Nourishment

I've had some great classes in 2013 but am happy to say I have a breather before I am out at New Art Legacies in a couple of weeks. I promised myself in 2013 that I would open up some avenues that have been consciously closed out of necessity and unconsciously closed for no good reason for awhile. The biggest of these avenues is self-renewal. I began yoga in the fall and it is proving to be a great way to block out the world for a period of time several times a week. I go to class once a week and meet myself on my mat at home at least two other times to meditate. It was quite convenient that Oprah/Deepok began a 21 day meditation early in March. I have participated in many days and have seen how early I am in this journey. It's been an interesting period of introspection of what I want for my life and what I feel the need to let go. I needed to do this mental housecleaning so I could move forward. More on that as new thoughts or at least more concrete thoughts occur. as part of my self-renewal, I've also made some decisions to nourish my creativity.

As said in previous blog entries, I am revisiting my roots in the needlearts and am excited to be taking my first online class in surface embroidery given by Australian Sharon B in June. Summer is usually a slower time for me and so far I only have classes twice in Cincinnati so there will be plenty of time to immerse. Her samples are to die for so I am hoping to learn a lot and put it to use on my mixed media pieces. But before all that I am heading to Art & Soul in Kansas City next week with a few of my arty gal pals. I've not been to a retreat since Art Continuum and have fond memories of my experiences there in the early 2000s. I am very excited to have set aside the time to do this again even if it is a little brief. I am very excited to meet and take two classes from Jane Davies. I've seen some tutorials and know that she is just the right person to grown my knowledge in incorporating fabric into my designs. I spent a couple of days this week and one last week making a small number of trades and really enjoyed making each and every one. There are a few pictured above. Yes, INCHIES, and yes, there are about 3-4 layers of stuff on those to make them the little textural wonders that they I think they are. I borrowed the concept from my new Studio Cloth (USArtQuest)class because I am still loving to work on it so much. I only made 21 so they'll go fast. I am planning some other stops on Wednesday and definitely I will be stopping by a couple of stores on the way to see if there are any teaching venues in the area that are interested for the fall. All in all it will be nice to get away. I plan to be well-nourished at the Elms Spa for the short time I am there. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks if my plans worked out.