Well, it’s about time I dusted off this art journal and typed something in. I’ve been lazy, writing little bits here and there about art stuff in my personal journal, but not really expounding on anything. And definitely not showing enough photos. Of course, I’m also not making enough art, either. I haven’t been feeling well and that makes a big difference on how productive I can be.
So, here I go!
Yesterday, i took a class with Nancy Anderson of Boulder. She does a lot of jewelry, metalworking and shrine stuff. She is a BIG fan of found objects. Basically, she’s doing what I started doing years ago and then sort of stopped. She does it much better, too. The class was good for me in several ways:
1. I learned how to drill a hole into metal and into wood. Now I know what I want for Christmas.
2. I learned how to metal stamp (harbor freight, here I come!)
3. I learned how to rust things.
4. I re-learned how to find beauty and purpose in the most unassuming of cast-away objects.
I had already had a vision for the shrine I wanted to make in this class. I have been collecting pieces of crap from gramma and grampa’s house for years. Old cocktail napkins from their restaurant, gramma’s broken old costume jewelry, a paintbrush that I think was grandpa’s, all sorts of odditties. I also pulled together things I found elsewhere that reminded me of them. Littlle tiny mirrors, buttons in gold and ivory. Mom scanned a ton of old photos and some of grandma’s handwritten recipes and send them to me. It all would make for a very cool and nostalgic pieces (for me). An homage to two of the most important people in my life.
Since I had that all sorted out in my head already, i didn’t go in for the heavy rusted look like some of the others were doing. I loved what they were doing, of course, but I already had a mission. Unfortunately I had to wait a long time for the instructor to cut the hole in my door (my only complaint) and I got a pretty late start on really making my shrine come together.
Lately I’ve been having some serious nostalgia issues. I’ve also been really thrown off with my fertility “treatment,” if you can call it that (a story for another day) and I’ve been highly emotional, scattered, distracted and out of sorts. So while I was collecting all of these items for class, I cried. I cried a lot. I was worried I would cry all through class, to the point where I didn’t really want to go. It wasn’t an option, though, considering what I’d paid for the class.
So I went. Nancy had us do the sit-in-a-circle-and-talk thing first, which was nice especially because there were quite a few new faces that day. Well, i tell you, there had to be something in the air because we were all talking about having a rough week, about art teachers who tore us down so much when we were younger that we avoided being creative, close people in our lives who didn’t support our creative dreams and who even came out and mocked them. Another woman said that last time she was in fort collins for something was when she had broken her back and she burst into tears. Another woman lost her husband of 30-something years in August. It was amazing to realize I wasn’t alone. And most of us were crying by the time that session was over. I was one of the first to speak, so I didn’t even share that much. I just felt so much better to know I was not the only one who felt so broken and it would be ok if I cried.
After that session, we had a group collage session where we each started with one 12×12 of scrapbook paper and added some stuff to it, then passed it on to the person on our right. After about half a dozen or so people worked on it, this is what I got back. The original piece of scrapbook paper is here.
Next cool thing is that I sat next to Tana Mitchell and across from Lynda, Linda, Venita and Bev Perina. I tell you, these women are all wacky and unbelievably creative and generous and funny. We had a great time teasing each other, giving each other input, etc. I went to lunch with Tana. She took me to a great mexican place on the north end of town. I thought it was a hole in the wall, but it was nice and clean and homey inside and the food was A. MAZE. ING. I had a burrito smothered with green chile that would knock your socks off. We’re talking as good as Sadie’s in Albuquerque. I’ve always liked Tana a lot and she’s the first one who really made me feel welcome with that whole art group over there, so I was happy to spend some time with her. We talked a lot about some stuff that’s been hard for me and I felt so much better when lunch was over. She even treated. AND I got to have a sopapilla! mmmmmmmmmm sopapilla!
Today, I hope to finish the shrine, or at least have it close to finished. I have lots of gramma’s beads to glue in. i think it will be a blast.
Also, last night, i finished packaging my first set of greeting cards for selling online. I have a couple of extraneous ones to package and then I’ll be setting up shop! I’m quite excited.
This is my biggest web project to date: 
