While in Self-Isolation

I haven't talked about the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has affected not only my life, but the lives of others. I keep abreast of the latest scientific news, my husband (who works at an "essential" business) and I know what the risks are, and take precautions accordingly. And since both of us are in the "high risk" age group, we are cautious about talk of things opening up in our area. That being said, and with me being retired and pretty much an introvert, my lifestyle hasn't changed all that much. I try to concentrate on doing positive things, be it working in the garden, riding my horse, or raiding my stash of beads, jewelry findings, Goodwill T-shirts, stencils, art supplies, or writing. 

So between dragging a hose around to water the yard/garden, doing construction and painting of some Working Equitation obstacles for an upcoming WE clinic me and my partner are putting on June 6-7, and with outside temps rising into the 90s during the middle of the day, I have been retreating indoors and listening to Dr. Martin Shaw podcasts or his YouTube videos, and playing with jewelry making again. Last month I made a couple of necklaces at birthday gifts (see previous post), but  I wanted to do something a little more elaborate, again, using things I already had on hand. 

The first was this necklace, which I think has a very Renaissance flavor to it. I liked this necklace so much I intend to keep it, and that eventually when the artificial pearls start to lose their luster, I may remake it with real pearls. 

The one I just finished today is in a similar style, but made in a difference color scheme. The blue accent drops are from a vintage necklace picked up somewhere, that was broken, or missing pieces. I have had it for ages, so I don't really remember. 

They were not intended to be worn together, but they do make quite the statement when they are!

For both of these necklaces I made simple matching earrings. 

I had a lot of fun getting back into making jewelry, so I am looking forward making more pieces using only what I already have handy. 

Something else on my radar as a possible future project is a sweater coat made with some of my stash of Goodwill T-shirts. My inspiration for this comes from an amazing lady named Katwise, who makes stunning, one-of-a-kind sweaters and coats out of the sweaters she collects from all over the country. Most of her things, as much as I love them, are too flamboyant for me. However, I starting wondering if I could do something similar, a bit less flamboyant, more conservative in color, with the material I get from cutting up men's XXL T-shirts. This afternoon I made a quick sketch, thinking about a simple, simple knee-length coat, just to test and play around with to see if it would even work. For starters I found an old McCalls pattern I had (number 4243) that would give me a boxy bodice easily split up the middle, to which I could add sleeves and a pieced full skirt.  I also considered that if it worked, I could stencil and bead parts of it, to tart it up a bit. 

This is the rough sketch, with a few notes. Once the Working Equitation clinic is over and I can clear off my big worktable out in the garage (now covered with paints, and misc. building supplies) I can start playing with fabric again. With the summer temperatures rising into the high 80s and 90s, this will be a fun project to do when working outside is not really an option.

This is how an introvert stays sane in these chaotic times. Hope you  all stay safe and find your own ways to keep positive. 

Motivational Slump

I admit, for the last month and especially after Tuesday's election, I have been pretty depressed. For lack of a better term, my "muse" has gone into hiding. I don't blame her.

There were two projects started.

 Back in September/October it was the cropped jacket experiment, the inspiration for which I found on Pinterest. I got as far customizing and futzing with making the pattern, getting the material, and cutting out the outer layer, which will eventually be stenciled and beaded. Part of the delay with this was the stencil I had intended to use just didn't work, so I will have to drive into the next county, hit the Michael's over there, and try to find one that works. The other setback was the work table I use for cutting out cloth and stenciling got buried under...stuff. So I had to clear that off...again. It seems to attract "stuff" like honey attracts bees. Then the election became utterly terrifying, and my worst nightmares came horrifyingly true. I cried! I actually cried over the results of an election! Unfortunately, I am still depressed. I decided to give myself time to grieve before attempting anything creative. I am afraid it would color in a negative way whatever I tried to do.

The other project was a painting I started toward the middle of summer. I love the concept, and I am really happy with the drawing. I struggled with the painting, but felt things were moving along okay. Then some outside circumstances put things on hold for a few weeks, then the light fixture over my drafting table wouldn't work, then the weather got cold and rainy (I work in the garage), then the election added to the gloom. For me, it was a no-win situation. Now the garage corner where I paint is cold, and because we get no sun until late in the day, if at all, my corner, even though the light fixture is working again, is still on the dark side. That is something that needs to be addressed. Also, some kind of heater will help with the cold, but it has to be radiant heat, not something with a fan, or the paint will dry too fast.

This probably sounds like a litany of "woe is me" and to a certain extent, I guess that's true. But when your soul is in such despair, it's really hard to get motivated. I look at my poor painting, which is pleading with me to finish it, and I have good intensions, and then...just can't. Until I can reboot myself, I have brought it into the house so it doesn't get dusty. Since it is in the same room as the computer, it also forces me to look at it guiltily every day. Maybe the guilt will eventually overpower the depression, or something will happen to get me fired up again. Or maybe a week or so to do nothing but read, work my horses, and just breath will solve the problem. At this point, I just don't know.

