Motivated, etc.

I finally finished 2 pieces I have had in the works for literally years. My studio is somewhat in order. ( I know, I promised pictures ) and I was motivated to get my stuff out and get to work. I made ear wires and polished my bronze earrings I made in class. Some of these are listed on my ETSY site. Started work again yesterday after a quite, productive vacation. I have LOTS of paper work to catch up on at work. Sometimes it's not worth taking a vacation. Hopefully this won't keep me from being more productive making jewelry. I have many unfinished projects that need to be strung or something added. I also have many ideas floating in my brain. I am going to donate a portion of any of my equine pieces to the rescue and re training of retired thoroughbreds. This is a subject that is close to my heart. Our "Hoy" is a retired racehorse, who might have ended up in the slaughterhouse if he did not end up in rescue. This, after winning races and someone actually paying $110,000 for him as a yearling at the Keeneland. He was injured and thrown away. It is very sad. Anyway, right now, life is good and I'll keep plugging away.

Adventures in life and bronze clay

I don't post often ,but I am on vacation this week and renewing an old relationship and working in my house. My studio/office has had quite the transformation. Photos will follow. The weather has been awesome and I have spring fever for sure. My daughter is doing some natural horsemanship ground training with her horse to re-develop leadership. It has been 6 months since she has ridden "Hoy", due to moving him and the severe cold yukky weather we have had. Friday she will throw a leg up again.I have enjoyed watching the whole process and I am excited for her. I also took a class in Bronze clay from my PMC teacher, Nancy Miller, in her studio in Saratoga. I did not think I would like it as much as I did. It is a lot less expensive than silver which will allow me to be free in my creations. I am always so concerned about wasting the silver. I need to get a couple of items for my kiln to fire the bronze correctly, but when I do ...look out! The colors are amazing. I plan on taking a metal smithing class this summer as well. I might even pull out the silver I have and make a pair of earrings for my niece . Her 23rd B'day is next week. We are planning a bash @ Vapor, a nightclub in Saratoga at the Racino. I am really looking forward to this as I very rarely get to dressed up and just let go. Take a look at the pictures of my bronze pieces I did in class. The picture on the bottom is unfired, the top is fired but not finished.

I am lucky!

I am lucky, and I need to remember that. I sometimes get consumed by what I find overwhelming. Money, relationships, my work, my fun, kids, etc., etc. Then I hear about someone else's problems. How sad it is when people cannot appreciate the simple & good in life. The luxury of sleeping late in the morning, having a cute, warm, not fancy at all, home to live in, watching the wood pecker in my bird feeder peck away,. The faces of my children when they accomplish something, the smell of the barn when I visit the 2 nd man in my life ( son 1 st),"Hoy", I can go on & on. I think some people get so caught up in the drama they fail to see the simple things. I am lucky to have a good job in this current economy. I am lucky to have 2 healthy, smart, funny children, who are going to grow up to be wonderful adults, I am lucky to have a supportive, loving family who always make me laugh. Seeing the children in our family growing into wonderful adults, says to me we as a family, have done something right! I miss the companionship of another adult right now. It's just me & the kids. My hope is that someday I will have someone to share my life with & grow old with, but who will not suffocate who I am. I want to grow as an artist and try to do something artistic everyday. I do not want to fight or compete with anyone. I just want to live my life to the fullest. I am the type of person who would never hurt anyone intentionally. I think if people would stop running full throttle and slow down and look around them, they too would feel lucky.

Blah!

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Is it the grey days and snow covered landscape? Is it because I feel like staying warm and hibernating? I have no motivation! I get up each morning and make a plan in my head and then........I can't seem to get moving. Of course, this then leads me to feel guilty and I will feel bad about my actions. I normally like the outdoors and fresh air but for whatever reason...I just want to stay hunkered down inside wrapped in a blanket. I was going to clean the office/studio today. It is the same as when I moved in 4 months ago. I sat down at this computer to check my e mail, banking, etc. & all my motivation went out the window. I am going to post a picture of my mess and maybe that will give me some motivation to get the job done so the whole world does not think I'm a slob. Besides, I need a clean palette to start working. I want to work on my PMC jewelry. I have some great ideas and need to get them out and not just whirling around my head. I hate wasting time. I get so little free time, then when I have it I don't do anything. Aaaargggghhhh!!! It drives me crazy

P.S. My other obsession, Look at that face!

We saw "Hoy" today after 2 weeks of craziness that kept us from him.I love that face. He is sooo cute. What A good horse he is! He is at a new barn, putting on weight, and doing just fine. We moved him the end of November for reasons I do not want to get into, but for his and our own well fare. He is farther away, so harder to visit on a daily basis and I miss him terribly. He is a great horse! He tries to please us so much, and is so patient with us as we learn about him. We left him in his snowy pasture, next to his cute little mare girlfriend, all happy and warm and munching on the X-mas treats we left him. We love you "Hoy Boy!"

Definite ramblings on a snowy afternoon

Sometimes I think I am an adult with ADD! I go from one thing to another so quickly. That is why my interests are all over the place. I have been so consumed with paper crafts and mixed media assembleges lately. I made quite a few things to decorate my house for the holidays. It has all come to a screaching halt! So now I am back into my PMC phase.

I have been enamored with PMC since I heard of it 6-7 years ago. I have taken some classes from Nancy Miller, in Saratoga Springs. She is a wonderful teacher and artist who shares freely what she has learned. I have wanted to make my own texture tools using photo polymer plates & the tear away technique. I believe they will give me the type of texture I want on pieces I want to do. I have yet to master either of them so, as the procratinator I am, I have done nothing!. I bit the bullet today and ordered what I needed to make my own photo polymer plates. I had some of the supplies but not all of them. This is one technique, Nancy, my instructor, has not mastered either. Maybe, I will end up teaching her! She has explained and I have read about the tear away technique, but being a visual, hands on learner, I need to look into this more. I purchased some PMC, now I need to organize my space so I can work more efficiently. I have an office/studio space that I have yet to unpack. I am ashamed to say, what I have been doing, has been out of boxes. I get an extra weeks vacation this year and I think I will take a week early 2009 and do a huge organization job. I want to come home from work and walk into my space and be able to work on whatever I want without being frustrated. That's it! I'm frustrated! I cannot find anything, I have no space. How can I do what I want when the place is a mess! Money is an issue. Being a single mom of 2 teenagers with no child support is hard. They come first. I will do the best I can. That is my motto. "Do the best that you can do with what you have." So humor me, as I write this, this readerless blog I have. This is great therapy. I can get out what I have on my mind whether it makes sense or not and just feel better because I got it out. Thank you blog....for being there. I hope my art will improve and grow, I hope my relationships will improve & and grow in the coming year.And I hope 2009 brings an organized space and a working knowledge of PPP;s and the tear away technique, among many other things. Happy New Year to me and to all of you out there in blog land

Maybe someday....

I so want to be part of this blogging world. I get so much inspiration from others that do. My interests range from jewelry making with PMC, to collage, & mixed media paper arts. I am a fledgling artist, getting better at my skills all the time. I am having trouble getting my thoughts out there. I in no way expect to be as philosophical as Nina, and can only hope to half as good as some of the artisans I link to. I would like to communicate as often as I can. I will continue to comment and if any of you come to my blog, give me suggestions as to how I may expand my horizons. creating gives me the peace I long for. I get so absorbed in what I am doing, time flies! I get so little time to create the ideas swirling in my head. So many get lost. Someday I hope to attend some of the art retreats that have instructors whose work I admire so much. Not many come to the east coast that I am aware of. I will keep plugging away and learning as I go, and I will see what happens.