A New Day

First, our son Nate is home from the hospital.
Many, many thanks to everyone who commented, emailed, prayed and just helped.
I don't think there's anything more scary and emotionally draining than when your child goes thru something like this - even when he's an adult.

I praise God for this good outcome and for all our good friends.

Next, still haven't finished any art projects. Okay, I admit it, I haven't done one thing on my TO-DO list tax season ended except read. And that has been a lot of fun.

Hopefully I'll get the pile cleaned up in my studio today and maybe I'll even finish the two pieces I've dabbled at off-n-on this tax season.
Or maybe not. No promises.
I think I'm going to go read a bunch of art blogs before I start working in here. That's bound to give me lots of ideas.

Thanks for continuing to check in - I hope I'm back to "normal" soon ~ Sherry

These are the photos I intended to post Monday before the phone call came - just did a little planting on the back porch of our new house. I think I'm going to leave the chair on the right rusty looking but I definitely have to clean up the rocker on the left.

There is still so much to do since the move! Does it ever end?

Monday, Monday

New Year, Same Problem: too much to do, too little time.

It's only the first Monday of the new year and I already feel overwhelmed!

As I've mentioned, I just moved. And I can't seem to get everything unpacked - including my studio which I desperately want to have done so I can finish some art SOON.

Sure there are excuses: Thanksgiving, Christmas, blizzard, travel to Albuquerque, upset stomachs (me), sore backs from shoveling snow & falling on ice (Patrick), too much time surfing the web and watching TV, blah, blah, blah.
Need I go on?

The other day I wrote about selecting one word as a goal for the year. Forget it. I'm going to just take it one day at a time.

Today I've got five things on my to-do list - well, since two of them are related to a charm bracelet order, I'll say I've got four things I WILL accomplish today.

Wish me luck ~ Sherry

Moving: Done; Unpacking: HaHaHa

I'm writing tonite becuz I think I should, not cuz I have anything important to say. We're in our house but we are far from being unpacked. Some of Christmas is even up in some of the rooms. I love this house. But I'm tired of never finding what I'm looking for. (It's cold here now and where are my sweaters?????)
You know what would help? MAKING SOMETHING. But the odds of that happening any time soon are pretty slim since all the art supplies are in boxes in the garage. OH! Except for the stamps at Roz's house. Maybe a "play date" is in order!! (Actually I guess we're having one tomorrow - we're going to WITH JOY - I need some more sheep for my nativity set.) Anyway, I feel like I'm going thru withdrawal cuz I haven't made anything since 10/23! YIKES!

No creating yet. I have to get that closet in order. But after that, maybe we can put up the shelves in the new studio and start bringing boxes inside. I'll keep you posted ~ Sherry

Moving part 2 - and more

We moved out of our house last week and we're staying at my parents house until we close on our new house next week. I am soooooooooooo tired and we're not done yet. And I can't find anything I thought I set aside for this time in limbo.

For instance, today I start a two-part collage workshop with some high school students. This is my first time to ever hold a workshop or class (the closest I've come is the beeswax demos at OCS with the younger kids). Knowing how chaotic things would be, I took everything I'd need for the workshop to Roz's house. WRONG!! When I went to organize things yesterday the rice papers and tissue papers weren't there. OOPS!! So off to Hobby Lobby to get new tissue paper. But I couldn't find any rice paper there. Hmmmm. Wonder if I have time to go to Triangle and if they have any?

I was already nervous about this workshop. Those of you who know me, know how much I love to talk and will probably be surprised that I shake in my boots when I'm speaking in front of an audience. And now, without stuff for them to layer, I'm wondering what to do!!!

I'll let you know how it goes ~ Sherry

Moving - but where?

We put our gorgeous house on the market on September 26th (click here to see my earlier post). And we had a contract on it on October 14th.

18 DAYS!!!

Based on what's been happening in our neighborhood sales-wise, we were expecting it to take at least two months so this was quite the surprise.

The good news is that I can quit making the bed. The bad news is that I can't start making art, I have to start packing BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'RE GOING.

Not only was the sale fast, the closing is fast - November 5th. So we're looking for houses. If we find one that's move-in ready and we can miraculously close that on the 5th, then it's one move and the packing is a pain, but normal. But if it takes longer to close, then everything goes into a pod except what we need to live for a few weeks. And if we don't find one or if the one we find needs lots of work, we have to pack some stuff to go to storage, some to an apartment.

YIKES!!!
What does this mean for my art?
Or my studio and my supplies?
Guess I'll let you know as soon as I know!
Or if everything continues to move this fast, guess I'll let you know after I get where I'm going! ~ Sherry

Recovery Time in the Studio

As I may have mentioned before, in addition to being a mix-media artist, I'm an accountant - it's the way I pay for art supplies. As you may not know if you're not into accounting, this Thursday is another IRS deadline: 401(k) reports are due. That's what I'm doing these days.

And I'm exasperated and worn out. There are clients who didn't send in their "stuff" until last week and it was so wrong that I have to spend days correcting it. I know they're well-meaning clients and probably perfectly nice people but . . .

So in an effort to recover from last week and build up strength for the next week, I'm going to spend today doing things I love. First, there was a fattening breakfast. Then we bought flowers for the garden. Then I went shopping for boots (OMG, they are SO awesome), jewelry, a jacket and a couple sweater dresses. It is amazing (and kinda sad?) how great a new pair of shoes can make me feel. Bring it on clients: I have new, incredible high-heeled black boots and I know how to use them!!!!

But after I finish writing this, I'm going to do what soothes my soul the most: spend time in my studio. Even if all I do is reorganize art supplies, time in the studio both calms and invigorates me. There's just something about touching all the fun goodies that soothes and inspires me. (The only problem with reorganizing is that then I can't find anything!)

Today I won't be reorganizing or even just playing around. I'm going to "finish" the book I started with a group of friends on 9/24 (you can read more in the previous post). It's titled ART INSPIRATION: ENCOURAGING WORDS FOR THE CREATIVE SOUL. I put the word finish in quotes becuz this book has so many pockets that I can keep adding quotes and sayings indefinitely.

Life and work can be exhausting. So, restore yourself this weekend - whether that means time in your studio or a hot bath (I plan to do that later today too) or reading a book (hmmm, can I fit that in too?) or a walk or shoe shopping or prayer and meditation ~ Sherry

Fini! Finished! Done!

I'm DONE with two ongoing projects that have been kicking my patootie - getting the house on the market and getting the website done.

A year ago I said the website was done but I now know that wasn't true - it was up but it wasn't done. And in some ways, websites aren't ever done. I still have PayPal to do on one page and I need to photograph a lot of jewelry for the jewelry gallery. Oh, and put up some journal pages. But the layout is perfected (thank you Hope) and the home page has a beautiful movie showing my "stuff" (thank you Victor).

The house is another story. Our house is beautiful. Patrick designed it and it has everything we need and want. We love it and our neighborhood. But we have no kids living upstairs anymore. We want a smaller carbon footprint. We want to have less debt. We want me to have more time for art. So we started talking about selling it over 18 months ago. But there was a wedding. Then we were just pokie. Then there was an economic crash. Then we were still just pokie. Now it's listed and we get to try to keep it ready to show for who knows how long.

It's such a relief to have these two major projects behind us. Then, in three weeks, tax season will be over and I won't know what to do with myself. Oh yeah: All the art projects sitting in baskets and tubs in the studio, the garage and the storage unit.

At least that should give me something pretty to post! ~ Sherry