Showing, Teaching, Designing, Knitting. And collecting feathers.

These past couple of weeks have been very illustrative of the process of creation, and how one facet of my life enters another, changing everything in its path. It can get overwhelming when there is a lot happening at the same time, but it makes for a deep, rich creative process.

Showing art:
These days I have been slowing down a bit with both my art creation and shows- just too many things going on.  However, I decided to participate in FAVO's November show. It was lots of fun, and a bit different, as the show went on not just for Friday night, but for Saturday as well. I do have a piece in process that I was hoping to have done for the show, but too many things got in the way, and I ended up just bringing along some older works, along with my "Watercolor Zoo". The weather had turned chilly, and so I decided to bring some pieces that reflected the change of seasons. The works got a lot of attention; most of the patrons had never seen these, and it was fun watching the fascination with the "Winter" woodburning. I thought I should do some more of those.

I did make sure to complete a Yupo froggie, as I have a patron who is sort of collecting my frogs, and was quite upset the past two shows when they were sold out. Luckily, he was there to buy this little guy on Saturday.

Teaching:
I am really excited to be going down to the Osceola Fall Art Festival this coming weekend, as it will be the first time to officially judge a student chalking exhibit for the middle- and high-schoolers. I will also be serving as sort of a 'mentor-as-needed' while working on a square of my own.

Since I was going to be working with chalk pastel at the show, I set up a lesson for one of my private students where we rendered some trees from life with pastel. It reminded me of my year of 'tree portraiture' at Georgia tech that I had mentioned in an earlier post. There were moths fluttering around, trees turning colors, the fountain and pond nearby, the sun sprinkling its shade through the trees, and just a really wonderful time.

Designing:
Recently, I have been in a quandary as to what to do career-wise as things are changing with my family. I will soon have a lot more time on my hands, and I want to put my energy on the best possible track. I absolutely love teaching, but I was not schooled in this avenue and am wondering if it's the best road.

It has been eeking into my head- although I thought it would NEVER happen- to step back into the world of architecture. A big roadblock is that I have been out of the field for 5 years, and the programs used for construction documents are new...If I were to apply for a position, I'd need to invest in some schooling. And then there is the question of whether I would be able to find a postition that suits my creative needs. But yesterday I had the opportunity to work on some concept sketches for a commercial / themed project. So I thought, what the heck, I have nothing to lose, and I was completely floored at what happened. Not only did everything come back to me, but I also felt as if the years I have spent designing in the art field have opened things up in an immeasurable way for me. I was able to sketch out several decent concepts within just a couple of hours, and it truly seemed like not only had I not lost any time at all, I have actually gained a new perspective. I can see a lot of potential for me, if the right opportunity were to come along. So, now another option seems to be opening up, and I have to admit, it's a lil' bit exciting.

And the rest:
My daughter is getting married officially one month from today and I am also really excited about that! I have been given the honor of designing all of the flower arrangements. This has been, in itself, a story of its own with lots of joy that I hope to share with you in a separate post once it all comes together.

In the meantime, back to knitting again, as I am creating a shawl for myself to wear over my dress for her very-cold-outdoor-reception to be held on a nature preserve in Georgia during December! I have forayed this time into the amazing world of order-online-yarn, and found this incredibly delicious wool made in Peru. I haven't even knitted anything from yarn that wasn't already spun into a ball since I was a little girl, and I forgot how to prepare it! My friend had to help me on that one. By the way, if you are a knitter check out her blog! Frog Monkey

Lastly, I am adding these days to my feather collection. They seem to be everywhere. In my world, they are representative of God's promises. So their appearance these days is very comforting. They have been a great source of inspiration to me, and I hope to share a story soon about that! This picture is of a gorgeous white feather that my student spied hundreds of yards from where we were sitting outside drawing. She tells me it comes from "Queen Bee", the lady duck their family feeds when she comes to visit their pond. :)