Back to the drawing (uh, gluing) board.

 I don't know about you but I hate mending anything and I REALLY hate doing things over.  My sainted mother was always kind enough to rip out all of my sewing mistakes so I could sew them again (thanks mom!).  I thought of her this morning when I painstaking peeled the paper "hair" off my collage because she had a bad case of "helmet head".  Now poor thing looks like she has some horrible disease.  Not terrible sexy, oh and the black outlines were too harsh so out they went too.  So frustrating but it will make for a stronger piece.  Eventually.

 How cheap am I?  So cheap that I wipe off my brushes and palettes on to canvases so I can use them for background for future work.  Some would say frugal, I say you never know what happy accidents will occur!

While I am busy schooling myself I am looking forward to being schooled at Lesley Riley's upcoming Red Thread Retreat in the mountains of Maryland next week.  A weekend where it is all about art?  Sign me up!  Oh wait, I am already signed up.  And paid for it 7 months ago.  In hindsight, a VERY wise move.

Doing the obvious

Amazing how you get results when you actually do the work on the front end.  Drove around the beltway in rush hour traffic got to meet Seth Apter of the Altered Page.  Thoroughly enjoyed his talk and his book "The Pulse of Mixed Media".  Actually submitted a piece to his latest series "Playing Favorites" and lo and behold, I got featured!  Thanks Seth!  See all the details here .

 

 

Took my girl to look at her first college. Frankly she was having a hard time connecting her efforts to "what might happen two years from now".  Walking around campus, talking to professors, counselors and students (all who were very welcoming and patient with questions) made the concept of assembling a portfolio and thinking hard about what she wants to be when she grows up a little more real.  So connecting the dots there is exciting.  Frankly I am little jealous I was always She Who Does the Practical and Sensible Thing.  Like not studying sociology in school and then ending up being a headhunter for 20 years.  Think that field of study might have informed my living?  Perhaps!  If I knew then what I know (or think I know now)...

 

I was walking around last week with this sinking feeling that I was missing something so I spent three solid days deleting and responding to emails.  There still seem to be hundreds of things to do but at least I know what they are now.  I can only hope that the time investment will pay off . I would much rather be looking my clients in the eye rather than my inbox.  I KNOW email is an effective way to communicate, but I still haven't figured out how to juggle it all...

 

My artistic reality of the week?  Uh, does thinking about going to my studio count?  Am thinking not.  I use a calender that starts the week on Monday.  So tomorrow back to the schedule.