A New Year, A New Nest... Part Three of Three

Last but certainly not least in my series is our brand new classroom remodeling! For years I have looked longingly through the pages of the Where Women Create magazine. How I have yearned to have a space that was organized, chic, beautiful, light and practical in which to create. Not just for myself but for others. I wanted a place I could be proud of! 

Well my wish came true this January. I took a week off work to tackle this project, and to get my wisdom teeth out. The way I figured it, I would not think about the impending doom if I had a good project to keep my mind off it! (Don't you just love my logic!?!) I was counting on spending my swollen-like-a-chipmunk-healing-time sorting, organizing and creating the SUPER CLASSROOM! So in preparation, I began to disassemble,. and some friends came to help paint the base coat. 

Thankfully, my surgery went well and I wasn't in enough pain to keep me away from the project. I was a little loopy from Advil but that probably helped dull the pain of unpacking ten years of fiber art UFO's (unfinished objects), collections of fiber and fabric, class supplies and more. It was like a bomb went off in here. By the time I surfaced from beneath the piles, we were finally making progress in creating bins of labeled supplies. It was actually happening. 

Enter my creative husband and his dreamy storage unit, and this room was finally starting to shape up! He designed several nice features: put our door on sliders to save a ton of room, gave me a slim closet for table storage and easy access, and ample shelves just the size I needed them. Now I had a real workable unit where both students and I could access supplies quickly and easily. It's saved so much time and effort and looks very classy. I feel like I finally have the art studio I've always dreamt of. 

The second phase of this project was to paint the focal wall. A friend had offered to teach me the lazure painting technique. I wanted to have a wall that was full of soft, welcoming color and this was a perfect way to achieve that. The technique uses layers of color, giving you a watercolor effect. She and I used Golden Acrylic Medium mixed with an equal amount of water and a dab of acrylic paint added. This, being very much liquid, is brushed on quickly with one brush and brushed again with a dry brush. Layer after layer is added to give you depth and movement of the colors. We used about 8 layers I believe. It took a whole day to add the layers. There is some glitter added to the last layer. 

The effect is stunning, mesmerizing, dreamy and enchanting. I'm so glad we did this! It's such a magical room now, where creativity seeps into our souls and beauty is crafted from the heart. It's a room that is happy and cheery, bright and spacious. People want to come and sit and be. 

Thank you to all who helped make it possible! I feel like our nesting is almost complete for this year. What a better place the world can be if we just beautify the nest around us. If we make it warm and spacious and welcoming to others. I hope to leave you with that thought as we embark on the next chapter of 2017. 

#challengeonnaturephotography

I got invited on Facebook to the #challengeonnaturephotography by a friend recently. You are nominated by a friend to post seven days of nature pictures, while also nominating a new person each day you do this. 

To be completely honest, I saw flashbacks of failed Amish friendship bread going through my mind. I'm supposed to share this thing with seven other friends? Then add flour each day to my starter, then keep it at room temperature, then divide it, then add more stuff, ahhhhhhhhhh! Sure the bread was great once you made it, but a rigmarole to get there! Then if you don't share it, you end up eating Amish friendship bread forever. And heaven forbid you wanted Amish friendship bread but didn't have a friend to share a starter with you! Never did a more lonely feeling exist. Any-who....

 I decided I wanted to make the challenge a little more personal. I wanted to post a picture I had taken and the project inspired by it. So much of my work is influence by nature and the creation surrounding me. Everywhere I look, I see inspiration. 

Though I haven't yet finished my full seven days, I am enjoying the process. The catalyst behind this was to get more images of nature circulating on social media, something I'm completely supportive of. I hope it has achieved that, and perhaps even, inspire people to take more notice of nature. 

So check it out. Google #challengeonnaturephotography and take a few minutes to be awed. 

It's a Colorful World

I was asked yesterday what my favorite color was. Growing up I bucked the trend of little girls, just because I wanted to be different, and answered "blue". I really liked blue, soft shades the color of skies, rippling water and fairy dust. As I got older, I grew into the color purple, a color for which I have an infinity for to date. I briefly went through a stage of neutrals, which made my closet look like an ad for IKEA or Martha Stewart or something. The only color I really dislike is red, in any form or shape. I don't even own a tube of red lipstick. 

Being an artist however, you learn to appreciate all colors. I dye a lot of our fibers, so I feel as though I get to be surrounded by a spectrum of color perpetually. Lately, in preparation for spring shows, I have been dyeing a lot. I have dyed at least 50 pounds of wool in the last few weeks, so I'm not kidding when I say I'm surrounded by color. Literally, you open a closet, there's wool. You open the laundry room, there's wool. You open the oven, there's wool dyeing. My dear, patient husband has stepped over wool, taken wool off of chairs to sit, and been inundated with my nagging to come see my beautiful new colors. Bless his heart!  

But when the dust settles, and all is dyed, you feel as though you stepped off the sky and into a rainbow. Everywhere I look is a joyous celebration of beauty in the wooly form I love to work with. It is balm for the soul in a drab mid-winter like we have outside our doors. I can beautify the world while we await for it to awaken from it's winter nap. I can dream up colors and places I want to be, and paint my wool with that fantasy. It's a wonderful feeling to watch my walls come alive as the wool gets draped on them. I feel like I'm decorating for a party in which we are celebrating life! 

So I'm sharing some of those photo's with you in hopes that it brightens your day too!