Monkeying around......

he's pretty cute!

last night I got him all stitched together, knit up his hat and stitched it to his head

still need to finish knitting his vest and then create his wings, but it's coming right along

this could be labeled "rot is beautiful"

both pictures were taken in our garden this week of a large rhubarb leaf that is slowly returning to the earth under the plant

the colors are amazing -- and I think these may become a piece of art one of these days

the other issues I've been dealing with this week have been "rot" but NOT beautiful -- spending uncounted HOURS on the phone trying to get medical procedures set up for the DH through every possible obstacle has been totally frustrating

my plans for getting any real art work done have been eaten up by administrative nonsense ---- GRRRRRRR!!!

as of noon time today I have decided that it is all just going to wait until next Tuesday afternoon because it is seriously making me CRAZY

I'm headed into the studio to get something done

looks like a weekly event

seems just now I can't get here more than once a week!

I've been working on this piece this week --- this is the third attempt at the side netting for the back edge of the necklace and I've finally found something that I'm actually happy with, so this might get finished yet

 

these two pictures should probably be labeled "do you know what this is?"

back in 2011 I made this little winged monkey for my daughter

he sits on her desk at work and she has a co-worker that has threatened to "appropriate" him

so my daughter asked me if  I could build another one

yup -- working on it

this project is rolling along -- last night I finished the hand embroidery in the largest circles -- now it's time to see what I can add in the middle circle on each one

time to get to those projects

moving forward

having spent the last few days beating down the "snakes", I'm feeling a bit better about getting some projects done

this piece is moving along

after I took this picture I decided to remove the dark centers from the smaller circles, and I like it even better now that I've done that

the hand embroidery on the outside rings of the big circles is moving right along too, so I'm pretty please with how it looks

a couple of years ago I made this piece of beaded jewelry

I've never been totally happy with either the clasp that I used (an effective but stylistically weak magnetic one) and because of the stiffness of the individual tiles and the way I connected them the necklace didn't rest as comfortably on the body and I hoped for

this week I decided to make some changes

I removed the clasp and took all of the tiles apart

the new piece  will include only three of the original 17 tiles (I'm saving the other 14 for some other pieces that I'm already planning)

the three tiles have been reattached with panels of bead netting and I'm working on more netting from the next edge of those bead embroidered tiles to the clasp which is a much more decorative on that the one I had before

I'm very pleased with how this is going

and then there is this

I like doing beaded pieces that have an Egyptian feel to them

I made this piece a while back, and it sold

since then I've been looking for another brass stamping that was big enough and had the right feel for a new piece that I'm thinking about

that new stamping arrived in yesterday's mail and it is even better in person than it is in the photo

looking forward to getting to work on this one too



time to get busy!

maybe new shoes will help

what does this have to do with making art and doing projects?

nothing really, but you've heard the phrase "It's gotta be da shoes!"

I'm hoping these new beauties have some magic in them, because about now I could use some!

You might have noticed that posts here in this space have been few and far between of late.  Last night the DH said to me "are you going to do a blog post soon?" to which I said "I have nothing to show".  He thinks I should just talk about what's going on even if I have nothing to show, so I'm giving that a try here.

The last week has been alternatingly frustrating, exhausting, exciting and discouraging -- let's take those in that order

Frustrating: 

still dealing with computer issues -- after trying for five days to get someone at Microsoft to help me authenticate a licensed copy of an Office 2010 software package, yesterday my computer became a Microsoft software free zone (except for the operating system) ---- I do not use Explorer because it has had such problems and that has been true for quite a while, but it seems that not only have they stopped supporting Windows XP (the fact that sent me off on this great "adventure" to get a new computer), but apparently they have quietly stopped supporting Office 2010. 

So yesterday I uninstalled all vestiges of Microsoft Office and installed Open Office instead. Since then I've been opening a lot of the files I had originally created in Office without any issues at all.  

Hurrah!  at least that problem seems to be solved!

Exhausting (and exciting):

Last Tuesday I went to Denver for a meeting about an upcoming I'm helping with and to hang a quilt show.  

On Sunday I was back in Denver to work that quilt show all day and to take it down at the end of the day.

On Monday, after spending much of the day dealing with the above mentioned computer issues, I packed up the quilts that had to be mailed back to the artists.  Yesterday those went on their way.

It was fun to see the exhibits at the show, visit with my friend from London, and pick up some supplies that I had planned to get at this show.

I'm still recuperating!

Discouraging:

I'm having a tough time just now dealing with being pulled in too many directions and feeling like I'm not getting anything finished.

My responsibilities as the SAQA representative in this region have been eating up big chunks of time at the computer in addition to the show hanging and take down, and since I take that job seriously even if I'm just a volunteer, it has been hard to keep at it.

The idea of getting the house ready to sell is making me nuts.  I'm about at the stage of either giving up or trying to find a way to make peace with the idea that I just need to forget doing anything else and just concentrate 24/7 on packing/paint/etc., etc. until its done.  It will not make for getting ANY kind of artwork done, which feels like a gigantic step backward in terms of what I where I want the art to go.  

Like I said -- discouraging

Ok, that's where I am --- not sure this is exactly a great post for everyone to read, but maybe it will help me get on with whatever direction I'm going next