Creativity unleashed!

Yesterday my friend Karen and I took a day off because we had to go pick up some artwork from Peninsula Art School in Fish Creek, WI.  What a great day we had!  A short ways into the ride over, which takes about 2 hours from home, Karen suggested I start writing things down because the inspirations were flowing fast and furious.  It’s like that with “kindred spirits,” and Karen and I have always been that.

As we drove up the Door County Peninsula, we started brainstorming some ideas of things we’d like to do, and on the way back home we ended up dreaming about that gallery we’d like to have someday – a place for artists to work and show their work.  Neither of us is anywhere near a place in our lives where that could happen, but we can dream.  And yesterday was a day for dreaming.

Even with sub-zero temperatures, the drive up the Door Peninsula is exhilarating and stimulating.  I love to see all the unique shops and galleries.  It is an artists dream!  Even though most shops are closed for the season, the promise and potential for inspiration are still there.

The kind of day we had yesterday don’t happen very often, unfortunately.  Jobs, families and responsibilities prevail.  That’s what made yesterday special for Karen and I both.  It was a chance to let our inner artists come out to play.

What Do You Know, I’m an Artist!

Artist In Residence, Old Church Gallery

I don’t know why being called an artist always surprises me, or makes me feel all funny inside.  Does it sound pretentious?  Is it wishful thinking?  I don’t know exactly, but it still gives me a thrill and yet makes me feel like a phony at the same time! 

This past weekend my good friend Karen and I were the Artists in Residence for The Old Church Gallery in Cedar River, Michigan.  We brought our respective work and spent the day there, meeting the customers and having a ball together.  Karen Brabender and I have been friends since grade school, and we are each other’s inspiration for artwork in a lot of ways.  Karen does gorgeous mosaic glass paintings under the business name Re-Creations Mosaics.  She takes a lot of old windows and does mosaic work on the glass.  Anyway, the day was a great success and they have already asked us to do it again next year, and they are going to be having a lot more artists come in also.  People seemed really excited to see us working on our things right in front of them. 

I love the contact with people – I have always been very outgoing and I love to socialize, so these kinds of events are something I really enjoy.  I hadn’t had enough beading time lately, so it was nice to get back to designing and creating jewelry.  I have been so busy with other things that I have been neglecting my creative side – my internal artist – and that has to change.  That artist inside is important and I need to let her out to play more.

 

Cedar River Gallery with sign

Thank God It’s Friday…

This week I:

•  found out my X lost his job…
•  doesn’t have another one…
•  moved back in with his parents (he’s 42)…
•  doesn’t get unemployment, which means I don’t get child support
•  started a new part-time job
•  nursed my daughter through the flu.  She missed 5 days of school.
•  took her to the doctor today because she broke out in hives all over her body
•  made homemade chicken soup to hopefully help my daughter
•  made it through the half-way point in my courses this semester…
•  etc.
•  etc.
•  etc.

And now I’m tired.  I came home ready to put my feet up.  My daughter’s hives have subsided for now, so it was a frozen pizza supper and a second viewing of “Hairspray” at our house tonight.  Who can stay tired or stressed during that show?  We all felt better after an hour-and-a-half of singing along and toe-tapping.

Tomorrow I need to get going photographing some jewelry, and making new designs for Spring to bring to The Old Church Gallery in Cedar River, MI next weekend.  They are re-opening on May 1st, and I’m really excited for their second year in existence.  Last year, it was so fun to head up along the bay to visit the gallery and see all the stuff…mine included…

So tomorrow in-between the laundry loads and the shopping and the nursing and the cooking will come some creative time for jewelry creation and photographing.  My photos up to now have been more for inventory’s sake than for beauty. Hopefully I’ll have something better to show soon.  Now’s the time to learn to use that fancy digital camera I got my daughter for Christmas. 

Because tonight I felt my creative urges return somewhere during “Hairspray.”  I can’t wait to play among the beads tomorrow.