Time for Change

..... Indian Summer has arrived in NH and it means that I need to start thinking about packing up my beads and heading for Arizona. Only 16 more days before I get on the road. So far the weather has been nice enough that I have not had to resort to socks with my flip-flops. However, in past years there has usually been at least one snow storm before I head out. It takes at least 2" of snow for me to put on socks and 4" for me to put on real shoes! Somehow it's easier to drive south west and leave the snow for the skiers!

My studio is in it's usual mess and the thought of sorting it all out and putting things away before packing it up can be daunting. I always find things I'd forgotten about or was looking for. Maybe if I look at the packing up as a "journey of exploration" it would be more fun than just another job to be done. But then it would take 5 times as long and I'd have to stop and admire all of the beads.

All of my deadline projects are out of the way and any beading I do now will be for my personal satisfaction. There are a couple of things I'd like to get finished and I have an idea or two that I'll probably work on while I'm on the road. The last project that I just finished was being the "star" in a "Bead Crochet Basics" instructional DVD. Very interesting, but draining process. My daughter was right when she told me, "Don't look at, or listen to yourself on tape... you're not going to like what you see or hear!" I couldn't believe that crone on the screen is really me! abba dabba Productions tells me the DVD should be out early in 2007. Watch for an announcement on Bead Line Studios.

This trip will be a little bit different as I'll have company and a co-driver. That way I'll have a chance to do some sight seeing instead of concentrating on the road. I'll be stopping over with different beaders along the way. If I don't manage to update the blog in between, look for a trip report along about the middle of December.

Arizona, here I come!

This Journey of Creation - step two

I had to try my idea of putting a laminated card in the middle of my ATC card. I'm almost there but....

I don't like the background I used

I do like the way it floats in the middle of the card

I don't like bare thread on the back

I do like the way the sewing works with beads

I don't like holes around the outside edge of the card

I need to add beads to both sides of the card

So back to the drawing board - and this time I think It'll come out a lot better.

This laminated card is of San Benito de Palermo:
In Mexico, he can truly be called a "black saint" - and not so much because the subject, San Benito de Palermo, was an African - but moreso because of the reason his help is sought by the faithful. San Benito, at least at his shrine in Mexico City, is the patron saint of asassins, who pray to him that their attempts will succeed, and that they won't be caught by the police or by the family or friends of their victims!

ATC (artist trading cards)

A Journey of Creation - getting started...

ATC's have become popular and seem to cross all artistic mediums. In early December I'll be on my way from NH to AZ for the winter and will stop off in Gilmer, Texas to do a bit of creative beading with a group of friends who have dubbed themselves the "beadtrekers". We all manage to get together to bead at least twice a year, if not more - and we all live in diverse parts of the country.

One of our projects for this "Gilmer Getaway" will be beaded ATC's and some of us have begun to think on computer and paper about what we want to use as a base card, which will then be embellished with beads and other sundries.

I've been playing with a series of 9 signature cards that somehow embodies my artistic life. I used a photo of me at 18 months, a current photo and my signature colors of lime and pink. Well, it almost does what I had in mind.... so back to the drawing board....

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Keep the baby photo, get another current photo, play with photoshop a bit and I think I like this one better. In the 60 years between the two photos there has been constant change, personally as well as artistically. The change has been even more evident in the last few years and is accelerating. I like the play on words with "60 and Change", so I think I'll keep that on the card. After I print these out on heavy card stock, I'll put them away to finish when I get to Texas next month.

A couple of years ago I bought some laminated Saint cards in Mexico. The colors in the cards are beautiful. I was thinking that if I made a 2.5" by 3.5" open frame, in heavy card stock, I could stitch the laminated cards in the opening so you could see both sides.

I can see adding beads to the interior stitching, but as of yet have no clue as to how I'll finish the outer frame. I guess that will have to wait for the creative muse to come along and poke at me with an idea(s).

Sometime in December, I'll post what I finally did with these ideas as well as show you the cards I traded for from the other artists that I'll be beading with in Texas.

I'm counting the days (36) till I leave for Arizona and can enjoy several days with some of the most fun and creative women I know. This group always gives me more laughter as well as more creative impulses than I could ever use in several lifetimes.

more Fall Color notes

I was out all day yesterday and it was dark when I got home. When I got up this morning and looked out my bedroom door this is what met my astonished eyes! The kids had painted the new chicken coop. I wonder if it will influence what color eggs the hens lay? I bet they didn't even see the color combination they created as it looks totally different from the second story.

I've known the Chaunceys forever and they grow the best organic & heirloom produce around this area. I don't have a photo of it, but the other day I saw her little red pickup going down the road with the bed filled to overflowing with sunflowers. Van Gogh would have loved to paint that. Over the weekend the farm was one stop on the Wool Arts Tour. Even though the pumpkin crop was not the best this year, I enjoyed the sight of some them piled around one of New Hampshire's largest crops .... big & even bigger ROCKS! It was fun to see all of the flowers, vegetables, wool products and animals. I was almost tempted to buy yarn and knit again. Instead I petted and patted all of the beautiful yarn and roving .... then just bought already knitted alpaca socks. They will make great slippers on my AZ cement floors this winter.

This Fall, it seems as if the color keeps getting better as it changes. Mother Nature still has some of the most amazing color palates - never mind the odd touches we add in here and there.