closet, the flower have wilted and been thrown out, the chef has done the dishes and been paid.....back to more time to devote to hubby, my art, working the gallery, my family....thank you.

30 x 30 complete

I have completed my 30 x 30 piece...it's all ready to hang.  Thirty 6" x 6" fiber pieces in thirty days...actually it took me 18 days of constant work between this project and the wedding dresses I was putting together for my daughters wedding, which happens Nov 21.  ALL are finished...it's amazing what you can do by organizing yourself and buckling down and working hard.  I will be taking individual pics of each of the 30, those I'll post later. The picture above is how it looked prior to being mounted to the 41x41 board that holds the entire selection of 30.  That board will be mounted to the gallery wall and all the 30x30 will look the same except for their content.  Should be a stunning exhibit/show.

The entire piece consists of pictures from my childhold and a few others that have come my way.  Thanks go out to my sisters, Robin, Kim and Claire for supplying me with some of their favorites and they are featured here and there among the photos also.  Our parents saw to it that we had a wide variety of things to do....TV was not present in our home for quite some time, so we played outdoors a lot, played games, skated everywhere, biked everywhere, camped every summer, went to girl scout activities and camps year round....all on a modest budget living in the small community of Redding, California.  I call this piece, "The Good Ole' Days".....it will hang at The Blue Line Gallery on 405 Vernon Street, Roseville, CA from Nov 28 to Jan 9...the reception is Saturday, Dec 19, 6-9pm.

My daughter's wedding dress is complete, the flower girls dress is complete and the dress from hell, the bride's maids dress is finished....sewing on silk chamouse will never happen again in my lifetime...like sewing with air that puckers and slips into every seam you sew only to have to be removed when you find your mistake....I have sewn for years and this dress made me doubt my experience as a sewer...but it's done/complete and never to darken my sewing table again.  It's going to be hard to look at it during the wedding...I will simply divert my eyes to my daughter for sure.

Thank to everyone who gave me the support to handle all of the above.  Louise

Reflection on my Birthday....

Yes, today is my birthday and I've received an abundance of flowers/plants....which is very nice!!!  I love color and I love the flowers...hubby gave me the roses and the Bromlaid plant, my daughter Jenny the cactus display and my friend Malinda in Port Orchard Washington sent me the carnations...we share a birthday, spoke this morning and then the lovely flowers arrived on my doorstep this afternoon...quite a surprise.

Turning "69" is sort of mind bending for me right now....mainly because that means I'm at the end of my 60's and the next number is .......70.     I guess I should get used to the higher numbers because I intend to live many more years and with that means more aging.  Someone said to me "you sure don't look like you are 69"....but when I think about that, I wonder what 69 is supposed to look like at all.  We are who we are and we look a certain way no matter what....I don't drink or smoke and I take an abundance of vitamins and I stay busy in my body and my mind....that's the most I can do to keep myself going at this point in my life.  And yes, I get aches and pains....my hands hurt a lot from arthritis and sometimes my left leg bothers me (had polio as a kid in my left leg) but other than that, I feel very good.

It's all a state of mind over matter.....my mind doesn't matter what age I am, I am who I am and that's the end of that conversation.  So Happy Birthday to me, myself and I and onward into being 69.  I hope this year is clear of health issues for myself and Lynn and our family unit.  

Week One of Five

Week One of Five.......................sewing like a mad woman this week....the above dress image is similar to what I am just completing for my daughters wedding dress.....last night was our last fitting and it was decided that the zipper in the back of the lace should go...so I spent about an hour carefully taking that out of the lace...hard to determine stitch versus lace at times, but I got it out and now I'm going to create a smaller opening without zipper...looking nicer for sure.  Fishing off some seams left naked until the last fitting and the hem on both dresses...the underdress a normal seam, the lace over dress will get scalloped lace added to the bottom and she's all finished.  I also cut out the bodice for the flower girl dress yesterday and will sew that up today/tomorrow and then move on to the skirt and then the first fitting before I put in that zipper.  The maid of honor dress...that's another issue...silk chanteuse with two  under layers...not looking forward to that task.

