Been working slowly but still there

Just some photos of the work I have been doing recently. I will admit I have abandoned the BJP 2008-9  for now, although I need to update my photos of that, I see,  as I have completed a few more since my last post. However, it has never been the project as I imagine it would be and until I resolved my feelings for it, I will not be working on it.

However, I have at last finished my portrait of Alan,  the last in a series of beaded dolls of my kids when they were young.   This one was, by the far,  the hardest to complete and the hood was the sticking point for a long time.  I did it one way and then decided it was too ugly, so I completely unpicked it and started again. I think part of the reason I took so long to complete this doll, are the psychological factors behind making them in the first place.  I realised as I was finishing this one, each doll was made as each child had left home for good, making that break from childhood into adulthood.

The next beaded project starts in January and I am going to give beading a break until that point although I have decided on a theme already and started the research for it.  This one will be less ambitious and will be only one element per month which should be more manageable. However, I am excited about the idea.

In the meantime, I am planning on getting on with my painting and drawing side of my art.  One of the things that I realised as I was doing the BJP  this year was that I was floundering basically because I had stopped looking around me and observing my world.  So I will be concentrating on doing drawing and some painting for the coming months and  getting back to the basics.

This was the first painting I did  and as you can see I have a long long way to go before I manage to produce anything that is any good.  However, as they say, you did it once so you can do again, you just need to practice.

A beginning

the Intermediate stage

The finish

Hopefully in the next few weeks there will be some more progress and more confidence.

Etsy :: The Storque :: This Handmade Life :: Handmade Portraits: Mimi Kirchner –

more about “Etsy :: The Storque :: This Handmade …“, posted with vodpod

First five flags complete

and here they are.

The are hung in the sequence which is followed by Tibetan Buddhists which is where my idea originated from

Wanted thin  and alive

Kick start to success

Sure but can you keep it off

Healthy Habits

Our leader is Julie

I feel much more positive about this project at the moment and have another five almost complete- just a few more details to work out.   When I am working on these flags, my attitude to being a healthy fitter person is definitely more focused.   I think the upsurge in my interest at the moment is in no small part to not working at Joann’s any more. I hadn’t realised  how negatively it was affecting me until about a week or so after I left and felt a weight being lifted from my shoulder.

Well, I am off to France  in few days time for a 2 weeks sojourn, visiting my folks in Brittany, going to the Louvre in Paris and generally to refresh my soul.   See you in September!

Eileen Cooper

This a plug for the art of Eileen Cooper whose work I have loved ever since I first saw it in 1980.

Below is what I wrote to Eileen about her latest work.

I must admit to feeling of discomfort when looking at these new works as things seem to be in flux in a lot of them.  The ‘dwelling’ is being swallowed by the foliage and the figure is hunched as if she is trying covet what is going on below. Everything in the picture appears unbalanced as if teetering on the edge. Likewise, in ‘Desire’, unlike the introduction, I don’t see the women as being in bliss but as someone who is being pushed by the aggressive tiger in the panel which seems more alive than the woman. And who is the woman hiding behind the panel, why is she hiding? She seems to be threat otherwise why is she hiding?

I am loving looking at these  works and trying to divine my feelings as to regard to them. They are not quiet in least or serene despite the theme of dreams, in fact they give me a feeling of nervousness and being unsettled, of past memories and fears for the future.  I suspect I am reflecting a lot of the anxiety I am feeling in my life at the moment, so next year I will see something totally different.

If you look at the site, its a bit of awkward  site to navigate as you have to hit the back button to view each picture as a larger image but its worth it.

Other news of note:  I have been accepted on to the docent program at the Blanton Museum of Art, starting in the fall.  At last some structure in my life!

Not getting very well with the BJP this year

In fact, most of the time it is not going at all.  Fortunately since my last post on this subject, my arm pain has gone away and so that is not what is impeding my progress.  I am still attending Weightwatchers® but not really following the program. I attend so I don’t put on too much weight and so far I managing to maintain the 24lbs I lost to date ( I had lost 32lbs but that is a distant memory these days ).

I think a couple of things have just stopped me from doing much creatively so far this year.  The main one is that my space is no longer my space.  In December I moved out of the room I had been using for my beading projects  and moved in a more public room- the games room upstairs. This was because my daughter moved back home temporarily but by the end of January she was had moved to Houston.

So in theory I could have moved back into the spare room but had decided by then to make the games room into my space.  I got it nicely arranged with new shelving and new storage.  It was getting quite cosy but then in March, my husband’s job was moved to another location, still within the Austin area but a much further drive.  We decided then that much as we really didn’t want to move (mainly because of the effort involved and current economic climate) we needed to move to the south of Austin and into a smaller house.  So since then we have been concentrating on that sole project.  So consequently my little cosy space which I had created is now in storage and will be until we manage to move, which at the rate we are going, could be a long wait.

The other issue has been my own health and as it turns out something that has been needlessly worrisome because the Doctor I see is not a good communicater or for that matter a good doctor.

I have manage to keep some of my art supplies away from storage but soon  that will be in there as well, as the feedback from other sources, tell us that the house is too cluttered.  So soon we will be down the basics of living whilst our stuff hides out in the storage unit!

So my plans for this project are falling way behind and probably the original intentions will not be completed. However, before all the upheaval I manage to bead 12 of the doodles I made and I have made progress on 2 of the flags as they will be, once they are complete.   So my project will now be to complete all the 12 doodles for BJP and then once I am in more conducive environs, to complete the 52 flags as I originally intended.