I moved from project to project over the past few
weeks. I was still riding the high
of a great artisan’s guild show two weeks ago when I took down the remaining
pieces. Five pieces found new
homes and I took on a new commission as a result of the Convention Center
exhibition, "Looking at Water", so I’m thrilled with the outcome. Jumping ahead, I’ll hang the remaining pieces at the
Bloomington Bagel Company (on Dunn Street) on Monday.
I think the smaller number of pieces will fit the space better at the
BBC—talk about silver linings!
On the family scene, the next big event was a visit to
Grandma in Michigan for Thanksgiving.
I wanted to share that on the trip North I managed to do some extended
sketching for a team effort I recently signed on to. I’m on the costume and prop committee for Sounds of South’s
next performance (next Fall), which will be Beauty and the Beast. It was wonderful to have quiet time to
think and sketch without any pressure.
I needed to get down all the ideas that have been floating around in my
head, along with the suggestions and ideas from other members of the
group. The process was somehow
very cathartic. I’m pleased with
the first iteration of the costumes, but now I need to run everything past the
rest of the committee and the director, so I can’t share any images yet...
On a humorous note, I did read that one
girl in the play had ‘sausage curls’, which I mistakenly took to mean that she
was the ‘sausage girl’ who sold sausages.
I got right on making stage sausages from Gramma’s old nylons and rolled
up deep red felt—we’ll see if they make it into the performance.
It’s always a little colder in Michigan, which leads people
to wonder why I travel north for the holiday. I always tell people that I really like my
mother-in-law! My best laid plans
for an uneventful trip fell apart the Sunday night before we planned to
leave. A night of heavy rain
overnight turned into a deluge in the wee hours. Sometimes when that happens water enters my studio,
uninvited, though my tiny art studio window.
It soaked my carpet and padding along the west wall, forcing
me to move half the studio contents out of the room to manage the wetness. Fortunately, all of the art was hanging
on the walls so no pieces were injured.
Making the whole thing a bit more stressful was the fact that power went
out around 6:15 a.m. The good news
is that the back-up sump pump kicked on, powered by the new battery. Moving wet carpet and art materials is
even less fun when the lights are out in a dark, cool basement, but we
managed.
The bad news is that the
power stayed out until after two in the afternoon. That’s about the time the battery gave out! Jim was trying to figure out what to do
in the dark when the power finally came back!
We did have a delightful trip to Michigan, visiting with
friends and family. Dinner was
grilled salmon, baked sweet and red potatoes, and steamed broccoli with cheese
sauce. For dessert Grandma made
two pumpkin pies. One was her
traditional, while the second contained bourbon, cream and maple syrup. It was more delicate and I preferred
it, but I’ll eat just about any kind of pie. On Black Friday we stopped in at the Oasis for the
traditional deep-fried perch lunch.
Yum! Then we headed out to
see the new Penguins of Madagascar movie.
It was a fast paced movie in the tradition of the more recent James Bond
movies, with non-stop action, impossible escapes, an evil villain, and lots of
fun word play.
On the trip home I finished many of the vegetable pieces I
intended to finish in Michigan. I
finished all of the green onions and broccoli for the “Summer Salad” commission
that I’ve been working on, then assembled the cucumbers. I just need to finish the seeds for
them, which I’ll do this week as I wait for the boys at their activities. I should be able to assemble the entire
piece this week and ship it off to its new home. That means I’ll begin the sketches for the next commission,
a large format piece featuring a river winding through the woods.
My last news involves a workshop Saturday, December 6th
from 1-4 p.m. to demonstrate how I make felted ornaments. I need to check with Talia at Gather,
where the workshop will be held, to see if there are enough people signed up to
run the workshop. It should be a
lot of fun. And of course I’ll be
glued to the IU basketball games this week. Tommie and I have been having a great time watching this
year’s team come together.
Until next week,
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