Where Have I Been? the past month

So I came home a month ago, having left LaGrange and stopping over in San Antonio to visit family for a couple of days. Then, finally home on Feb 8 and right back into all the stuff that I have to do at home. shortly after getting home I realized that I had become very spoiled using all that space at Karey's place...I was almost ready to pack right back up and head back to LaGrange but it was nice to see my family again!

so, I started looking for studio space. My space at home is pretty full with fabrics, sewing machines and piles of all sorts of stuff, especially piles of fabric! I needed space to work big! I finally found space to rent in a shared studio in an old foundry building. Only two of the studios are not live/work spaces. It is really a fascinating environment and really great to be around all sorts of artists although I sure don't see anyone. I go down there almost daily to work and I see a few people outside now and then but the studio I am in has a door right to the street, unlike most of the others which are inside with a maze of hallways...many of the studios were changed into living areas without permits and not up to code and then changes came about and got things fixed.

We spent the last weekend in a time out with our kids in our cabin in the Sierra. We have finally gotten our snow that we so desperately need for our water uses. Driving up it started to snow and kept on the next morning. We stayed nice and warm inside with little forays outside where it was 32 degrees. it was so much fun!

this is a photo of my daughter's family: David, Jacob, Tori and their lab, Sierra.


Jacob tried his hand at making his first snow angel...he wasn't too sure about lying down in the snow and couldn't figure out the leg business but he had fun hiking around with his parents.


This is a picture of the window wall of my studio. There is a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood up on the platform which we just took down today and cut the legs down so I will have a print table. I have purchased three six foot tables so that I can work on putting these large pieces together that I brought back from LaGrange. So far I have finished three, have twelve more with backs sewn to the pieces and turned right side out, five more to turn and five more to do. It is so wonderful to be able to work with all of that support surface!


This is my one large wall which separates me from the rest of the studio which belongs to someone else. I have made an 8 x 8 foot design wall and there is still room for another 4 x 8 sheet of design wall. it also gives me some space for putting something up on the wall.


This shows the "door" to my studio...there is no door but just an opening in the partition.


From this view you can see the other space which is behind mine. it is a small space that another artist has and it appears that she is storing things...I haven't seen her since I moved in but then I haven't seen my landlady either. I am getting to know the property manager and he tries to get the leaks in the roof fixed so I don't have to listen to the drip, drip of the rain coming in.

I am really busy. Having so many pieces hanging over my head to finish is really difficult for me. Right now it feels like grunt work. I also picked up some really neat frames at Ikea for my 12 x 12 pieces and am framing those...they really look good. I need to ship some to Arizona to the gallery there and also to the gallery in Nevada...which also wants some more work as she is going to feature my work with a sculptor's work for the next month...

I am also working on another magazine article and need to get all those samples done. Oh well, being back at church has all sorts of commitments there and now we are in Lent so it's lots of visits to Church and a Lenten series also. Oh well, life at it's fullest!