I did it! I did 45 minutes of spin class this morning, 8:00 am, and didn't crash at 10:00 am like I thought I would. We even went on a bike trail ride this afternoon, despite the cold weather. I went pretty slow and went back to the car to soak up the cool afternoon sun after about 1 hour. But it all felt good, and I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

I was surfing tonight and found this blog (http://www.bernieberlin.blogspot.com/) and all the animals stories that are linked here are just overwhelming. I donated thru paypal and am going to send some artwork that I recently bought so she can auction it off for profit. What an amazing gal she is and if you haven't seen her book on ATC's - go get it! It's wonderful. Here is a picture of me and Samson when he was a pup. I wish he was still around altho' he'd be rather geriatric at 19 years old!

Saturday AM

Got up early this morning as I am hoping to get a spot at "spinning" at my local gym - what a workout. I haven't done it in 2 years, after breaking my ankle I couldn't do anything for about 1 year, and then another year of laziness. Actually, it's going to be interesting to see how my ankle reacts to spinning - I may take an aspirin in advance. The 12 pins inside that darn bone tend to act up at times. Anyway, I've gotta do something to start the downwards trend in pants size.

I am working on a funny piece, whose background was inspired by one of Claudine Hellmuths' commercially available papers. It stars "Rozzy" my new heroine - wait till mom sees this one! I'll post a picture here when I'm done with the complete piece, here is "Rozzy" prior to completion. I like having a central figure that can be used in different settings, so far only two settings (see "Wired") but I have lots of ideas. Naturally this looks nothing at all like mom, but she is a redhead and so I went with it from there. I have been getting so much positive reaction from "Wired" - everyone loves her personality - just like mom - so maybe I did hit it on the head. Also, she is wearing a caftan because I haven't mastered arms yet, not for any other reason.

Wish me luck with spinning.

Thursday night

I am waiting for my sweetie to come home, he flew himself down to NY today to see his aunt and uncle, and it must have been a bumpy ride as the winds were a bit high...but not too high to fly. My sweetie is also a safety nut (thank goodness) and doesn't take chances but he loves that plane! We take "Vickie" all over the place and it's for someone who travels alot for work, I love just getting in our little plane and not having to go thru security. She's a sweet plane and very dependable.

I have posted some of my artwork on some yahoo sites and have been getting great feedback - particularly on "Wired" which you can see on this site. I love her also, she has a glint in her eye and a nice personality. She may show up in other pieces...we'll see.

It's not spring yet....

Wednesday

I was very excited to get my second message on my blog from my nephew Sean - who is pretty computer savvy. Sean and his twin brother Brian are by far and away two of my favorite people in the whole world, wonderful teenagers if you can believe it! I adore these two kids, and have been so privedged to be involved in helping them grow - watching them since they were one day old and enjoying them every step of the way.

love you two,

AMM

Crochet time?

I was just surfing around and found some oh so beautiful crochet baby clothes on this site: http://www.rosylittlethings.com/. Isabella would just LOVE me to make her one of these kits. Grandma used to crochet blankets galore, and we still use them, but oh the lovely little dresses - I can't wait to try one.

Sunday -
It was a "get things done" sort of day; I reconfigured my studio a bit and put up my artwork where I can see it. Previously I had all bits and things hanging on the corkboard - and it was distracting. So I am trying this instead - having inspiration staring me in the face instead of chaos. I really do have to look into getting the basement done over somewhat - the grey walls are drab.

I am also doing the dreaded "going thru clothes that (1) don't fit (2) I don't wear anymore or (3) are beat to hell and trying to clean out stuff that I should really give away. Just prior to my last California trip, my closet rod fell down from just one too many things put on the rod. So I had to clear up somewhat and had to finish the job this weekend. I simply am not done yet, it takes awhile to try everything on, discard it, wish it would fit, try it on again.... etc. Anyway, Goodwill got a load of stuff, most of it in excellent condition.
There is a new pet store in my neighborhood and I went in. They are not a tradional pet store, and don't carry mill puppies (thank god) - more of mixed breed pups. There was an adorable pup who was a poodle mix and just so cute. I called friends to see if they were interested in him, but no answer so I went back to day to see if I could take pictures of him and weasel him into my house. Sadly for me, happily for him - he was gone to a good home. I took pictures of another little fella - so adorable.

Saturday morning

Illustration Friday - here it is!

I DID sleep in - till 9:00 am. I am so proud of myself...

Finally Friday

I just love Friday nights - the thought of sleeping in on Saturday is so enticing. Of course, I rarely do sleep in, but it's just the thought that I can that is delicious.
The flight home from California wasn't bad, but my nice leather coat got snatched by someone off the security rolling thing. I don't know how it happened, but the nice leather jacket was gone, gone, gone - inside of 5 minutes. Oh well...I couldn't find anyone who looked like they had picked it up by mistake so I think it was taken by TxxxA.
But no problem, it was pretty warm when I got home so the sweatshirt I had was just fine. Traffic on the Mass Pike was nasty but I was book-listening so I really didn't mind.
The nicest thing about coming home after being away, is seeing the hubby (#1 reason to run home) and getting to work in my studio. I have a few ideas that I was working on in a sketchbook but it's just not the same without all my stuff around - and the ability to just jump in and have fun. I am thinking about some kind of traveling art pack, but all I can think to bring on carry on is pastels and I have never worked with them. I don't like the pencil watercolors - actually I'm not a watercolor type of person anyway. You can't take a scissor or blade on the plane, so aside from buying a knife everywhere - I can't do any cutting which I just love.
Off to the basement....

