Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Rudolph, is that you?


photograph by Alan Blacklock who happened to glance up at some cloud formations at just the right time.
I guess it isn't just me who sees Christmas all around.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Art Room re organization 007

I have returned

It has been nearly 10 months since my last entry...a lot has happened.

February 22nd my DH was told he had colon cancer. More tests showed a small blep on his liver as well so in March he had his colon resected and in May he had his liver resected. He recovered quite quickly from each of those surguries and began chemo 12 cycles or 24 weeks. Treatment 1-3 went well...a few side effects but with 4 and 5 he got really ill. So ill he had to spend 10 days in the hospital. He was having stge 4 toxicity to one of the chemo drugs. They were changed and treatments 6-12 went by much better. He has lost his hair, energy and 50 lbs but so far the cancer has stayed away. His last treatment finished up this past Friday the 7th of December. During the same time, the DD had 3 kidney stones and one ruptured and she was in the hospital for 3 days but doing fine now. The dog could not stay out of the act and after 3 weeks of diarrhea...and every test the vet could think of...I asked her to be treated for whip worm and given an anti diarrhea medication and that did the trick in less than 12 hours.

So, as you have so patiently read...I was busy and art had to be put on the back burner.

I did think about doing things and accomplished some mini projects.



I also re organized my art room. This involved weeks of sorting and adding new wire shelf units. I am very happy with the results and hope the dry spell of creative energy gets put to good use soon.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Validation

Today will be remembered as the day I received validation for my art work. I enjoy what I make, and my friends say they like what I make, but is it worth it?
You Betcha!
I had submitted a framed collage work using the Jonathan Talbot technique and one of my favorite altered books I have made to a juried art show at a Dayton Gallery. Today, I got news that my altered book has been accepted for the show. This truly is an honor as over 100 artists submitted over 266 entries and only 43 artists made the show with 57 items.
The e mail called me an artist...a term that I hold in high esteem. Since art is not my profession, I have toyed with the term and muttered it under my breath as what does the term really mean? To me, having someone look at my creations and hold them up to other creations and yet sellect mine as something of enough esthethic value to be put on display for others to see at a place where art is expected...well, that is validation and I feel much better using the term artist. It allows me to feel proud of my creativity and not feel as though I am wasting my time and effort for naught.
Today is a good day.

Monday, January 15, 2007

We may need to build an ARK

Has this weather been strange or what? California is having major freezing problems, Colorado is burried under huge amounts of snow and freezing cold, and Ohio and the East are having balmy but WET weather. This is the middle of January and Ohio has had two minor snow falls, and one of those was in late October!!!! I know the ice and snow is headed our way, and I will moan and groan when it arrives but...the poor trees and flowers here have tried to bud and the ground is so saturated by all this rain, that I may just dig out the plans for that ARK and start sawing away.
This weekend was one of finishing up projects around the house. Dallas and I installed his faux wood grain dash and trim to his Honda Fit and built his new garage workbench and tore down one of the shelving units and I made a mess in my art studio...but had fun doing so.
Tomorrow I get to start cleaning it all up. (gotta have some place to build the ARK).

Art work for Vickie



A very well known art vendor, Vickie at BMUSE, was recently hospitalized for a brain aneurysm and is still in critical care. Many of her customers and friends wanted to create a healing book for her recovery and the effort is spear headed by Sandee on the Art Diva site. For more information, go to Sandee's blog at http://sandees-sanity.blogspot.com and read about and see the other art work contributed to the book so far.

To the left is the front and back of my 4 x 4 page that I am sending.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

It's a sad day in Buckeye Land

The championship game is over. Ohio State suffered its largest defeat since 1999 to Florida with a final score of 41-14. The game went from great to bad quite quickly. The very first play of the game....the return of the kick off brought Ohio a score of 7-0 and it went down hill from there. OSU's leading receiver got injured and was out the rest of the game.
Someone had to go home without the trophy or title and I am happy with the accomplishment that the Gators were able to pull off. Why? Well, their coach was born and raised in Ohio and was the football coach at DD's college a few years back. He really is a nice man and very capable and deserving of coaching a championship team. I am also sad for Ohio State as this has been a sad ending to a wonderful season and its very first loss this season.

What is in store next? Why snow of course...the weatherman is threatening our area with snow during the morning rush hour and the high winds are to continue. (I may have to buy that boat anchor for my dog, Maggie, after all to keep her from blowing away when she is outside.)

I picked up a cute item at Target today in the dollar bin. I hope to alter it maybe tomorrow and post the results.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Monday, January 8th

This isn't as easy as it looks. I have a photo way too big for the page and my posts are not going into the boxes I put them in...but a bit more play and I should be able to coax the powers to be to line up and fly straight.
DH is flying across the country today on a business trip. It is cold and rainy here in Ohio and DD is has the day off...gee...what to do? I could entertain DD and take her to lunch and maybe FORCE myself to stop by Michael's and see if they are having any great sales or I could clean the house and start to get ready for a condo wide community progressive dinner on the 20th, or I could do some art.... Maybe I should do all 3.
But tonight is the big championship game of Ohio State vs. the Florida Gators and I will be sitting in front of the TV with my OSU shirt on and eating all sorts of junk food that is required of a big fan on game day and cheering on my team. Keep your fingers crossed.