The Virtues of a Snowy Weekend

I see on Facebook that my cousin, Holly, is complaining about living in VT, where white can be the predominant color from November through April, and of course we all want what we don't have. Their temps are in the single numbers...and I can remember a January living in the old schoolhouse in East Ryegate, VT, where it never got above zero for the whole month and the sink trap (inside) froze. I slept by the wood stove to keep throwing in some of the 12 cords we spent the summer cutting and stacking. Sometimes I do miss at least the idea of cross country skiing on sunny crisp snow...no better way to enjoy the short days of winter!

Here in the NW, snow is an unusual occurrence. White flakes on green grass in January an occasion to photograph...and an opportunity to stay inside and work on projects. The snow started Saturday with huge lazy flakes.

Here it is Sunday night, and the snow continues, along with sunny breaks, and the most
amazing cloud formations...I should have taken more pictures. It's supposed to continue through Wednesday, but I won't be home to photo in daylight. Since we only have 4 plows in Clallam County, All Activities may grind to a halt...although I'll still have to be at work and hoping that my new automatic transmission Honda Fit makes it up the long hill to home.










Now that I have a renewed focus for my portrait painting: to prepare for a large show of portraits of the women who inspire me. Melissa Klein worked mighty hard to fill Studio Bob with all her own art, having taken an online class in self-promotion. I need to talk with her more about how to do the same for myself, but in the mean time I keep making paintings. I started Sandy Long today.



Barb Kobe has me working hard to write a HOT FLASH class/online group experience, and being snowed in gave me the push I needed to finish Session One. This project is an Intention-Setting doll.


My word for 2012 is BOUNDARIES...focus my energy onto what I Really want to do. As I write the classes and design projects, I see how much FUN we're going to have!

Express the wisdom and emotion of this very universal process through doll making! Celebrate your femaleness and maturity—or your ability to continue to have fun playing with materials at your advanced age.

Barb Kobe has also taken my Fabric Journal and Altered book online classes and transformed them into down-loadable self study guides, along with tons of pictures and projects, and in these snowy winter days--and the steamy days Down Under, I know you're going to Love going into your studios and play along with me.

See more and more, buy books and patterns at: http://www.pamelahastings.com/

To explore all the Possibilities, go to Barb's Site

My Love/Hate Relationship with Art/Life/Time

Seattle for Christmas...I think this is the 6th one. Family is so precious, and Mom had so much fun out here last summer, she came to join us for Christmas, with performances by David and Hugh, and a wide variety of other festivities.










Through the magic of modern communication (SKIPE) Serene and Thayer were able to see and practice Arabic on their cousins in Isreal AND we got a real time tour of Shannon and Chris' house in South Carolina, well-decorated with Hastings' Art. I'm making a quilt for Steve's first grandchild in February.


Although Serene has declared a major in Industrial Engineering at Northwestern, her culinary skills are blooming. Her cake with the fondant ribbons looked even better than the model in Bon Appetitte



Hugh and Connie looking picture perfect on Christmas Day....and then in the painting I finished of them today.







A new year, and a three-day weekend are occasion for both joy and stress, since I want to believe that my life is more than only job/eat/sleep. Is my difficulty getting into the studio and facing the blank canvas/page/whatever because I don't enjoy the process? NO, it's because I don't feel the time freedom to founder or fail, to spend the time contemplating and exploring making Art demands.

Now that my time and energy are so short, the whole meaning of my life seems to hinge on finishing yet another painting...looking at all the potential side trips: revisiting my aptitude tests at Johnson/O'Conner with the book Doug gave each of us. I'm pointed toward three- dimensional visualization...my monumental sculpture wrapped in plastic in the garage. I see that my aptitudes do Not point toward successfully marketing my work.

My home is seriously grungy around the edges. I like cooking, don't mind laundry, and even iron my napkins. Money or Time Freedom? I need an obsessive/compulsive house cleaner...who will work for portraits! The giddy pleasure of completing a painting makes the aching knees worth while!


Final version of Doug and Amal from last Christmas morning. Living in the Northwest in
winter requires great courage, the too-brief transit of light low across the southeast quadrant.
A good walk for a new finances notebook, seeing a small tree with brave pink blossoms.

I was inspired by the size of Melissa Klein's show at Studio Bob to plan a monumental portrait show...hot flash women, meaning celebrating women who have dreams and are working to realize them.

There is never, never going to be Enough Time for the person who dreams.

See more paintings and books for sale at:
http://www.pamelahastings.com/