Life, the universe, and everything

Hello, dear readers. It's been a minute since I've written. If you're still following this blog, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If there is just one person out there (and I hope there are more!), I am sending you my deepest love and appreciation.

My life has not progressed in the fashion I expected it to. Life seems fond of doing that. If you've been wondering what I've been doing during my little hiatus from art and the internet, I've been doing a whole lot of waiting, that's what. A whole lot of sitting and sighing and looking at stacks of boxes packed with all my belongings. Definitely a lot of moping and groaning.

I moped about my residency ending. I moped about being stuck in this house (which is not MY house) without my own car. I moped about our house (the one we were trying to buy), which we still have not closed on (and I'm resigned to the fact that we probably will not be getting it, because banks are dumb). I moped about not having a space to work in. Life. Don't talk to me about life.

I think I took some time to grieve, and to mourn some dreams that just weren't panning out the way I'd planned. I needed to do that for a little while, and to sort some things out in my head, before I could move on.

(One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up, and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny, and very hungry caterpillar)

But finally, I said screw this! I realized that I'd put my entire life on hold because I was waiting on that house, and that studio space in the basement where I'd already planned out and lived the next 10 years of my life in my head. Enough! I decided to figure out what resources I had now, and what I could do today that would advance my life and get me making art again. Things do not happen for people who sit around and wait. I'd taken enough time, and now I was ready.

For the last two weeks, I've been cleaning, packing, organizing, and reorganizing the little guest house in the back yard of my in-laws, which we've been using as a storage space up until now. Every day, for about an hour and a half (while Maddy naps), and sometimes after she goes to bed, I went out back and cleaned and moved things and hauled away trash and things we no longer needed. I set up some tables, put up some old cabinets I scored from Freecycle (God bless that site!), and unpacked my old artwork to put on display.

After a lot of hard work, I made a little space for myself. I set up my wheel, which has not been used for over 2 years, held my breath, and turned it on...

Creepy alien bunny baby keeps me company while I work.

My lucky studio gator looks on. One day, I will paint him new clothes as I originally intended.

And it works! HOORAY!

I am really excited to begin making work again! I have big plans and dreams, and I hope you'll follow along with me as I make them happen. Clearing out that house made me feel strong, and capable, like I could do anything! (I think I understand why I have friends that love to clean and organize now!) I still have more to do, but my plan is to make it into a space that people could visit, where I could show off my new work, and you all could pop in and say hi and see what I'm up to. 

I went out there for the first time yesterday to work on some art. I tested out a new clay body from Laguna that I just picked up at Core Clay in Cincinnati, and I finished the mishima on these plates that I started months ago. I am committed to getting out there a little everyday, and I'm going to make and make and make as much art as I can, and it's going to be awesome.

30 days from today, I have resolved to launch a Kickstarter to help fund the production of a new line of work. I've got some ideas I'm flipping out about right now, and I want to dig right in. But before I launch, as a show of good faith, I want to get working now, use all the materials I have left, and get you all excited about what I have in store. Then, if you like what I'm doing, and you want to be a part of it, you can jump right in with me, and we can PARTY DOWN.

Stay tuned:D