still going.....

Hello - I hope this finds everyone anticipating the coming new year. We had a wonderful Christmas with family. We ate, we played, we reminisced, and dipped our toes into the world of geocaching. It was a fabulous way to end 2009, holed up for four days in an old Victorian house out at Fort Worden. I still have a few days left for my December challenge and will be in the studio again starting tomorrow. I wanted to let you know what I learned from working this way for the past month. Working fully focused for short periods of time brought me back to a place in my art practice that I left for awhile to explore a new medium - oil paint. I have found my way back to my favorite palette and the mixed media I love. Of the eleven pieces I finished thus far, I probably have maybe 3 to 4 decent paintings. As you know, I've been playing with the work like puzzle pieces and will probably mount some of them together. I think the best part of this challenge is that it has been so fun. The photo below is a pic of the last one I did before we left for our Christmas break. I had 75 minutes that day. I'm eager to get back to work. I'm full of new ideas. Will share more after the New Year. I'll be slowly sliding back into blogland to see what you have all been up to.

Merry Christmas

Good morning everyone. This has been an amazing year. Crisis AND great joy. I can't say they were evenly balanced, but both of them wonderful teachers. One of the joys is my world here, in blogland. This is an amazing place - I can't begin to tell each of you how much you touch my life on a regular basis and make it richer. I am thankful and want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas! I leave you with two of the 'December challenge' pieces configured in a possible duo. I will continue to work in my studio over the holidays and you can check in to see what is happening on my flickr page which you can click on in the sidebar. I will catch up with all of you after the holidays. Peace and Joy to all who pass here. xxo

something I love.......

I wanted to share something I love. I have been a regular exerciser for years. When the doctor points a finger in your face and says 'heart attack waiting to happen', you pay attention. In the past few years this workout has consisted of 'vigorous walking', weights and all that nasty 'ab' business. I also have indoor workout tapes I use, but the main thing is, I do it. In the past year I've noticed my body becoming a bit creaky. Like many of us at this age, I have things that don't work quite like they used to. I have a bad knee which acts up, my right arm and hand tend to be achy if I've worked too long and just that kind of stuff. So, as I was paging through a women's magazine last month, I came across a little section titled, 'Stretch your way out of stress' - hmmmm - I read through it and thought, I'm going to try this. Not so much about the stress thingy, more about the stretching - I like to stretch, but I'm always in such a hurry to finish, that I gloss over this part of my workout - I ripped the pages out of the magazine and started the next day - Yin Yoga - 6 poses - objective?, hold them for 2 to 5 minutes each - WOW! May I say, I LOVE THIS! When I started, I could do most of them for about 30 to 45 seconds - now I'm up to 2 and 3 minutes on all of them. Benefits? I had to slow down, very good - way less achy - much calmer - has suppressed my appetite somewhat - and I have to think this is doing stuff I don't even know about - I do it at least three times a week and would like to do it more often - I'm just saying........

AND just a few pics of my December challenge pieces - this is another thing I'm LOVING - boy, working like this has made me realize that I needed to loosen up even more - this concentrated focus has surprised me in ways I least expected - now I'm messing around with the paintings, juxtaposing them with each other and I'm very excited about ways to start using them - I still have a couple of weeks left and will work when I can - you can check my progress on my sidebar by clicking on the December Challenge pic - it will take you to my flickr page - tis the season and I hope you are all finding ways to enjoy it!

The following are some of the pieces arranged together - I'm making puzzle pieces!




This was a 40 minute painting I did a couple of days ago.

December challenge

Busy, busy, busy! That's December in a nutshell. I have no doubt that you are all in the same place. Even this is a quick stop. Since my time is so scattered this month, I've set myself the task of finishing a painting each time I work - whether it be 30 minutes or two hours, I'm calling it done!


It is also freezing in my workspace. I go out and turn on my little heater in the morning and hope my feet won't freeze off in the afternoon when I go in to work.
This is my hang up and dry space, or at least one of them. The little painting below is the first one of my challenge - I had an hour to work yesterday and this is the result.
You can see it hanging by one little clothespin on the drying springs in the photo above. I hope you are all finding time to create. It's my fuel, no matter whether I'm freezing or not. You can check out my paintings for the month of December on my flickr page. Eventually I'll either use them for collage material or bind them in book form. Later.......

a bit of this and that.....

Work in the studio is all experimental right now. I've finished enough work to meet deadlines so now I can mess around with some ideas I've wanted to try. Not ready to post any of it yet, but soon. This post is just a bit of this and a bit of that.

Jim and I put up our little artificial tree a week ago to see if all the lights were going to work. They did! Big smiles here. Still no decorations on it, but we plug it in every night anyway and just enjoy all those little white lights.

We are almost to the shortest day of the year. For the last few years I've decided to embrace this time of year and enjoy these long dark nights. It has made a huge difference. Sitting by the fire at night with a book or my laptop has become a part of the day I look forward to.

Yesterday I hung some work at the Northwinds Showcase Gallery in Port Townsend for the month of December. I am renting space there. This is a trial to see if it is something I want to continue on a regular basis. If you are local, check it out. They are open Thursdays thru Mondays from 12noon to 5pm. Below is a poor photo,alas, of one of the little ones.


Winter Horizon - 8x8 - mixed media on canvas




Here is a photo of the whole wall. The first painting on the wall is one of my favorite pieces for 2009. It's very subtle for me.

I'm loving all the holiday lights and decorations as I make my way through my daily errands.

I love tucking into a favorite coffee house for a cup of french roast with cream and listening to the holiday shoppers as they fuel up to head out into the very cold outdoors.

We have had a full moon shinning in our bedroom skylight for about a week now. It just thrills me when it comes up over our back woods. I took a little video of it last weekend. The clouds were coming in fast and soon it just disappeared. Here is the little video.





Have a fabulous weekend everyone!