Where Has Sew Chick Been?

Long story! The short of it being...I had a baby! I had a rough pregnancy including hospital bedrest for two months (yikes and more yikes!) He was a preemie, but you'd never know it now since he is so big and super-healthy. His name is Alex and he has been keeping me very busy. Look at that smile...

He has also had me thinking about getting back to doing what I do well: My art. Sewing. Being creative again in a way so that I hopefully don't have to return to an office environment. I've had an Etsy account since '06, but now I am going to actually open up shop. Put some things in there soon that I hope folks will like. Oo la la, you know?! Pretty darn exciting to see what my brain will crank out.

I also want to enter the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. What's that? Every three years, the Smithsonian Nat'l Portrait Gallery has a portrait competition open to artists of all mediums. My art quilt specialty is portraiture, so I figured that I would enter. The deadline is Halloween. I figure I'd see what happens. As my youngest sister would say "YayZ!"

In the immortal words of Futurama's Bender Bending Rodriguez: "I'm back baby!"

Went Home and Now What...

I went home to my family's country house in Virginia recently. I spent a week down there with Grandma and Aunt J and it was good for me. Caught up on all of my professional org journal reading, read some books for pleasure about writing and spiritual thought, and regaled them with my beginner classical guitar playing...I took time to walk around the many acres of the place looking at the natural beauty there such as the mimosa, where butterflies and hummingbirds are regulars once more...
My great-great uncle's water pump. I remember using this when I was little. As you can see, it's gone unused for quite a while now...
I'd spend time in the quiet with the breezes on the front porch reading. I've been feeling lost for so long now...
...But I came up with a viable plan that I hope I can follow. Here I am with Aunt J and Grandma. I'm so glad to have had the chance to spend this time with them talking. I really needed that. It's nice to talk to people who truly love you and everything about you sometimes. I don't know what'll happen in the future, but all I can hope for is to put it on a path of good.

Self-Belief

I was sitting here thinking about creativity. I have a close friend living in the paradise that is Hawaii and working in the arts. She is so talented and creative and one of the most supportive, positive persons I know. She recently emailed me saying that she put her head down recently and cried, thinking "What am I doing wrong? Why am I not succeeding?"

I wrote her back saying that I have done the same thing.

Mind you, both of us are talented artists. Both of us are creative as hell. I think the problem isn't even our art. It's everything else but...but it's affected us. We've both had a rough, but very interesting, past 2 years. I think all creative types struggle with it. We know our talents have value--not even in just a monetary way--but the outside forces involves in our lives such as bills, illness, etc. can often make us doubt that value. I wrote her back saying..."So many others believe in us. It's just a matter of us believing in ourselves as well again. We can and will do it!"

And I believe we will.

Fallow Period

I was talking to my grandmom recently, saying that I hadn't been productive...hadn't been writing, hadn't been quilting. She said, "That's alright, you're usually like this in the summer. You usually pick up everything again in the Fall." I found that an interesting observation on her part. As artists, I supposed that while we are compelled to create, perhaps we do have fallow periods where it lies dormant for awhile, until it becomes a better time to use it? I know I work like a prolific whirlwind during the Fall and Winter months.

Seasonal creativity...now there's an interesting notion...

On a good note, Dr. Mazloomi inquired about "Just Me Being Negative" today and if it is available for exhibition (it is). I don't know what's going on, but it has to be good, right?