At least they are blooming in my art studio, along with butterflies
fluttering. In my mind, spring is in
full swing! I’m steaming up on a real
deadline with an exhibit scheduled to hang on March 26th at the
BPP. This will be the first showing of
my migration series called “Migration: where
have you been and what have you seen?” I’m
currently finishing pieces that have been in progress for some time. The latest example is my ‘Monarchs in Transit’
piece. I actually started the weaving
four or five months ago and I’ve been slowly accumulating components since
then. Last week I assembled the first of
the flower heads, and yesterday it all came together. I’m quite fond of the monarch heads with embellished
guitar strings for antennae. I put a
tiny drop of hot glue on each antenna tip and painted them matte black to create
the effect I wanted. I first bent the
strings into a ‘V’ shape to embedded the structure in the head to anchor
it. I especially like the magical
monarch that’s flying above the flowers looking for a place to land.
I kept art progress moving forward this past week when we
visited Grandma in the cold of Michigan for spring break. The weather really wasn’t that bad and we did
a lot of hanging out as a family. We had
an unexpected visit from Kathy Rulli, Jim’s cousin —it was great to catch up
with her. I spent a lot of time
stretching out weavings into frames for the BPP show, although I’m also trying
to finish a few other pieces before I head down to Mississippi to do the
Ridgeland Arts Festival in early April. I’m
excited because this is a new venue for me and I get to visit with more cousins
- Marth and Dave in Madison. With two
shows on the horizon I won’t be able to get to the garden for a while, because
as soon as I return from the Mississippi show I’ll travel to Chicago for a long
weekend with the Sounds of South group. After
that I’m definitely going to stick my fingers in the dirt!
As soon as we got back from Michigan I went full force in
the art studio. After completing the
monarch piece I’m hurrying to complete a piece called ‘Thinking about Fishing’.
Jim is a wreck over the winter when he can’t
get out fishing, so he spends a lot of time thinking and planning for the time
he can get back on the water. January
and February are the hardest months for him, and this cold, wet March set back
his mental calendar. I can tell he’s
ready to go when he drives out to the lake to check out the water color and
level. On Friday he saw a great blue
heron waiting for spring fishing too, which matches the bird I’m creating for my
piece. My heron will be examining the water
and deciding which fish or amphibian would make the nicest lunch.
My family timeline is heating up too, which includes a drive
planned for Friday to Oberlin to pick up Tommie for his spring break. It was a little sad not to have my little
pumpkin along for our spring break for the first time. I miss him, but it sounds like he’s doing
well and having a wonderful time—he’s right where he needs to be. Cubba just gets twice as many hugs and kisses
and it doesn’t seem to bother him. And
Grandma baked me a pie! I didn’t get a
picture, but it was a mixed berry peach pie, and it was tasty! I had a slice each day I was in
Michigan. Now the countdown begins in
Bloomington!
Until next week,
Martina Celerin
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment