Communication, Links and Love

I'm really trying to enter the 21st century - LOL. My friends (beading friends, mostly) invited me to join and set up a Facebook account. So, I did. I'm still trying to figure out why...but it has its' fun moments. I also am blogging 6-days a week (which you can tell if you are reading this). I am enjoying setting my thoughts into order every day. It seems to start my day out well, so I'm keeping up with this. I'm still not sure about Facebook though, and I refuse to Twitter. I don't think that anyone needs to know the boring details of my daily life in 140 words or less - LOL.

(picture above by Paul DeCelle)

Today is Saturday, pasta for dinner, and it's Valentine's Day in the US (and maybe in other countries also). For those who may live under a rock, Valentine's Day is a day for sharing and rededicating love between people. I rarely have nice holidays, but V-Day usually is pretty good. I started going out with my DH many years ago right around this time of the year, and that turned out pretty good, because we've been together for more than 30 years. And even though sometimes I think I would rather be on my own, I think I would actually miss him a lot. So, Happy Valentine's Day to each of you reading this blog. May you share some of this day with someone or some entity with love between you (in other words - share a hug with your cat/dog/pet, talk with another person and brighten their day, share your dreams through prayer). And don't forget to thank Spirit for the many gifts of love that come into our lives. Love is the driving force of the Universe and passing it on is the MOST important thing that we can do. Have a wonderful weekend!

The Intrusions of Work

The nice thing about retirement is that I can concentrate on my artwork. The bad thing about retirement is that I'm not retired yet. Therefore, work gets in my way. I had a great January because it's my slowest month and we don't do a lot of ordering or processing during that month. But now my work schedule is ramping up again and I would SO much rather just be reading, drawing, painting, enameling.....creating. It's simply unfair that life is getting in the way of living. I'm very grateful that I have my Wednesdays, at least, although that's not nearly enough time to be able to indulge.

I'll feel much better next week when I have received my new enamel colors and can play again. In the meantime, I have to get some copper shaped and formed into the final shapes that I want to enamel with the new colors. I'm already looking forward to Wednesday and I have many days left until it arrives! I also have to make sure that I schedule some photography time for Sunday because I really need to catch up with finished projects to release them for potential sale to the public. I don't have the space to have a permanently set up photography station although it would certainly save me a lot of time. Time - my always best friend and worst enemy.

Prayers and white light go to the victims of the commuter crash from earlier this morning. Almost 50 people have left us and we are the poorer for it.

Enameling Possibilities

I'm in love with a 3-week old. Sebastian Ray has captured my heart!

I fired up the kiln yesterday and tried some experiments to decide if an idea I had in my head would work for my Beading For A Cure project. After several coats of enamel, I decided that it will, indeed, work, although I need colors that are more appropriate to the project colors. So, I broke down and went onto Thompson Enamel's website. More than $100 later, I will have some enamels in my hands by mid-week next week with several new colors, another firing stand and a few application tools that I have been wanting. I also ordered five pounds of citric acid from another source. I prefer to use citric acid instead of Sparex or swimming pool acid for my work. I think that the citric acid is more environmentally friendly. And I even successfully got two loads of laundry done, went to the book store, and had breakfast with friends (including the cutie at the top of this post). It was an excellent day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. LINCOLN. 200 Years Young Today!

Today I think I'll bring the laptop to work with me and see if I can get any work done on a new newsletter for my customers. It seems that the only time I have to work on things is during the day at the shop, so I can spend that time doing computer work if I remember to bring the appropriate computer - LOL. I'd better spend a quick moment and update my credit card with them also so that I have a real and active account. To work....to work. Never ending :-) I'd rather be beading and enameling, so I'm already looking forward to next week's studio day.

Questions for Today

The Daily Art Muse had two questions for today that might be worth thinking about, so I'm passing them on here while answering them for myself. You may also find answering these worthwhile. She wrote:

"I have two questions for you today: Which small detail of your daily life inspires your art? And something that I have been researching and exploring on my own – Does your art help the greater good in subtle ways? (part B to this question is – Do you want it to?)."

