The highlight of my week came early - the culmination of months of work when my two extra large commission pieces were hung in the spacious kitchen of my generous patrons. They hired a professional with two assistants; they showed up with ladders, stud finders and laser levels. Toss in the artist and we had an unbeatable team. I have to say that when I stepped back to admire the pieces I thought they looked very nice. The rewarding part for me was seeing how well all the untested elements ultimately came together—the new large formats, the necessary 
large scale of the vegetables and hands, and my new strategy for attaching the heavy piece to the frame.
My next stop was in Indianapolis on Wednesday morning after a harrowing trip through rush hour traffic to the north side of town. My vision of pleasant driving through sleepy Bloomington neighborhoods, where people wait at four-way stops until you go through, are not shared by Indianapolis drivers. I was showing my weavings and Re-Bead-ery jewelry at this year’s Indiana Recycling Coalition meeting, held at the Hilton North and organized by recycled artist coordinator extraordinaire Marilyn Brackney. The hotel support people were wonderful, helping me haul
all my stuff to its spot. The meeting people were enthusiastic and positive. My art was well received, even if sales weren’t the best, and I had a nice time chatting with the participants. The only downside was driving back home, again through rush hour traffic on 465 around town. I am sooooo happy that I’m not commuting to Indianapolis on a regular basis!
The last part of the week I did my best to hide myself in the art studio and try work on my latest commission. I completed the trail on my piece based on ‘A Walk in the Woods’. I really like how it looks. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to pull out the warm coppery tones that I haven’t worked with in a while. I even found an old coaster that had one layer in a coppery tone. Nothing in my materials bins are safe! I incorporated a lot of different fibers that I wanted and I think it looks
really nice.
The rest of the news is all family stuff. My three boys tested for new belts at Monroe County Martial Arts. The younger boys got their blue-with-a-black-stripe belts, one level below brown. And my more and more agile hubby Jim got his blue belt in the same test. He was the junior belt, and with his long reach many were a bit worried that he’d spin out and accidently kick someone near him, especially the parents of the little girl to his right. It was Friday the 13th, and 13 people were testing. Luckily, lightning didn’t strike, no one was hurt, and everyone went out for pizza or ice cream at the end. Hooray! Saturday morning brought the first round of strawberries at the farmer’s market. Jim made biscuits, I cut up the berries and added the sugar, and the boys requested the fat-free vanilla ice cream for the top. That’s Sunday morning breakfast at it’s best.
Until next week…
Martina Celerin
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