I got accepted into the Blue Line Gallery 30 x 30 exhibit, which means I have 32 days to create 30 6" x 6" pieces of work......I have been working on getting all the parts/pieces together and I have thirteen of the thirty ready to go under the sewing machine needle this week...my goal is to finish these thirteen by end of this Saturday and I'll start another set on Sunday.  When I'm not at the sewing machine I'm either coloring the remainder of black/white images for the 30x30 or hand work on the wedding dress/other dresses.......................and of course when it rains it pours, acquired two new commissions in the course of all of this and I have a new piece I need to get down to the gallery to hang...........maybe later this week.....

Enough time on the PC for the day....need to get back to the work on the work table.....L

REcpetion Day

This afternoon is my reception at the Artists' Collaborative Gallery in Old Sacramento, sharing with Verena Borton, weaver.....anyone that knows me knows that I hate being the center of attention, that I don't like artist receptions, but I know I need to do them in order to keep the customers happy.  I don't like explaining myself for my art; I don't like hearing the questions "how much time did it take you to create this piece";  I don't like being asked whether I used my own fabrics or store bought fabric..why does it matter, it doesn't alter the finished piece.     I guess I just don't like being asked questions about my work as I feel people are criticizing me instead of praising me.    Must be a character flaw on my part, because I feel that way when asked.  I know, "get over it".  Part of who I am.

I'm right in the middle of creating my daughter Jennifer's wedding dress and once that is finished, I'm on to the bridesmaid dress and flower girl dress.

I'm also hoping to be accepted into the 30x30 exhibit at Blue Line Gallery in Roseville...thirty pieces of work 6" x 6" in thirty days attached to a large board that is hung in the gallery.  I've already printed off about 22 of the images I plan to use but am stuck with not working out the back plan because I don't know the size of the back board...I plan on painting a design on the backboard and that design will also be in the background fabric of each piece, so that when you stand at a distance you see on design, but when you come up close to the full display you see all the different images.  We'll see if I can make this all work with the time constraints and my daughters wedding on Nov 21.  I should be able to create up to ten pieces a week, which I'll need to do to meet this deadline.  I won't know if I've been accepted  until Oct 16....only six days and waiting.    

I know I'm nuts to get involved in all of this, but this is what I thrive on....pressure and creativity and it's good for me right now. 

Summer Project - New Exhibit at Artists' Collaborative Gallery

My summer turned out to be very production...nine new pieces of work all around wild animals and there will be more.  The Zebra: Coat of Many Colors is turned out to be the primary piece with several others not far behind. 

I did some solo two color images, sort of like a silhouette effect and they are very effect when viewed...loads of stitching over the entire surface, just like all the others. 

There are three pieces with this same silk dyed background..one with the the giraffe, then another with zebra and yet another with elephants...titled:  Migration...............again I started with a silhouette effect and then changed it to where I used fibers that reflected their natural skin surface...odd looking foilage against the stark background/heat of the animals habitat.  They all turned out stunning.

This is a detail of the elephants....there are about six more in the length of the piece.
36" long by 16"high...they will be hung as a group.

And they I swung the other way and did a collage of rhino shapes against the black/white and red/white background..heavily stitched as usual and looks very crisp pulled back over the stretcher bars.  32" w x 22"h...larger piece, but looks great.

All in all there are nine pieces that I will hang at the Artists' Collaborative Gallery on Oct 5 with a reception on Saturday, Oct 10  2-5PM along with Verena Borton, weaver.  Should be a good time and I'm hoping to increase my sales...I intend to leave these hang at least through December if not longer.

I have been at the gallery since 2010 and most of what I have shown are the pieces using old photos.  Even thought there are always new customers coming into the gallery who have never seen my work, I felt personally that I needed to change my wall coverage.  Everyone wanted me to go floral, but I just don't get the spark doing floral...something I'll have to work into in the future possibly.  I want to do the work I want to do, not what others think I should do. 