Sunday night

It was a snowy St. Patricks day in the northeast but a beautiful weekend in California. My beautiful niece Jody wants to help me with making art to put onto etsy, she was very facinated by the potential to sell stuff on Etsy! I told her it was a long shot..but it will be fun. Jody is so talented and creative, she and I will be a great team! She took me on a long walk today, on some mountain bluffs - I struggled to keep up with her - she hoped from rock to rock and I just hoped that I could keep up and not break a leg again. I took a picture of her and am going to do a collage of her against the beautiful California hills - just the perfect match.

Friday in California

OK, so I do feel a bit guilty being in beautiful CA while there is a big snowstorm going on back home in the Northeast, but I really don't feel all that bad! I am a bit sad that I have missed probably the last snowstorm of the year, in a year of virtually no snow, but I can get used to it by walking on the (foggy) beach here.
I have been posting some photo's on Claudine Hellmuth's Book discussion site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/collage_with_claudine/ and have gotten wonderful feedback from the supportive people there. I really treasure their feedback, it is so encouraging.
I am working on a loaner computer, mine having given up the ghost. Hopefully it will be fixed next week, but until then...no new photo's posted.

Almost the ides of March

It's a cloudy day here in the Northeast, but the air is warming up - even when it is cold out you can feel the difference. I keep looking to see if daffodils are poking their heads up, but not in my yard. But I am off to San Diego today so I can't complain - all will have changed when I get back next week.
Is writing about the weather as boring as talking about it? Probably.
I finally finished a piece that I have been working on for friends - I have struggled with this piece for months, working in a 12x12 format and finally ripped the whole thing apart and redid it with in an 11 x 16 format. I'm much happier with it and will post the photo soon.

Sunday

I went to a wonderful concert today - the Stow Festival Chorus and Orchesta, in Stow, MA. All volunteer SATB chorus with a great sound. I usually sing with this chorus, but couldn't this winter. It was great to sit in the audience and listen for a change. The amount of work that goes into these small town community affairs is just amazing, the volunteer work for set up and management, as well as all of the musical work that goes on is just fantastic. I'll post some pictures and here is a link to the Stow Chorus website: www.soundsofstow.com After the concert, we went to the Choral Directors house for a pot luck and it was great to see old friends, and meet new ones. Great day overall, and pretty warm too!

Saturday!

I love Saturday mornings - time to catch up, clean the bird cage, do some scanning (I'm still learning) and be pajama lazy. I have so much to learn about blogging and etsy - is there a "scanning for dummies" book?
I am going to try to add some of my new pieces here and am also going to do my best to try to set up an eBAY auction to sell a piece that I just bought from Claudine Hellmuth - I want to support the "Place to Bark" and this is a great way to do it. Claudines work is so happy and upbeat, I hate to part with it, but have two other pieces that I will keep.

I am learning that I am an impatient person and love to finish pieces, often before they are ready. I think I need a place in my "studio" where I can set aside work and NOT do the final glueing or finish coat before it is ready. This is going to be hard for me to do as I am so goal oriented and love to get things completed. Have to learn to slow down sometimes.

Julio the bird is singing away in his clean cage, enjoying the winter sunshine and living room fire. Cozy

Thursday

I am still working on the setup of this blog - learning how to add elements and make it look like something that I really like. This ain't easy.

I have started an Etsy store, go visit at www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5084973, I hope I did that right....

Tuesday

Well we did get a blast of super cold air here in the Northeast - ear freezing actually. "They" say that it should last thru the week and then get warm again - let's hope so.
Woke up at 3:30 this morning with a piece of work on my mind that had not been going well, realized that I hated the color and had to get up and redo the entire thing. It was actually very satifying to get it done before going off to my full time day job.

Cold weather coming

They are predicting cold weather here in the Northeast, but it will all be done soon and the daffodils will be poking their heads up soon. The fig tree will get planted outside this year, it is getting too heavy to bring in and out every year, so I plan to plant it by a south wall and wrap it in the winter as my Italian neighbors did in New York. Hopefully it will work. Two years ago I got 35 figs and then a killer frost and no figs last year at all.
I have just started an Etsy shop - what the heck! I still can't remember all of the passwords so will list the link here soon.

Spring is coming?

This is only my second post - so I am still in the learning mode. I have been reading other's posts using them as learning tools - so we'll see how it goes.
I have been working in my basement, self teaching myself art and crafts, having a blast doing so. I took one class at Worcester Art Museum and loved it, and also took a workshop with Claudine Hellmuth which I loved. But the basement get's to be a little dingy at this time of year, and I yearn for finished walls with a beautiful turquoise blue and lots of light. Instead I have grey cement walls - which are rather drab. I think that beautiful light walls would be inspiring. Well we'll see if I can get the energy to paint - which of course means moving everything out first - yikes. I love, love, love being creative and only found my muse last year. I haven't found my style yet and am having fun experimenting and playing with techniques and new toys.