So...Which small detail of my daily life inspires my art? Well, I guarantee it is not the mess that I live in and sigh about daily. Just not enough hours to be the housekeeper that I wish I could be. But, although I would love to avoid the trite "nature" fall-back, it is actually true in my case. I am a morning person. Waking and greeting the dawn and the sunrise makes my day worthwhile and when I miss the sunrise or when the clouds are in the way, my day seems incomplete. I'm not a plant person (except for trees - I adore trees), but I love the colors that come in every sunrise and sunset, the stars at night, the moon and the varied personalities of the sky. These are inspiring for me and start and end each day as I thank the Spirit for allowing me to share in the great Song.

The second question is a bit harder. Does my art help the greater good in subtle ways and do I want it to? On this, I really have no idea. I know that sometimes people are happy when they see or receive my art, so I have helped the cosmic karma that day by adding to the positive and taking away from the negative. I know that every piece that I work on is a personal, direct, and physical prayer of thanks to my Muse and the Spirit. I am grateful for the skill that has been placed into my hands and give that skill back through my actions. I am a deeply spiritual person, but since I try to not impose my spirituality onto others, I tend to be a bit less than clear. But I hope, through my actions, that the Song will be heard just a bit more clearly than it might have otherwise.

Today I will start the day out with breakfast with a few dear friends, then run some errands, and I'm really going to try to fire up the kiln today and do a test fire of my latest experiment. Yesterday's "measure twice, cut once" worked out well. I now have the copper cut for my sigils project. But I also have to start on my Beading For A Cure project, and I'm still torn between two project possibilities. I do know that the beading will take center stage away from my drawing and enameling for a while, and although my beading is still creativity I will miss picking my pencils and colors for a while . OK, tirade over - LOL. So I'll show "Horse" as today's picture since that was last year's major beading project :-)

Measure Twice, Cut Once

I've been working on the storyboard for my Onyx box. After enlarging the heraldic symbols so that I can overdraw them, I took my copper sheet and drew out the rectangles for each of the six sigils. Then I looked carefully at the rectangles again, and realized that the sizing was totally off. I had measured carefully with my digital caliper, but it looked wrong. I decided to put the sheet away, remeasure the original space again, and try again the next day.

The next day I went back to the sheet. Indeed - I was WAY small on the squares I had scribed and marked. So, I re-measured again and cut out a paper template. I checked the template on the box top last night, and it still needs to be larger (although only by a few mm), so I will take the box with me today and measure again. I am quite determined to have the measurements accurate before I cut the copper - I can't afford metal waste and it makes no sense to measure and cut inaccurately. By the time I get the rectangles cut, I probably will have measured four or five times before I cut, but it will be the accurate measure and I will be able to progress on to the next step. Here are some more sigils to share...the top is for Gil-Galad, and the center one is Beorn.

Weekends are Too Short

I need a weekend. Most people get two days off in a row to relax and recharge for the next work week. I get Sunday and Wednesday. Sunday is more-or-less devoted to whatever my DH would like to do. It usually means that I waste a day because he enjoys playing computer games with me. I have a good time....but I really don't accomplish anything. I would rather spend the day doing some housekeeping and maybe some crafting. I have many things in my creative fire and not enough time for them. It's a problem.

How do other people find time? I suspect they have a partner who supports them more than mine (it might be cruel of me to say that, but I think it's true). I also suspect that they are working for someone else - not owning their own business. My standard work week is 7am - 6pm and often I will also work in the evenings. That doesn't leave a lot of time for creative projects or establishing myself in an alternative light. And one day off doesn't catch me up on my sleep or allow a lot of ..... well, it's just too short. In today's economy I don't dare quit right now. Finding another job - although I would want a part-time job only - would be very difficult right now. Too many people who desperately need work are seeking anything they can find. But eventually the economy will improve and then I may have the opportunity to spread my wings again.