Now on to creating my daughters wedding dress, flower girl dress and a new project if accepted, 30x30 through the Blue Line Gallery...hope that happens as I really want to get my work out into the public more, different work that what would sell at the gallery in Old Sac.       9/27/215  LS

OMG....I have neglected my blog for sooooooooooooooooooooooooo long....can you tell I've been way to busy for chatting on line?    But I'm about to break that spell. 

I have been creating, but doing it silently.  I've worked up four pieces with a fifth under the sewing machine needle as I type and a new surface finished, ready to layer and start sewing next week.  My plan is to do two additional larger scenes and another animal and I should have more than enough for my unveiling in October as featured artist at the gallery in Old Sac.

As I told my Board of Directors last night at our meeting, I know my sales have been slow;  I have been doing something about it by changing what I have on the wall...if this doesn't generate sales over a specified amount of time, I will most likely leave the gallery.  You should have seen their faces....it was worth a picture, but I didn't have my camera/phone handy.   I meant what I said, so sales better start to happen or I'm going to have to pull the plug and move on.

Taking care of hubby has become far more than I even expected....it's been the hardest thing I have even done in my life and what I fear is that it's changing me.  That's why I moved my sewing table into the dining room so I could sew this summer and not have to dodge the heat in my studio.  It has helped a great bit to be able to sew and watch Lynn at the same time...at least I'm getting some new work completed and that's my goal. 

Lynn  and I have to come to a place where we have our new "norm" for us....he is not going to get much better..he is always going to be confined pretty much to the house and I'm going to have to pretty much take care of everything else.  His health is the biggest issue in our life; living it day by day. 

Elephants, Giraffes and Zebra, Oh MY

Elephants, Giraffes and Zebras, OH MY>>>>>>

I attended a gathering last week where I really had a wake up call....stop feeling sorry for yourself and get back to working/creating....and since that gathering, I've put together three new surface designs, all using animal shapes.........ready to put them all under the sewing machine needle.  Now I have to find a "cool" day to get that started....seriously considering pulling my sewing machine back into the air conditioned house to do the sewing portion as I just don't seem to get the right amount of time to sew early in the morning when it's cool out in the studio room.  This is my plight every summer.  I've researched putting in a/c into that room, but the cost is very high for very low results...mainly it's because that specific add on room is on the south side of the house, full sun all day and I've got windows all around, bright light, meaning heat build up all day long.  Fortunately summer it's year around or I'd definitely have to make a permanent change. 

What usually happens has happened again...I start on one idea and all of a sudden I've had a flood of other ideas come at me using many different images and now I have a ton of ideas floating around on paper I can't keep up...this is how I like to work.  In no time I'll have a good series to finish off and hang in October.  I broke through my spell and I'm feeling fairly good about the outcome.

A huge thank you to my friends:  Dee, Marjan, Peig, Debra, Martha, Marjie and Carol...a good kick in the butt seems to work every time!!!!

Spring/Summer Project Finished

My Spring/Summer project has come to a finish...Dan Gannon, designer/landscaper, finished the last of what needed to be done yesterday and the huge pile of old pulled up shrubs were picked up this morning......looking very good.  Mulch and native plants were placed and this wonderful little patio area just outside my front door. 

And from the front sidewalk, this is the view...keep some iris and poppies and sage in their original spots with other plants in and around them.  What he planted three weeks ago have definitely started to grow in a couple of months, most will be filled in over the surface.  Under mulch drip system is working well and we are saving a huge amount on water. 


On the fiber art portion of my life, I have decided to do a small series on endangered animals that will  hang in the gallery for the October featured artist exhibit.....and I'm started a large project for myself, two pieces above my red couch on my gold wall...black w/red and red w/black silhouette images of endangered animals mainly from Asia and Africa.  And then I'm starting up on the three pieces I have on the back burner to use for submission into online art shows, etc.  These pieces will be far too expensive to put into the gallery;  not tourist worthy.

