Happy July!
Flower Trio by Jasmine
Not so much happening here in Denver the last week except for gardening and my plants class. In that vein, I decided to share a painting my daughter created in early June at the Art Student’s League of Denver. We finally started renovating the exterior of our house – photos to come later. Nothing crazy or anything since we’ve decided to move next year after we’ve completed our 2 year residency stay. I would have like to go crazy and implemented a more water thrifty garden design, but alas I’m working with what I have and have a tight budget. 
Meanwhile, I need to finish my take home Plants midterm right now…only three weeks left till I can enjoy a real summer vacation before the fall semester begins. Hope everyone’s summer is splendid!
Say What?
Ron & I went to Red Rocks last Friday to see Widespread Panic in concert again – Fun Show!
Not much happened in the studio this past week – though I do have an excuse. And no, my dog didn’t eat my car keys preventing me from driving to the CPG or anything…. The real reason? My in-laws were in town and we spent the week catching up, consuming great food & drink and even managed to remodel my daughter’s bedroom complete with new paint job including teenager like accessories. I have to say it looks good if you like gatorade green (you know that sort of effervescent glow in the dark green that looks like it could etch metal?)! What can I say, she picked the colors this time around and she’s infatuated with neon at the moment. To be honest, I rather like the color now that it’s on the wall and think I may use this color in my home somewhere in the future.
I have a huge to-do list that I would like to accomplish before school starts again for me at the end of August. I wish time stood still like it did when I was a kid – endless summer…but alas, time seems to spend faster and faster these days. On my to-do list you ask? (in no particular order)
- Update the Colorado Potters Guild website with new photos from the spring show.
- Putz around with all the new software I learned in the past year including Illustrator, AutoCad, GIS etc so that I’m way more efficient next year.
- Work in the clay studio more.
- Landscape our garden.
- Run more.
- Clean up my website.
- Start a website for my landscape architecture portfolio.
- Read more.
- Start packing so that we can move next summer…. Say what?
Yep, my husband and I moved into our current house (which we had been renting out for the past 10 years) last summer with the goal of selling or staying. We’ve decided to sell because we miss our old hood and all the amenities and I hate taking the #15 bus to school (yes, I take public transportation ‘cuz it’s eco-friendly and a hassle to park downtown, not to mention expensive – more on the adventure filled #15 another day). Will it be a huge pain in the ass? YES! I admit to you here and now – I have been bribed.
Have I told you how much I miss my studio?
Cuckoo for Photographs
I haven’t done much in the clay studio this past week – but I have been engaged in other activities, some creative, others not so much.
Creative endeavors:
I’m taking a plants class this summer through the University of Colorado at Denver taught by an alumnus of the graduate landscape architecture program. While some might not think taking a class creative, this one is using both my right and left sides of the brain. In addition to the reading & lectures, I am able to fuel my amateur photography habit by visiting various green spaces including the Denver Botanic Gardens. Plants, plants and more plants – what’s not to love? I’m not saying I am any good at photography, but I do enjoy doing it so much so that I have decided to buy myself a new camera this year. I am going to upgrade my old Olympus C7070 Wide Zoom digital to a SLR – make and model to be determined. If you happen to own one over which you wax poetic, please share…. The class participants are also required to keep a visual/written journal which is a beneficial activity for me – I already keep this digital journal and going analog is a good exercise. There is a quality that pen to paper brings such as seeing the hand writing, cross outs and rendered drawings that is missing in the digital realm.
