Christmas, my birthday, New Year’s Day and art!

A lot of exciting things happen around the holiday season here in Bloomington Indiana, but that news has to wait.  As I move into 2013 my need to get into full gear making art kicks in.  Sometimes I can’t sleep in the morning and I slip down into my art studio to keep all my projects moving forward.  The holiday’s delayed my completion of a commission piece featuring peppers, but my family and the festivities had to take priority.  Now the ‘Some Like it Hot’ piece that features sixty-six peppers of all shapes and sizes is complete!  The theme of this piece, contained in vertical format, was hot peppers.  I created jalapenos, habaneras, and slightly zingy chili peppers in all shapes and sizes.  I’ll give you a wee sneak peak of the completed piece here, but I really want to show the completed piece to the couple that commissioned the work first.  Next week I promise to show the final image.  With the pepper piece off my priority list, I’m moving on to the next commission.  It’s a version of ‘When Life Gives You Lemons.’  

 For this piece I’ve been creating needle-felted lemons and lemon halves and quarters for sectional views.  I have plenty of lemon skin colored fleece as well as lighter yellow lemon “meat” that I dyed using dandelions the boys and their friends collected on a grand adventure last spring to the big field adjacent to the boys’ elementary school. 

For my piece I estimate that I need about forty lemons and part lemons, and so the poking continues whenever I have any sort of a quiet moment.  I wove the background about a month ago, and it has been keeping me company in the art studio.  It’s bright yellow and acts like a little sun on the wall.  It’s a rectangular sun, but I find the bright glowing yellows to be warm and reassuring. 

In addition to art creation, now is the time of year to apply for summer art fairs.  I have already been admitted to the Des Moines Art Festival, about which I’m really excited.  Here in Bloomington, we’re just now getting the electronic application process available for the Fourth Street Art Fair.  That’s usually my cue to start applying to the other major shows I want participate in this summer, which are in Madison and Minneapolis.  Madison’s Art Fair on the Square has always been very good to me, and it’s a fun time to catch up with our friends Wendy and Duane that live out in Hollandale.  I think I know better what I’m looking for from the Minneapolis shows, so we’ll give that a try again this year.  I did have a brief shock when I opened up the application sites and discovered that the deadline had already passed—it was the third of January!  I leapt into action, hoping to get a late application into the system, even if I had to pay a late fee.  It wasn’t until I sailed through the whole process with no problems did I realize that my Americanization was not yet fully complete.  I remembered that 3-1-2013 was not the third of January, as it is in Canada and most of the civilized world.  I really had until March first!  Now my fingers are crossed that I can get into those shows. 

As we get ready for school to start next week, we’ve been moving out of the holiday season.  The Christmas tree is down and the ornaments are packed away.  On the bright side, we’re still eating the candy from the candy house.  

 The 29^th was my birthday, on which I had a nice dinner and a bottle of wine.  I even got a boca negra cake (straight from the Julia Child’s baking book) that was simply awesome.  You’re probably thinking I would have preferred a pie, but we just had a peach pie when the family was here.  We got to share my birthday with Tim (Jim’s brother) and his wife Bobi from New Mexico.  We had a cheese fondue and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  For my birthday I got a new valve for the shower head.  You might not think that to be a romantic gift, but a quiet night without distracting drips does a lot for me.  I also got a delightful bottle of wine from Grandma and a coupon for a serger of my choice.  Jim was sick with a bad cold for on my birthday and missed the end of the holiday sale at JoAnn’s fabrics, so I had to settle for the coupon.  Of course the clock starts ticking on two events—when do I get the serger, and when is the next pie?

Until next week,

Martina Celerin