I feel I've made it over the hump of depression and I'm beginning to work more in the studio and I'm enjoying it more....I've realized that I need to ignore what "others" give me as ideas...they are nice to mention the ideas, but unless I come up with them myself I'm not going to produce at all.  Each day as a caregiver takes so much out of me and I have to accept that...do what I can and keep my head up focused toward a goal. 

Finding my Way Again

As most know, I have been really struggling to find a new niche for my art work...I've been toying with the idea of creating a series of work using flowers and I even created a few pieces, BUT I hate working with flowers....anyone could do this in their sleep.  I'm struggling because I need to come up with a new crop of work for the gallery by the month of October (featured artist) and on the other hand I want to encounter and create more creative larger work that wouldn't go in the gallery because of their size and retail pricing.  AND FINALLY I HAD A BREAKTHROUGH......

Laying in bed thinking I was going to go asleep, I thought of an idea to create to very large pieces to go above my red couch in the living room...it's a large high ceiling wall so I have space to go BIG...which I really like to do.  Big but within the confines of using my sewing machine on it....so I decided to create two pieces 84"long x 26"high, one black base, the other red base and each of them place silhouette images of Endangered Animals across the length with text behind on the background.
Black background with red images and gold text; red background with black images and gold text..hanging one over the other above the red couch on a gold wall.    That took care of the BIG idea....so I thought, why not carry this to the gallery, by creating a series 14" x 16" with endangered animals of north america...same idea w/text and image of the animals on background...keeping it simple so I can keep the pricing to a minimum.....so that's what I'm starting to put together...going to work  up a small one first to work out the kinks...already purchased the fabric for the larger pieces...just worked up the lettering for the text, ready to start cutting and fusing the text once I get the images set in place.....then the background stitching for shading and texture....I'm all of a sudden interested in working this idea to see where it takes me.     I've been doing research on the internet about the different animals and locations...there are actually thousands of different types of endangered something..animals, plants, insects, birds, etc etc....possibly this could work into something more for me. 

I feel relieved that I can not concentrate on the subject at hand and do some honest work instead of jumping from one idea to another...I hate that feeling as my work has to have a purpose of some kind.

The other work I want to produce is much more complex and time consuming..once I get enough smaller pieces for the Oct exhibit in place, then I can wander into the other ideas that I have in sketch and draft pieces around the gallery.....and this week, the weather turned HOT HOT HOT...which means I can only work in the morning out in the studio as it's just to hot once it hits noon.  That dang summer think has popped it's head up which means if it continues, I'll have to move my machine into the house to sew to get these pieces finished. 

Journal Search

I've been combing through all my journals and drawing books searching for my next endeavor, my next challenge, my next series.   I'm been encouraged by others to do a series based on florals and it just doesn't seem exciting or stimulating to me...I tried to work up a few designs, nothing happened.  And then I tripped over this image of a sunflower.  What a happy face this flower has and it made me feel so at ease, which I need right now.  I had already pulled some images from my journals, ideas that I'd jotted down or drawn and some included the floral idea...and bingo......I had my next series idea....based on the sunflower.  A simple image of a simple flower sewing and embellished with seed beads and glitter in the middle...12x12 wrapped around stretcher bars...simple, clean and colorful.  So I instantly started on my first piece...the sunflower itself; it's  under the sewing machine needle right now, soon to be ready to be stretched......and I'll do a couple of others using the sunflower...and then I plan to move on to another flower everyone loves, the rose and more and more until I have about six in total to hang....KISS......Keep it simple, stupid!!!!!     From there I can move on to the other ideas of combining some abstract work with simple design and work toward some memorable work.  Suddenly I do see the light at the end of the tunnel I've been in and I'm feeling better about doing some fiber work.

While I was rummaging through my journal I ran across some "lists" I had made...and yes, I'm a list maker from way back...but these lists were interesting to me, especially with all the stress I'm going through as a caregiver to my husband.

"What gives me pleasure"
     *  Being lovey/dovey with Lynn
     *  hot tub soak (I miss our hot tub as I do love a good hot soak in water).
     *  grandchildren & my adult children
     *  shopping at a fabric store
     *  shopping in an art store...those are really the only two types of shopping I like to do.
     *  having my hair/scalp scrubbed at a salon..someone other than myself.
     *  stress-less days - stillness
     *  a good book
     *  bowling a good strong game
     *  rocky road ice cream
     *  popcorn and a good movie
     *  creating new work in my art studio

"Things that I regret"
     *  Never having an official wedding party - I eloped both times.
     *  That I couldn't convince my son to get a college education
     *  Not following through on my dream to own my own art gallery
     *  That Lynn & I don't have the ability to travel due to his health reasons
     *  that I allowed my Dad to control whether I went to college or not.  He didn't allow me to prove
         myself to myself...I had make my success the hard way...school of hard knocks.
     *  that I took my first husband back into my life after he decided to leave..I did it for my
         kids so they would have both of us in their lives............................and he hurt me deeply.

I'm sure there are more, but that is what was on my list.  Each of us have regrets of one kind or another..nothing can be done about them now..just know what they are and move on.

"I want to shine as the brightest light possible.  I may be 68, but I feel as if my "true" life is in the here and now.  My true self, the real me.  I realize my time is limited, so don't procrastinate."  LS

Need to find my MOJO again.

I've been working on some new ideas for future series...and I worked on a few floral pieces and it certainly didn't spark my interest...This piece is just the collage right now, needs to have the surface sewing and background movement...maybe I'll start working on that portion to see if it makes me more interested in creating more floral pieces.  It seems to be that it's been done before...but then it hasn't been done by me before and maybe with a little twist or change, I can personalize it a bit and not have the pieces be just flowers...maybe they can be flowers with a little pizazz...why can't leaves me pink or red or purple, why do they always need to be green.

I've also started some new surface designs using animal silouettes and thinking of creating more pieces like my gekcos.....I still love this p ieces of work.

I love the way it moves around the surface....maybe smaller versions of this piece as well as other types of animals forms....I'm mainly thinking about work that I can put in the gallery and sell at a lower reasonable price....

I hate that as an artist I am thinking about the costs of a piece of work before I even create it...I should be just creating and if I decide to put it in the gallery, then and only then is when I should be thinking about the price...at least that's the way I used to do things and I felt better about it then, rather than now.

I'm struggling to get my groove back....need something to kick me in the gut and get me excited again about doing my work.  I believe that all my other responsibilities right now have pushed my creative side out a bit and I need to get that back.  I guess I'm going to have to make some mistakes along the path to finding myself and my creative side again.  Thank goodness I have a healthy inventory of work to fall back on while I take this time to rethink my goals.    

Fabric Ferns

I had a plan that didn't work....but I'm left with these three fern pieces....which I like, but they are small....they were going to be adhered to another piece, but they sure didn't look good, so I scrapped that idea altogether...sometimes I do make some big mistakes and this was one of them.  I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my mojo back...doing these three simple pieces kind of kicked started me and I'm now working on a larger floral piece..currently cutting out all the parts and pieces to fuse together before I sew and finish off....actually my first in my floral series that I intend to place in the gallery at the end of summer.  My sales have been in such a slump that I need new ideas on the wall for sure. 
Customers will make great comments on my work, take my card and brochure; but no much in sales.  Good thing I don't rely on sales to live on...I would have stopped a long time ago.

Part of my own slump is what I'm going through taking care of hubby....it's a lot of work and it's constant, or at least it seems constant.  There are times when he's napping during the day that I can take advantage of that down time and get in some studio time of my own.  And I'm considering dropping one of my bowling days to accommodate for myself...it's hard to do because another bowler needs me to take her bowling because she doesn't drive/partially blind.  And she says she doesn't have another way to get to bowling except from me.  I don't want to disappoint, but I may have to do so.
And the others I bowl with rely on my also...I'm the money collector, score keeper, computer changer when it scores wrong and moral support..we have a good time, but it is time consuming and it's not league play because 9-tap is not a league game.  Nothing counts, it's  mainly practice. 