Iris & Grasses – from sketchbook – watercolor crayon, mylar, pen
A side benefit to this class is that the material, discussions and field trip will certainly inform my own humble landscape which I have yet to touch (other than a little weeding) since moving in last summer. I’m pretty sure my neighbors are more than a little skeptical when I tell them that I’m studying landscape architecture. ;D
Not so creative endeavors:
This past week, I have been whittling away at my pile-o-papers filed on the kitchen counter over the course of the past 10 months – a promise to my husband that the pile would be gone (or at least severely diminished) when he comes home today from his weeklong man adventure - Riding the Rockies. On Sunday, I finally filed my 1st Q taxes, albeit extremely late (good thing I didn’t have any sales), renewed my retail sales tax license, along with all the other necessary paperwork & fees to the City of Denver & State of Colorado in order to once again sell my work legally online and the occasional in person event. AND – my dogs are also “legal” again…unfortunately, I also missed some great art events happening around town thanks to my haphazard filing practices.
Feels good to feel like I am catching up to my life again.
Anybody Seen My Mojo?
Practice Bottle
Last week was “D-Day” for me, as in “get your damn a** into the Colorado Potters Guild’s studio day” and make use of your monthly dues already. Otherwise I should just write the treasurer a hefty annual check and consider it a charitable donation – though I don’t think the IRS will allow me to write that one off….
I don’t want to dwell, but humor me for just a tad…school really took a toll on my life over the last 10 months. I have high expectations of myself and when I decide to do something I give 200% effort and not just 100%. Here’s another confession – I’m really competitive and I was trying to keep up with my peers who are a good 10-20 years younger than me and who have few obligation outside of school. This attitude is not really a healthy way to approach some activities when doing so extracts more than it gives. My health suffered in a way that makes me feel run down with little energy to spare and I felt much like I imagine a hamster feels some days – just running full speed ahead on my little wheel that goes no where really fast – pass the NoDoz please.
Luckily, my family was really understanding and were very supportive of my education endeavors the past year. AND fortunately my husband and I didn’t really get into any major arguments last year – but this could be attributed to the fact that I was more like a roommate than a spouse. After all, I did provide him with ample ammunition to add to his argument arsenal that he didn’t use or hint at even once. He is so wise (sometimes) ;D Thank you! On the flip side, my daughter is morphing into a temperamental creature also referred to as a teenager and is now demanding more space (and doing so with mucho attitude I might add) while she figures out who she is. So our relationship is still very much intact despite my school obligations, only now I possess an uncanny ability to embarrass her without even trying. That’s fun!
But, back to clay & blogging…somewhere during the spring semester around 2/3 of the way through, I made the decision that I can’t take a full load of classes, be an active member of my family & find time for activities that I enjoy doing that round out my humble little life such as working with clay, exercising, gardening, hanging with friends, and recreational reading. I have to qualify the last activity because I’m doing plenty of reading in school – just not necessarily the fun kind.
Before you think that I’m going to announce that I’m dropping out of school, let me put that to rest right now. “Oh non, non cocodrie“ (said with my best Cajun accent – that bit is a phrase left over from a kid’s song that my daughter used to listen to that won’t leave my brain no matter what I do even on a Sunday morning not yet fully caffeinated ) - I’m just taking it at a slower pace by letting some of my ego go. So what if it takes me an extra year to finish, right? I’m already over 40 years old – that’s something that’s not going to change no matter what I do. Conversely, by not taking it a little easier, I lose out on many other opportunities, activities and interactions with people. Hopefully, my schedule adjustment will restore a little balance in my life and I can be a better partner to my husband & mother to my daughter, be a better friend, student, potter & blogger.
Speaking of blogging, I really missed my blog, reading your blogs and the interaction that joins clay people all over the world. When I received my annual hosting renewal notice in March, I almost didn’t fork over my credit card. But there was something troubling me in the back on my mind that convinced me to pony up the $$ to renew hosting and I’m glad that I did. It feels so right to jump back in and hopefully, I can reconnect with the clay community again – I’ve missed you!
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Have young children? Like Cajun music? Then Cajun for Kids: Papillon is for you. Music is guaranteed to entertain and lyrics will remain stuck in your brain for life.
Yes – I’m tweaking my blog template. I found Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha and love the options & layout. I just need to alter the colors ever so slightly.
