Glued to my chair!

It's just about art show season and I have a significant void of inventory.  Hence, glued to the chair! However, truth be known, I work mostly standing up!  Has something to do with only being 5 feet tall.

So, I am finishing up a couple of journals, and beginning some new mosaic stuff.  My plan is going toward some children's art first.  During the time our grandson was in PICU it became apparent to me that bright colored art was a huge focal point for children who are struggling with their health, especially brain injury related patients.  I knew right then I would do some children's pieces.  I hope to begin tiling something today!  But I am never sure if my preconceived idea is really where I will go until I get in the studio and begin working.  We'll see!

(8 hours later ...) Turns out today was the day my sweet husband, Paul decided to change the screened in porch to a glassed in porch because I have been begging for it to be sheltered from the elements.  He found someone who was generously giving away windows they are replacing in their home.  We love to recycle! SO, I spent a good bit of time being the "helper" today ... but so worth it! Look how great they look! And they are so nice to have in the room.  Now I can work in there without freezing (although we hear there will be *snow* on Tuesday!).  And every other window opens and there is a screen to keep out the critters so when I grout I won't have any "additives"!

A BEAUTIFUL day in the neighborhood! THANK YOU, Mother Nature for the lovely day!

Hope you all have creative, productive days this weekend. The sun is out and the birds are singing, primarily doves are calling today.  The breeze is swirling all the blossoms around.  We are very grateful the crazy HIGH wind has died down! It was very wild here!  Do hope all of you are safe, and are blessed.

Happy art making weekend, friends!

Inspiration: a perspective

Golly! Where do all the spurts of inspiration come from?  I have been waiting patiently for the blasts to hit me full on.  Today was a great day, just in general.  And I did get kissed by inspiration.  I worked in the studio for some hours and played around with some new ideas.  Inspiration and motivation ... necessary for artists and other humans!

Our 7 year old grandson recently went through an illness that landed him in the PICU of Children's Hospital in Atlanta.  We spent 7 days praying for him to be strong enough to come out of his coma, the next 7 days praying for him to have clear enough lungs to be out of PICU and the next series of 7 days' so he could leave the Inpatient Rehab to return to normal life.  Last week our gozillions of prayers were completely answered and he returned to his regular school to complete the 2nd grade with his class.  There is NO WAY to express the gratitude I have in my heart every morning when I wake from my slumber and remember that he is ok, that the crazy nightmare is over and we have been dearly blessed with a miracle.  So you know MY inspiration and motivation!  And it has dearly changed my perspective on everything, including my art.  Still finding my way ... again.

Thank you Christian, for the blessings you have given us all.  I will always remember what you went through and live up to our promises. 

On another note, Upstairs Gallery in High Point opened their doors today! I'm so excited!  The grand opening will be coming up ... meet the artists on May 12th!!! Go see it if you can!

And now .... I'm off to wind up the loose ends I left in the studio!

I'd like to take this opportunity to ...

wish you a Happy Easter and a wonderful weekend filled with delightful life!

and to tell you I hope with each and every bloom that opens, you receive a blessing

for which you can give gratitude

and maybe, (just maybe) the Easter bunny will even leave you a treat!

Grace, goodness and gobs of spring bliss be yours!



Accepted!

My friend, Shannon Fannon, and I have an art conglomerate by the name of Clayzaics. (website here) It is the name under which we "do" art and craft shows.  Shannon is a polymer clay artist and hand sculpts everything under the sun!  (here) This is the time of year when applications go out and fingers start crossing because art and craft shows are a HUGE way for us to get our particular kind of art out there amongst the public eyes.  Sometimes it's hard to find a niche in this industry!  SO ... in the mail yesterday morning was this blessing!

And on August 5th and 6th you can find us at the Mt. Mitchell Crafts Fair in Burnsville, NC! Whoop!

We are making art now!

Happy Weekend!

All sorts of stuff ...

SO much swirling around in this little head o' mine ...

First:

There is a wonderful blogger woman in Arizona, Heather, who has started a fabulous project of book donations to the PICUs in 2 hospitals. You can check out Heather's blog right here. (She is the same woman who provided the "team" who made my blog all cool to look at and user friendly) Heather is an incredibly talented lady and has used all of her powers for good!  Through personal experience of my grandson, Christian's illness this past February, I have developed a special place in my heart for anything PICU.  Please give if your heart says to.  It's a wonderful cause.  Andrea is hosting a book drive here and has all the details for you to peruse.  If you have a blog you'd like to share, do the "donations for buttons" choice and Heather will host your blog button on her site.  A very generous offer, to say the least! 

*******

I did have the opportunity to finish a wonderful journal this past weekend! I L.O.V.E. this one and it was for someone very special, so that made it lovely to create. Take a look! I've highlighted some of my favorite pages below.  The artwork on the front is Tammy Brinkley's.  You can check her creative life out here!

The front cover, of course! The message on the art is "Inspired, and deeply grateful".

There are lots of layers in this one - and some fun vintage pages with lace embellishments

Some space to doodle, sketch, practice her autograph, just stuff like that --- and some happy spring time colors and flowers for inspiration

Some doily action with some vintage paper and fringe! Fringe is fun!