Must end for now...off to Costco to pick up supplies..can't be gone long as I'm leaving hubby to fend for himself. 

Hubby on the Mend

Hubby is on the mend.....he's getting around much easier than when he came home, has improved greatly over the last couple of weeks which is starting to give me some time to spend out in my art studio....which I truly need to do.  I'm in between projects and really need to start something asap for my own piece of mind.  I have been collecting images of flowers and I've begun to draw up some designs to work up to get myself started with the floral project of work that I intend to create to show in the gallery in the fall.  I like to be way ahead of a deadline, so I'm starting now.  This way I know if I'm going to follow through on the project or not and will have time to create something else before the time is up.  I am truly a type A person when it comes to my art...I don't mess around, I create...when I mess around I get totally unhappy with everything and I end of stopping and throwing it all away.  I'm more of a thinker until I've collected all the ideas and tools and then I jump in with both feet and go for it.  I'm ready to jump in!!!!!

How Things Fall into your Lap

Putting an old friend up on my blog today....Man with Squeezebox: Ireland....I created this piece a long time ago and it's still one of my favorites and I still have it in my inventory.  Just placed in on the TAFA on-line store along with three other pieces to see if I can generate some interest in my fiber work.  It sometimes takes a long time to find that perfect someone that has the same interest and feels the same about an image...the wait can be forever.  But I keep on trying. 

It always surprises me how things fall into ones lap when you least expect them to do so.  I always have on going projects for the gallery, but I do like to take a break from the same projects and work on new items.....and this month, TAFA approached me about their on line store, so I took the up on it.  Then one of my sisters mentioned that she and another of my sisters were going to hire a booth space at our local quilt guilds annual show in Oct/Nov and would I like to participate...yes.  And then talking last night to a bowling friend who works in the floral business...he read that I was going to start on some floral ideas and he asked me to make up some smaller pieces around 10x10 or 12x12 and he could get them hung at the floral business he works for...great idea to work up my ideas small to see if they work and then I can create them in a larger size which I prefer.  Three things that just seemed to happen out of the blue.  You have just got to love what comes along from time to time. 

Having my husband home after sixty days and the amount of care he needs has really caught me off-guard...it's a huge amount of work each day...along with the doc appointments, home health appointments, finding time to run out to the grocery store and pharmacy....yikes!!!  At days end I am totally spent and so ready for rest.  Hopefully as the days progress, he'll need less and less help and I will be able to have more time creating...selfish of me a bit, but it so much of my passion.    

Sacramento365.com Featured Artist

Beginning this past week I was placed on the City of Sacramento's citywide blog, Sacramento365.com as their March featured artist.....and I've had a great response to my work being seen on their blog.  No sales yet, but I've had loads of comments from various people who have viewed my work on the blog.  One never knows where this will lead and when something will develop, but the exposure is definitely worth the effort to get my work noticed.

I finished my last two commissions, they have been picked up and I have been paid.  I have NO projects in the works, no deadlines to meet, no commissions to work up, no gallery needs display wise at this very moment in time....something that doesn't happen often.  No I can plan for my next series of artwork...which I believe will be to tackle a series based on floral/flower design.  I am slated to be one of the featured artists at the gallery later this year and this is the time I can hang new and different work in my display without it having to be juried/approved by the general membership...so I'm thinking it will be floral work, which no one in the gallery is doing right now except for one acrylic painter.   I plan on keeping it as simple as possible, using loads of hand dyed fabrics and my own hand drawn images as I want to perfect that side of what I do.  I would say I'm not a drawing type of person, but I should be, so I'm going to tackle that part of the deal. 

