We're Melting.....

In the week since Christmas, our unaccustomed snow has been melting, and See--there was green grass underneath!

I've been reading through my journals from the last three and a half years since I've lived here and have been single again, and my resolutions continue to be: to make more and better ART, take better care of my body--hence the walks, appreciate all the people who are important to me--including all of you out there, and savor all the many and varied moments of life.

Today's images are from walks on 12/28/08 and on 1/1/09. It's great going out with my digital camera, because I can take as many pictures as I want to, including some images of melting snow that might be useful at some point, seeing shapes and shadows and textures...good for layering in Photoshop or reminding myself of what happened this winter. After 18" of snow right after Thanksgiving of 2006 and no shovellable snow at all last year, I've learned to expect anything.




Looking south to the Olympic Mountains on my walk yesterday. Our drinking water comes from the snow on these mountains, so we are always happy to see lots of snow up there. I've gotten so spoiled already living in this normally-temperate climate, that a few days of snow on my yard now hold me for the whole year, and I like looking at the snow from a distance. These views are within a few blocks of my house. The skies are high and huge, the weather ever-changing.




Looking north on the same walk. The lighter gray at the bottom of the hill is the Strait, then Canada, then clouds, then lots more sky.

It doesn't look like it, but south, above, is uphill.

Last night it snowed again, so my driveway and yard are back to all white. Where I work, just above sea level, it was a grand sunny day, and all the ice and snow melted...except for black ice in the shadows. When I got home tonight, just barely before dark, my yard was still all white...At 500 feet where I live, it was cold enough to stay winter.



MUST DO ART, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to start 2009 out right. This is a collage I started last winter that has been languishing on my easel ever since, so yesterday I cut up some of the experiments I did in Barbara DiPirro's Golden Faux Encaustics class last March and just stuck them to the surface with light modeling paste. Sometimes I get WAY too precioius with my art work and just have to do something dramatic to shake myself up and undo the stuck attitude....after all Art is Work, and this is just one of MANY different experiments I will do, so must forge ahead. I'll see if I can get myself to work on it some more tomorrow.

I frequently feel Overwhelmed by Artistic Possibilities, and have to just make myself pick one thing and get going on it, without getting too uptight about the conclusion. I am lucky that I make a good enough living at my job to support my art habit, but it's still sometimes a challenge to just get going, instead of frittering away my time like a top spinning from thing to thing.

This was another recent project and a series to which I'm returning: a baby doll from the Dollar Store that I collaged and painted and to which I attached eye beads and the funnel with Apoxie Sculpt...I'm working on a new piece with a driftwood body and one of the clay faces that I showed you. Found objects are a great jumping-off point for stimulating ideas.

AND, I'm back to working on the BiG Doll...progress pictures soon, AND the HOT FLASH book will be my next. I'm soliciting more contributions. Not only Hot Flash Dolls, but stories from YOU about how you have made breakthroughs and turned life up-side-down in your glowing years.

AND...Tonight I got the proof of the new Doll Book--I LOVE IT!!! So MUCH COLOR and lots of new patterns and inspiration for your doll making pleasure. You can order from my gallery now, and I'll be shipping before the end of January. I believe I said that the price will be just $25 until the end of January, 2009, so order your copy NOW!