Resolutions Revisited

As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

• I intended to be faithful and blog at least once a month, maybe more!
• I intended to be a whirlwind of creativity, madly clipping and doing collage, painting up a storm and sketching everything I saw.
• I intended to make time for more art...to find the slivers of the day and fill them with color.
• I intended... I intended... I intended.

And I guess I did some of it. Well, not the blogging part, which apparently I'm pretty miserable at!

I participated in a tag exchange. Mine is the fish.

I spent an art-filled, snowy weekend in Mineral Point, Wisconsin staying in a historic home with my sisters and Pam. Here's an example of the exquisite corpse books we all worked on.

I made a lot of postcards to mail off to people I've only met virtually through the IUOMA (International Union of Mail Artists).

I redecorated my bedroom, painting the walls with exactly the color of periwinkle I'd been longing for, and finally adding the vintage chandelier. Well, I didn't do the painting, Pam did between cooking meals for her blog!

I went to Taos for a luxurious week of art - making a sketchbook then doing my best to fill it with paintings and sketches. All thanks to one of my fav people, Jill K. Berry.

I've even sketched a bit as part of the Sketchbook Challenge. I haven't kept up with every monthly challenge, but there's still time, right?

I suppose I haven't been the slacker I sometimes imagine myself to be. And I have the good fortune to work in a creative job with creative people surrounding me. I did help to launch a new magazine these past months - I guess that counts especially since I get paid to do it!

And it's only April, right?

Part 1: What a difference a year makes

Has it really been a year? A year! A lot has happened in that year. Maybe that's why this blog has been languishing like an unfinished sewing project tucked in a closet.

My sister moved back to Wisconsin after living most of her life in Texas and then Arkansas. She raised a family, made friends, but always felt a bit like a fish out of water. It's good to have her 'home' and back in touch with her Yankee leanings.

My mom, Peggy died in October. I still miss her everyday.

The last conversation I had with her was to tell her I was going to Switzerland in November. She told me how she had always wanted to travel there because her grandfather was from Bern. She was really happy for me & Pam.

So part of her came with. I scattered some of her ashes off the Spreuerbrücke bridge in Lucerne and left a prayer card at the chapel inside. She would have loved Switzerland and I wish I had known she wanted to go there sooner. Much sooner.

The holidays rolled by, we welcomed a new year and winter descended upon Wisconsin. Sunshine beckoned...it was time to visit a place that always soothes my soul - the Sonoran desert. It's good for what ails you.

And work was busy - crazy busy - and every ounce of my creativity was directed there - instead of the now dusty art supplies languishing in my studio.


To be continued...