MAZE OR LABYRINTH?

So far 2013 has been a bit more stressful than I expected.  My father died in March, my granddaughter re-enlisted in the Navy and is being sent to the ends of the earth for a year without her one year old daughter, and my grandson left for boot camp a few days ago. 

My life has been put on hold four times since Christmas because of health issues (last day of antibiotics for the latest one) putting everything behind, including the studio.  

Life is slowly getting back to normal but I wonder...what am I failing to see that I need to be stopped in my tracks and hit over the head again and again and again...

I thought I had at been moving in the right direction but apparently there is something I am still not seeing and the universe has a different plan for me. 

At this point my life feels like a maze I can't find my way out of but I don't know what the answer is so I read and I write and I rest and I wonder but I let it go and I back track and I take a right turn instead of a left and I pay attention.

Because maybe what I think is a maze is really a labyrinth.  Maybe the walls I am beating my head against are not dead ends at all but the normal twists and turns of life and I need to keep moving toward the center but slow down and accept what is...

...because AT THE END OF THE DAY...life goes on.

GETTING AWAY

Winter is not finished with us yet.

My trip was stormy, windy, and cold...

 

 but I paid attention...

and saw shapes

and colors

and textures

and the beauty of where I live.

AT THE END OF THE DAY...I had a very restful break. 

SHOES

As I age I have a harder and harder time finding shoes that fit.  I can't wear shoes with any kind of heel anymore so the shoes I do find that fit are either sneakers or ugly old lady shoes. 

Well, I refuse to put up with that anymore.  I've always been a rebel...why should I change now?  If I can't find pretty shoes I'll make them pretty.  

AT THE END OF THE DAY... No more ugly shoes.

STUCK IN FEBRUARY

I have the February doldrums but little by little projects are getting done...a day at a time...an hour at a time...15 minutes at a time.

The shelves are up, the family pictures are off to the printers and the studio is getting closer to being finished each day.

Fresh flowers to brighten things up...and this morning I am going to paint shoes.

AT THE END OF THE DAY... February doesn't last forever and neither will the doldrums.

STUDIO UPDATE

Just a quick update on the new studio.  It's been slow going what with the rain and cold, the holidays and illness...and the leaks in the door and windows (thanks to the good folks who built it and didn't bother to seal them) but we are making progress a tiny step at a time.  It's slow going when we (mostly my wonderful hubby right now) are doing the work ourselves. 

Things are going faster now that the holidays are over and I am still hoping to move into it by spring...well, maybe late spring.  The insulation and wiring is all in (though not hooked up yet until we get better weather and some help to dig the ditch) and the ceiling is almost up.  It's starting to look like I envisioned it. 

The ceiling (the first picture) and the walls will be white washed 

and these are the colors I will be using for the shelves and furniture.  I'm so excited I've started to box  stuff art supplies I have had stashed all over the house and garage.

AT THE END OF THE DAY...I just hope there is room for it all in the new studio...I'd hate to have to enlarge it before it is even finished!

HANG ON

Once in a while in the Pacific Northwest there is a day in December or January after a particularly long stretch of nasty weather that reminds me why I love the place where I was born. 

One morning I wake up and notice the rain has let up for a while and as the dawn breaks a slight breeze comes up to push away the layer of clouds that has been pressing down for days, or even weeks.

As they break up, patches of blue peek out and grow larger so that by noon the sky is so blue, the air so bright and clear, that the snow, dazzling off the mountains, almost hurts my eyes and I want to weep just from the sheer magnificence of it all. 

The wind ruffles my hair and makes me hold my coat closed a little tighter against the chill...and yet... there is a hint of something, maybe not the touch of warmth sometimes felt in March that whispers of warmer days ahead  but a sense or maybe a smell that says "not yet but hang on to the beauty of this day when you get discouraged by the rain and snow and fog and gloom in the weeks ahead.  Hang on to the memories of a memory that spring will come again like it always does...

but for now...AT THE END OF THE DAY... button up because here we go again".  Another winter storm is blowing in from the ocean."

ONE THING AT A TIME...ALMOST

I tend to fly by the seat of my pants and work on what ever comes up each day or whatever grabs my attention from moment to moment.  As you can guess I start a lot of projects but finish very few of them. 

In my pursuit of paying attention this year I have decided to do a little more planning in my daily life and in my artistic life.  I'm hoping by concentrating on one thing at a time I can get more accomplished.  I am going to take before and after pictures and share the process in my blog. 

These are the projects I am concentrating on right now.

These shelves for my family room were supposed to go up right after we finished remodeling (two years ago?).

My family wall in the same room has never been completed so I am getting pictures I have in the computer ready to send off to the printer.  

This is my "unframed photo" shelf.  I ordered about a dozen new photos to mat and frame to show last year but I didn't do any shows so they are still sitting there waiting.  

And last but not least, this is my design wall for the "People in My Head".  I cut things out while I watch TV then when I have some creative time I mix and match until I have something I'm ready to glue down and finish. 

So be patient with me friends and follow my progress and

...AT THE END OF THE DAY...let's see how long it takes to teach an old dog some new tricks.