Hubby possibly coming home next Wed after almost 60 days in the hospital and rehab facility...and finally I will be able to have a full day at home for the first time since this all began in January....way too much stress...all I know is that I need a vacation and can't see that happening any time soon.  Lynn is doing much better, is walking well with his walker, standing for balance, changing clothes all takes a huge effort but he's improving day by day.  He's going nuts in rehab, making me nuts with all his phone calls...and then I'm there from 11am to 6pm everyday...weekends even more because nothing happens on the weekend....a long journey and I'm sure it will continue even when he gets home. 

New Work

Finished the five new pieces of work that need to be installed in my display at the Artists' Collaborative Gallery this coming Monday morning....Graffiti Artist is above..actually my grandson at age three painting on my fence in the backyard....he was the only one of my grandkids that painted an abstract, all the others painted houses...Jack is certainly a different thinker. 

Dividing my time up between taking care of my home, the gallery, my art work and being with my husband about six hours a day while he's still be cared for in the rehab center rehabilitating after quadruple bypass surgery...makes for a very full day....I sometimes feel like I'm working again..I leave the house in them morning and return around dinner time only to start it all over again...just like I used to do for years working full time and tending my home and family.  Only this time it's just me at home, no kids or hubby....somewhat strange at times. 

Starting on a second piece of a commission I'm doing for a long time client and then I'm planning on starting on work that I've put on the back burner since all this has happened to my husband and me late January....our whole world has turned upside down, inside out and it's really been a ride to say the least.  One of the most difficult parts was keeping his huge family advised of all that was going on in a timely manner and trying not to miss telling someone...that's when the Facebook page I created for his family really came in handy.   

Anyway, I'm getting back to my studio routine as best I can with the time I have...this is what I mean by working...when I worked full time I really only got into my studio in the evening and weekends...this is what is happening right now and I DON'T LIKE IT....so glad my studio is at home and not off site..it would be difficult to get myself there right now.  Later...L

Catch-up or Ketsup

Life has definitely gotten in my way to creating new work.  Sometimes this happens, I guess.
Hubby is currently in a rehab facility for physical therapy after a quadruple bypass surgery earlier this month.  We're into our second week of rehab and he's getting slightly better..it's going to be a long haul for him as he's moving and recovering very slowly.  And this all is taking a toll on me somewhat...taking care of everything from home as I have always done, plus managing the art gallery via home office, hospital room and now rehab and creating new work for my display change happening this next Monday....exhaustion does set in and I am sleeping nights now.  My schedule is like I'm working full time again..I leave the house in the morning and don't arrive back until 6pm to cook my meal, rest, do some sewing and then crash from exhaustion.  I've cut back on my bowling by eliminating Friday bowling for now, but continue my league commitments for Tuesday morning and Wednesday nights.  I need the diversion. 

The City of Sacramento has a city wide blog...and they have asked me to be their featured artist for the month of March....I'm putting together all my comments from questions they asked along with information for them to publish....let's hope this gives my sales at the gallery a boost....I'm getting commissions, but direct sales have been in a slump for me for some time....I know they will pick up, but I never like it when they are dry.

SUPER OVER THE TOP BUSY

This is my latest commission...picture not the greatest, but the finished  piece was wonderful....loved this picture of one baby three times....such a happy child.  The original photo had her wrapped in a blue blanket, changed that for sure and it's heavily sewn over the surface..hardest part was getting the skin coloring right on all three images...babies have such pure skin..it took three colors to make it look right to my eye.  Got the order on Thursday, they needed it a week later for a shower gift, done in two days and off FEDEX Ground.

Starting a drawing class on line with Susan Shie, Lucky Drawing 101..start tomorrow and I am looking forward to working on my own time/speed.

Hubby went into the hospital over the weekend...heart failure and blockage in an artery to his heart..possibly needs a stint installed this week while in the hospital.  Scarey but I know the end result will be fantastic for him...give him my more energy and strength, which he needs right now.  He's had scads of family and friends stopping by to see him..sort of like a family reunion.  Hopefully  he'll be coming home Tues,Wed or Thurs.

