Late Night in the Hotel

This has been a crazy week for us with helping one of my adult sons and his partner remodel an addition on their home and the Atkinson 100th family reunion.  I have been gone from home since Wednesday, and I finally have a moment to get on a pc with faster internet. 
So after getting in a bit of reading between the noises from a room stuffed with kids, what else is left?  Oh ...maybe squeeze in a few moments of mindless trivial games, and hopefully some slightly legible ramblings on a blog.

I truly hope that somehow these kids survive and grow up with some normalness and can fit into the outside world and not be totally socially backward.

2nd piece almost done!

I spent the weekend at my son's house 2 hours away to help lay the foundation for a room addition, but managed to squeeze in a few hours to sew together the pieces of the house that I have been working on.  I was also lucky enough to finish another chapter of my book.  The only things left to do are to finish the display holder for the piece and to attach them together.  There are 2 sides to the piece, the primary is in b&w and are pieces of old self portraits, and the other side is color pieces of nudes.  These represent the dual nature of a home...how it can seem normal, but is not.  The display is just how I was trained to think...I think the ceramics side of me got pounded into it by the wonderful Ms. Lesley Baker..."How is this to be displayed"....

and yes the display holder does look like the kind of sign you might see  "for sale" on.

Another day....

Summer weekends always seem to be full of either running, or Holidays, etc...  Today was Brianna's 8th birthday party over at Phyllis and Georges, so most of the day was spent at their house; however I did get through chapter 3 which puts me halfway through the book I am reading.  Tonight when we returned, I hit the studio and feel that I made much more decisive actions on the first piece of mine.  Really second, but first for school.  I do not have much to do to it, and should be done tomorrow, providing my thread supply holds on.

Some experimental pieces

Sorry about the blur...I used my phone.  Working with a variety of materials, fabric, canvas, and paper.  Attempting to work more abstractly than realistically; although those elements are present within the work.  Yes, I do like to work on the floor.

Working!

Spent a few hours this morning tossing around ideas while working in the studio.  I finally got my house back from guests that had been here for a few days.  So...now I have the one piece that I have been fiddling with, and another smaller piece underway along with plaster arms just laying around getting coats of paste and gesso on them.  I have been putting some clear laquer on some old drawings that are going to be dissected and reused in one of my projects.  I really want to play with some clay, but I need to get some $$ to pick up some talc and ball clay.....ideas are flowing!

Mentor

I finally got that one special email today; which said yes...I will be glad to work with you!  Her name is Denise Burge, and she is from Cincinnati, Ohio.  Luckily, that is only 2 hours away from home.  You can check out her work at www.myoriginaldirt.com .  Later in the day I got to play with some plaster wrap and wrapped a few arms.  Experimental works in progress...

Finished

I am finally finished with the painting for my cousin, and will be delivering tomorrow.  Rick, Roland and I went to pick up our new glasses today, and had Sarayia have her eyes checked.  Continued to get the studio prepped and got a ceiling fan with lights installed.....Now I will be able to really see!!  Next week, I may move in...hubby wont let me!! 

Space!

I have been feeling...rather stifled since my return home, and this is because of not really having the space to work in like I used to have.  My deck is gone..due to our city.  (very long story)  I finally gritted my teeth and pushed my hubby, and ta da....my upstairs in the garage is finally evolving from a storage of junk to a space where I can work and be alone, away from the kids and other well meaning individuals.  This transformation got started with the help of my daughter who wants to have her 16th birthday party in the loft...aka studio.  Oh, the push I gave my hubby had to do with putting in a few receptacles so that I can have power... it only took four years, and a few weeks of moping and getting upset about...what else....space!

Pre-holiday.

No matter how much you have going on in your life, holidays just simply do not go away!  I got several hours of painting in today, but for the painting that my cousin commissioned for a wedding gift for her future daughter-in-law.  I finally got it completely under-painted, and will glaze it with monochromatic warm umber to give it a feeling of nostalgia.  This is not the type of painting that I want to base my career on, but its for family; so why not.  By the way, family commissions do not pay well at all!