How Embarrassing

I mistyped my blog address in my email signature, switching the "s" and the "p" in "blogspot" and have inadvertently been sending countless people to a Mega Bible Studies site that seems to exist solely for people who mistype "blogspot."

My apologies for the inconvenience, and my kudos and gratitude to anyone who found there way here in spite of that. I've fixed it.

Up and About

Being couch-bound has its advantages, and although it took me a while last week to accept that I had to just sit down and let myself convalesce, once I did, the week actually became pretty pleasant. I wrapped myself up in blankets, drank a lot of hot tea, hot chocolate and instant vanilla lattes, and drew.

I worked on cross-hatching, practicing what I learned in the drawing class Al and I took recently. The class, which was based on this book, brought together many of the ideas I had been exposed to in previous art classes, but this time everything sort of clicked. I learned to see differently. I learned how to put myself in a right-brain frame of mind. I learned how to draw what I see and not what I think I see. And as a result, I think that my drawings are fundamentally better; now it's a matter of putting in the hours to get my skills where I want them. And a lot of patience. Which I was forced to have this past week.








Now I am up and about, for the most part. Not yet at a hundred percent, but a lot better and glad for it. So I'll be working on getting some new designs up in the Cafe Press shop this week, I hope in time for last-minute Christmas shopping.

One thing down...

I was hoping to catch up on some work this week, but the bronchitis is back and has bowled me over (how's that for alliteration?), so it's back to sleep it off for me. However, I did finish one commission this week for 40 Christmas cards, and I am quite pleased with them.

Up on the clothesline to dry:

I carved myself a new logo stamp (I like the irregular woodblock feel):

And added some aqua trim:


Tied them up, nice and pretty with the only ribbon I could find (my huge bag of ribbons has gone missing in the move back into the office. How this is possible, I do not know. Our house is not big):


Fortunately, I had some raffia too:


And there you have it. I'll be taking the package to the post office this afternoon. I am very pleased with that tag -- it was a spur-of-the-moment creation and I like it so much I am going to use the same design for new business cards.

I hope that I'll be able to get fully back into the swing of things by the end of this week. I'm itching to get back to work and I have two more commissions waiting in the wings (the commissioners of which have been very patient, and I thank them profusely).

Guess WHAT??!!

I'm back in the studio. WHEW.

HOORAY!

Okay, so there are still a few last details left unfinished. Like outlet covers. But I could. not. wait. another. day. So we moved all the furniture back in, and I am happily ensconced in a room that is visually much warmer and more inviting that I could have dreamed when we began the project, even without outlet covers (and curtain rods). All I really thought we were going to do was raise the foundation and get rid of that nasty paneling. Instead, we created something very special.

Many thanks to the people who helped us along the way, to family and friends who have been so understanding and forgiving while my brain has been dust-clogged, and to all of you have been so encouraging and interested in the goings-on. You all made it much easier and more pleasant to endure.

And of course, a very big thank you to my husband, Al, who, after all, raised a house all by himself.

Finally, a special shout-out to Gus the Cat, who was shut up in various rooms in the house throughout the process, and still manages to purr when I pick him up.

So....

This was my office/studio on Friday, October 13:

(Should have turned the light on for this one. Sorry.)

With the furniture in, it looks exactly the same on camera, but it actually doesn't in person-- this camera with its overbearing flash does not do this room justice -- but Al and I have been discussing getting new furniture, anyway, perhaps a corner ensemble that will work as both computer desk and painting table to go in this corner.


In the meantime, I tried different arrangements to see if I could keep the cat off the painting table on his way to look out the windows, but to no avail. The furniture just wouldn't fit any other way (the room is only 9 feet by 9 feet). So I gave in.


And here's my new storage cabinet where I wanted to put it originally. It is covered in the sheet music for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and I was careful that the very first page in the upper left corner be the beginning of "Ode to Joy," because I think every piece of furniture should bring a little joy:


And where it ended up, across the room (all nine feet of it):


I will post more detailed pictures and different angles, along with before shots of the cabinet, which are worth seeing, in a separate post soon.