The story of my winter has been creating commissioned
pieces. The next in line features
a bicycle propped up against a fence in front of a flower garden. Last week I completed the fence and
this week I finished the bicycle and painted the fence! Painting is exciting in the winter
because it means we finally had a brief window above fifty degrees that allowed
me to coat my popsicle sticks. I
was delighted to get that done because the forecast for the next ten days is
for miserably cold winter weather with ice pellets mixed in for good measure. On the bike itself, I always feel a
little extra pressure to get the shape and proportions of the bicycle just right.
I showed the very first bicycle I made to
Jeanne Smith, the owner of Bikesmiths in town. I’m sure she tried to not to hurt my feelings as she gently
critiqued the angles and proportions of my bike. Ever since I have tried hard to treat my bikes like my
biological organisms and get the details just right. This was also my first red
bicycle, which is what the commissioner wanted. I’m delighted to be pushed out of my black bicycle
norm. I guess I flash back to the
bicycles in Amsterdam from my visit twenty years ago—I remember the bikes were always
painted black. I discovered that
red just makes me feel cheerful and happy and I really like it. I promised to have this commission to
the owner by mid-March and I feel like I'm on track for that deadline.
The next commission I promised to deliver by the end of
March, so I’m feeling a little pressure to keep moving on that piece as well. The piece features a forest path with
two dogs waiting for their keepers in the foreground. I’m very pleased with how the sketch turned out and I’m
looking forward to creating the piece, which features a lot of trees. That means that where ever I have gone I’ve
been needle felting tree trunks. Or
unicorn horns, or whatever people see when they view the unfinished trunks as I
poke away to shape them.
Oh, and when
the warmer spell hit I also took that opportunity to do some more dyeing,
because my stores of green yarns were seriously dwindling. From the sketch you can see that various
shades of greens are essential to the composition. I got a great start on weaving the background yesterday
afternoon when we had a snow day for the local school system.
That gave me time and space to work in
the art studio as the boys entertained themselves upstairs in the
afternoon. The morning was filled
with boy-made pancakes, Apples to Apples, and the movie ‘The Boxtrolls”. Then the boys invented a game that
involved rubber balls, metal bowls, rubber bands and doing push-ups. That’s all I need to know! It gave me several uninterrupted hours
with my loom, space heater and classical music as they played upstairs. They even transitioned into making
dinner for the family.
That turned
out to be artisan macaroni and cheese by Jacob and three different versions of blizzard
cake balls by Tommie. The evening
ended with a fire in the fireplace and a delightful glass of wine. Hooray! I hope I can be as successful today with a second snow
day.
On the family front, the big news is that both boys won gold
medals at the ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association) vocal
competition. I’m so proud of
them! An apple pie did appear just
after I wrote the last blog, which means it’s been gone for over a week.
Fortunately the espresso has been available
each morning, which pairs nicely with the ‘Oblivion’ cake from the
Bakehouse. That’s a flourless
chocolate cake with a wonderful chocolate ganache layer on top. We had a guest over for dinner and
didn’t have time to bake anything ourselves. The Bakehouse only had large cakes left when I got there in
the afternoon, but that turned into a positive because the cake is awesome and
I’ve been enjoying it for breakfast.
I think I have my new favorite local cake from a bakery since the
departure of Angel B’s! I’m
thinking it will last until Wednesday, at which time I’ll be ready to switch
back to pie again. Maybe a midwinter
cherry pie?
Until next week,
Martina Celerin