Last Minute Commission

Got a call this past Thursday from a customer who had seen my work in the Old Sac gallery several months ago, took my brochure and wondered if I could put something together for her by this coming Saturday....baby shower gift type thing.  Of course I can....hoping my printer wasn't still acting up running fabric through it as it had been the week prior.  Printed off the image on Saturday and spent a good part of the day Sunday doing all the sewing to finish up and get it out FEDEX today....plenty of time before their Saturday party.  And it turned out great.....the image had a blue blanket wrapped around baby Raquel Rose, but I changed it to pink and I stitched it heavily so it actually does look like a fabric blanket around her.  She's a beautiful child...the finished project looks great...my photograph isn't the best, done on the quick!      This is what I call "spinning on a dime"....getting it done ahead of time quickly and still doing a good job.  It was difficult to get the right skin tone as baby skin in pure....used three colors of pencils to get the right combination all over the skin showing.

Now I can get to sewing on the five new pieces I'm working up for the gallery to install on 2/1.....

RE-ORGANIZING for 2015

Worked up five new pieces to finish this month to install at the gallery in February.  Above is my three cowboys which I really like...the kids are fantastic....I colored them with colored pencils and fused to a dyed silk background and that will be heavily machine sewn, as well as each of the boys.

Spent much of today organizing my studio and setting up for my plans for the year.  Going to try to stay focused throughout the year, keeping track of everything as I go so I don't waste time nor money along the way.  

Also spend some time getting ready for my first members meeting at the gallery this evening...going over what worked for 2014 and what to expect for 2015..with lots of hand outs for each of the members to read at their leisure.  Trying to jump start them into getting more involved with the gallery and it's function....otherwise this gallery will not make it.

Signed up for an on-line class with Susan Shie...fantastic painter/drawer/art quilt maker from Wooster, Ohio...can't wait to start.. class is titled "Lucky Drawing 101" and we going to be drawing only onto paper...large pieces with all sorts of tool which I already pretty much have from my class I took last year from Jane Davies.  Her class was more abstract drawing while this class might be more up my alley...using real images but in your own style and color.

later!

New Year, New Beginning

Isn't it strange how we say the same thing every year....New Year, New Beginning....but it's true...it gives us all an amount of time to real a goal and then start over again with another...at least that's true for me.....

and this past month, I have finally come to the realization that I can't fix my husband and his illness and neither can he.  What has happened has happened and we're going to have to live with the results as they move on in this coming year.  I'm not sure where this is all going to lead us, but I'm sure it's not going back to the way it was in the beginning.    And I have to accept that!

I've decided that I'm giving myself another year at the gallery and working hard on my display and work that I promote there on the walls ... another year to prove to myself that I can sell my work and make a profit after paying for my wall rental and supplies.  2014 wasn't a good year for me for some reason...my first thinking was my work was getting stale, it needed to change...but when I did that, many wanted the other work up on the wall....the customer that sees my work will see it once in their lifetime as our gallery's customer is usually the tourist...I'd say around 85% are tourists and the other 15% are locals who venture down to Old Sac maybe two/three times a year....not good odds. 

I know which images sell the best...that's what I should be placing up on the wall while incorporating some newer images a little at a time....February I will be moved into the back room on a longer wall and I did sell better in the back room, so that's where I'm going to set up my new display.  Purchased a plastic shelf to place at the bottom of my display to house some small easels with my 3"x3" fruit pictures and built above that...placing the best sellers at eye level....anything above eye level is hard to sell..people really only look slightly below and above their eye level...proven fact.

Aside from creating work for the gallery, I'm going to venture into unchartered waters for myself....play around with new ideas, new image ideas, hoping to find my next niche, my next series that I can built a solo exhibit around for the future.

Tending to caring for my husband is taking more time as we go along so I need to really concentrate on using my studio time the best I can.  I refuse to give us my passion and will continue as long as my brain and body can handle it.