Some pockets to hold treasures ...

Some handmade bookmarks (sooo much fun to make)

With handmade papers and ribbon sprigs 

 And you might as well know, I cannot do anything without adding buttons to it - so much fun for dimension and added color - and well, I really like color and fun

More vintagey papers

 with some BIG spaces for penning a manuscript or a screenplay - or a home design blue print

 And more and more layers of pretty colorful stuff - just for fun!

And the back inside cover, which has a fabric pocket for pens and such.  Isn't it lovely?

**********

Typical of an artist in the spring, I seem to be struggling with time management.  This  is not anything new for me, it just seems to be getting a lot worse.  (Chicago did a song back in the day that began with the lyric, "does anybody really know what time it is?"  That seems to be my theme lately)  It was bad enough before I decided to try visual art for a living.  At least with performing art there is a curtain going up to state a deadline like no other!  Between work, the house, the blogs, the art, the family, the phone calls, the bills, the animals, the yard, exercise, friends and life, I don't seem to have the segments of time worked out.  But, hey! Not that big of a deal, is it now? Because I have all of the things listed above to say grace over!  And if they fall out of line, I get to pick them back up and put them back on the plate and start spinning all over again!  So, here I go, spinning ... and getting rather dizzy really!

I have spent this morning (on purpose!) reading some of my favorite blogs and catching up.  It seems I am not the only one feeling overwhelmed ... wandering around looking for direction, and as I truly admire these women whose blogs I have read, I know I am in good company.  I am so thankful that there is a way we can all commiserate together across the miles and optic fiber and give each other support and love.  I don't know what I would do without these lovely women who share their adventures.  Yay!

So ... today I will try to complete our taxes, figure out our finances, post on both blogs, do some laundry, and eventually end up in the studio as a treat so I can work on some art! Oh yes, and at some point I must spend 25 minutes or so with Jillian Michaels so I can continue to shred myself into goddess bliss.  HA! I must admit, it certainly does make me feel ALL KINDS of better to work up a sweat ... not to mention it's only 40 degrees here this morning.

Onward ho ... blessings to all of you.

Happy Monday

My blogging has been interrupted by life (*sigh) as I have gone back to work during the day a few days per week... but that is a good thing as I will be able to purchase ALL the art supplies I need to keep artsy!

But THIS (pcture below) is why I love to give my art as gifts! Look at the smile on this face ... precious!  Enjoy, Ava! Happy 5th Birthday!

More this evening --- I made a journal yesterday that I absolutely LOVE.  Can't wait to show you!

But for now --- off to work!

Happy Monday!

Sometimes

Sometimes I just make something that makes me happy. I've spent about 50 years dancing ... and at least 35 of those years I was in a tutu and ballet slippers (and was hungry). I suppose this image is forever mine. (sigh*) But truly, this is for a little princess ballerina friend of mine who just celebrated her 5th birthday. I hope she loves it!

(I always like to finish the back of my pieces with fun prints. Seemed right to put pink roses with this piece - what do you think?)

Happy Monday!

Cheri

(I have a really fun signature but I'm not having great success with it workng yet)

a BIG weekend!

Here she is, my little mosaic bird in a cage ... all dressed up and installed in the gallery!

I'm very tickled with this piece - made a lovely center for a display.

This display is Debby's - the woman who is managing the gallery and who invited me to join up from a conversation we had in a mall (of all places - those of you who know me know I don't really go to malls) during an art show I visited and I even ordered a beautiful purse! You can visit her and see her amazing work here at:

http://www.handbagzandgladragz.com/

This is one of the walls as you walk in to the gallery (mind you,this was weekend one of set up - we don't open until April 12th or 14th).

Artists hard at work setting things up - it's always the most intense part of anything, isn't it? Even when I danced and taught, setting up the stage was much more intense than actually doing the show! Something in preparation time breeds anxiety, but excitement as well, thankfully!

Here is my sweet Paul, working out where which piece goes, how much room it needs, how many anchors it will need, and etc., etc. I am so thankful for him because, among a million other reasons, I would have NO IDEA how to install an entire wall of art. He is my saving grace, repeatedly. We make a great team, as I keep him supplied in cups of hot tea and such. ( as he is English -that is a big necessity)

Here is the display from Artsy Matilda! All of my children in one spot on this wall! It's hard to believe and very humbling and fulfilling. There are gobs of words to express it, but it's a very surreal thing to know I am really doing this. I am one happy, lucky, grateful and blessed woman.

On another subject, did you notice the amazing new blog design??? Life Made Lovely by Heather Hamilton!! She and her new staff are simply amazing! Katy designed mine - she totally rocks with her mad skills! Check it out! Right here: http://www.lifemadelovely-design.com/

Now onward, have lots to finish today at the Rusted Periwinkle ... redoing furniture - painting mostly because THE SUN IS OUT!!!! It is a brilliant blue sky and there is no snow falling from it! Hallelujah! Great day~

Happy creating to all!