ad libitum

THE IMPORTANCE OF THUMBS

There I was, sliding down the evolutionary scale, heading towards the primordial pool: I was losing my opposable left thumb ~ and it really hurt, too. Should I mention that this was all accompanied by deep sighs of self pity and much wallowing in self involvement. Not a pretty picture.  I knew what was wrong because this had all happened with my right hand 5 years ago. There are long medical words to describe my problem, but basically, arthritis is speeding up the wear-and-tear on my hands. The ligament (or is that tendon?) wore away and bone was rubbing on bone and my thumb was overextending. So, Dr Walton borrowed a piece of tendon (or is that ligament) from my forearm to stick around my thumb bones, cleaned up all the crushed bone dust and bits, stuck in two temporary pins and bandaged it all up. Now I have to keep my hand above my heart and elbow (swelling and extreme pain if I don't ~ don't bother to ask how I know this). 

There is a predicted 16 week recovery period, so I have collected an assortment of one handed art projects. In June, I'm taking Becky to Italy for her 21st birthday present, so I'll make her do all the heavy lifting, although I expect to have a light cast and wiggly fingers by then.

ART & SOUL ~ MY LAST REPORT

Alas, Art and Soul is over. I got back home last night at 10:30 and have landed smack dab into the middle of my real life (which is a nice life, but not nearly as artistically indulgent as Art & Soul). I will slowly unpack and organize my goodies (well, I will unpack them). I am posting my last set of photos here. There are the textured pmc charms I made in my second Sherri Haab class, the assemblage triptych I made in the Michael DeMeng class, and a photo of Michael with me, Lou, Joyce and Judy. The last picture is of what the car looked like as Lou and I set out for home (now you know why everything isn't unpacked yet). It was all wonderful. Life is good.

ART & SOUL REPORT #2

Oh my goodness! I'm exhausted! I'm having an incredible time. I've partied with Divas; I've met up with old friends ; I've met up with on line friends; I've taken classes (hey, I made a fringed ring with Susan Lenart-Kazmar , I transfered images onto pmc with Sherri Haab; and I've made pmc charms with Sherri in another class); I've been a vendor! It's all good.

ART & SOUL REPORT #1

On Tuesday, I left my house to go to Medina, Ohio to Lou McCullough's. She took me to a delightful tea room for lunch, to Hollo's to buy paper (because, of course, you can never have too much paper) and to Pat Cattans, to buy cool art supplies and objects (because I need more stuff). I met Tom, her wonderful husband and we had a great dinner at her son and daughter-in-law's. I felt like I was visiting old friends. On Wednesday, we left at 6 a.m. for Hampton. We talked for the entire 10 hour ride. Lou is such a cool lady!

Today I took Traci Bunkers' Uber Self-Portrait class, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After class, there was socializing with friends (heck, there was socializing with friends, during class, too). Thirteen of us went out to dinner at Red Lobster. This is obviously going to be a retreat filled with fun, food, friends, and great times as well as art. Below is a photo of me and my self-portrait ("Picture of the Artist As an Old Woman").

MAKING SAMPLES

I'm trying to get things ready for Art & Soul, which starts next week. Along with my classes, I'm also participating in Vendor Night. Joyce has generously decided to share her table with me and Kathy McElroy. I don't want to bring too much stuff, so I decided to bring just my collage sheets and collage and background CDs, hoping that this might be the place to sell them. Joyce reminded me that they might sell better if I made some samples. So, today, instead of organizing and packing art supplies, I made samples. I ended up making 15. I made a transparency collage using Shirley's technique; I made ATCs; I made note cards; I made some traditional collages; and I made a word person doll (don't worry, I'm not going to show them all to you). I tried to use only my own backgrounds and images, but that got boring; so I put in other stuff. Anyway, here are a few of my samples. I sure hope they entice people to buy my stuff.

WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Earlier this week, I spent two and a half days in Chicago meeting up with Fran who was there with her charming husband Dave (he was attending a conference). We talked, ate, talked, saw the Hopper and Homer exhibits at the Art Institute, talked, ate, shopped, talked, saw Wicked, ate and talked some more. It was an absolutely wonderful time (well, there was the train ride home, when the lady who sat next to me, told me that she was from another United States and was trying to get back to her planet, and then started to talk to someone I couldn't see; but she was pleasant). Fran is a delightful lady and I look forward to seeing her again in August when I go to Art Unraveled. Here is a photo of the two of us that I took by extending my arm out and turning the camera to face us. It's a fairly accurate photo of me; but Fran is much prettier.

Speaking of photos, today was the first of my 5 classes in Photographing Your Art at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art. Once again, I am the only student. It's like having an incredible tutorial. And, since it's not really convenient to meet on Saturdays for me or my teacher, we're changing it to Wednesday afternoons. Today, I had more information given to me than I can possibly retain. Holy Cow! I had to set my camera on Manual - something I've never done before - and think about aperture openings and ISO settings and things I don't remember the name of. But, I think that at the end of the class, I'll be able to take some good photos of my art. Below is the photo of one of my crowns that we (OK, my teacher) took.

LAST ARTISCAPE REPORT

Saturday night I met Jeanie and her friend Kate at the dinner (yay! I see a trip to Lansing for some playing in my future) and enjoyed a pleasant social evening. My Sunday classes were both very nice and full of useful info. I took a polymer class with Barbara McGuire (always a helpful, informative teacher) and had the joy of meeting and working next to Kari; When I finish my pieces, I'll post them. My second class was more soldering with Paula Hardesty, where I made the pendant below.  I drove back home last night and am headed to Chicago for a few days (going to meet up with Fran who is visiting from Phoenix while her husband attends a conference).

REPORT FROM ARTISCAPE #2

Today has been a full day of classes and (most importantly) meeting Lou McCulloch and Linda Koch (on line friends) in person. I'm still looking for Kari.  I am posting some more Artiscape work from my classes: a metal transfer I'm not very happy with from Thursday night, my shrink plastic cover for an art journal from a Friday class, two pairs of polymer clay leaf earrings from today, Zia's Luna Quilt from today, and paste paper  from Friday night (I did some more interesting sheets, too, but they weren't there when I went to pick up my dried sheets).

REPORT #1 FROM ARTISCAPE

This is the 5th year I've attended Artiscape, a very enjoyable art retreat in Ohio. I had one class last night and three classes today. I have made 5 pendants, one art journal and a bunch of paste paper in 18th century colors. I have eaten well (in fact, too well) and shopped happily. I look forward to two more days of classes, a dinner and a tea, more shopping and meeting up with art  friends previously known only on line.

Below is a photo of 3 of the pendants: two from a soldering class and one from a metal transfer class that didn't quite happen as expected.

COLOR MISTS

My friend Aileen Roberts has invented a wonderful product line of watercolor shimmery sprays called Color Mists. You can by them at Outside The Margins . Anyway, she is offering three special colors (Montery Bay, Asilomar Sand, and Sunset Beach) for the Art & Soul retreat at Asimolar. She sent me samples to play with for something to show at her booth at the retreat. The color mists work on paper, canvas, fabric and wood. I've really had great luck with them.