This is the progress/progression on Embrace the Night so far. The last photo was taken in the house today, which is why the colors look darker, although parts of the painting were darkened before I left it. At this stage, I consider the painting about halfway finished.

Hopefully, this artistic funk I am in won't last. Maybe I can entice my muse out of hiding with a nice glass of wine, one of my favorite art books, and a lovely chat about inspiration?

Looking Forward To Winter

Most of my friends reading that title would ask if I was feverish or delusional. I usually rant and rave about how much I hate winter and the months of rain and cold. This year things are a bit different, and it surprises even me that I am actually looking forward to winter this year. And since we don't have a covered arena, and our place turns to mud after the first rains, I don't have to feel too guilty about not getting outside and working...either in the yard or with our horses.

It's mainly due to the fact that this summer has been a busy one of horse events, or trailering the horses to the Rogue Mounted Archers site for practices. Then things really ramped up when the RMA decided to host an international competition Sept 9-14. As members of the group, we were driving back and forth (it's about an hour and fifteen minutes one way) to help get the property ready for this first time event. Also, things got even more antsy, for me, as I ended up deciding to compete. Since I had waffled back and forth over that decision — yes I will, no I won't, yes I will, no never mind — then had several friends tell me to just go for it, so I did...or will. Which put me in a tissy, because I had let things slide, thinking I was out of the competition and the pressure was off. Now it's back on.

Then, just two weeks after this BIG competition, Robert and I are involved in putting on the equestrian part of an SCA event Oct 3-5. We had hoped to kinda bail out of setting things up for this, but it turned out that we still needed to be involved, which just added to the stress level we were already under.

You can see why I am looking forward to winter. After that last event, I want to be a slug for a few weeks, then start some art/sewing projects that I just haven't had time for, as my limited brain power has been focused elsewhere.

Here are a few of the things I want to play around with...some new, some old friends.

Gelli printing. I had never heard of this form of mono-printing, but stumbled on an example on Pinterest. I then did a search of gelli printing on Pinterest and got tons of photos and how-tos showing what it was all about. It looks like fun, seems to be pretty easy, and you can do it on fabric as well as paper, just use fabric paint instead.

Using resin in jewelry making. This is another thing I have been wanting to play around with for quite a while. With the new kits available it seems an easy process and I have seen some really wonderful things done with resin.

More beading on fabric. I got really hooked on beading ever since I started doing the boleros. I want to try using stencils for beading designs, and incorporating paint, stitching and beading all together on pieces of clothing I pick up at the Goodwill. There are just so many wonderful beading ideas out there, and I get all excited. But I don't want to start anything until after all these events are over, so I can really hunker down and get busy.

Back to drawing and painting. I started drawing and using colored pencils a while back, but due to all the time spent trying to get ready for these upcoming events, I put it on the back-burner...again. I did buy a new and better sketchbook with paper than can stand up to wet media, so I am ready to go when everything else calms down.  I can also use this sketchbook as an art journal, which will be fun.

Here is a list of some other crazy things I would like to play around with during The Dark Days: Bleach pens, dying fabric, embroidery, making beaded bugs (I bought a little book on how to make them), and printing photos/artwork on cloth so I can use my own in designs on fabric.

Now you can see why I am looking forward to those long, cold, rainy months. I have a lot to do, and I can't wait to start playing.

Christmas

To say I was not in the Christmas spirit this year is a mild understatement. That probably had a lot to do with the fact that I had been cabin bound for over two weeks due to the glacier of ice on the dirt road leading out of our place. My husband took the only ride that would get off the property, so I was stuck. No outings, no shopping, nadda. When it came time to put up the decorations, I was bitching and whinging about how pointless it all was, and why was I even bothering. At one point I even ended up sitting on the couch in tears, with Robert giving me that, "Hmmm, must be a hormonal moment" look.

But I battled on, put up some decorations, and hoped that the ice would clear up in time for the champagne brunch planned for Christmas day. Last year it got postponed until New Years because we still had five inches of snow on the ground, and the small cars my family drives would not make it up and over the little hill to get to our driveway. I was afraid this year was going to end up being a repeat, this time due to ice. It also occurred to me that, since the weather in December is usually dicey, and our road even dicier, maybe it would be a better idea if we did Christmas in July instead. I could pull out the holiday dishes and we could serve BBQ chicken instead of baked ham.

Mother Nature decided to give us a break, the temps rose to a balmy 45 (I was tempted to break out my shorts!), and the ice finally melted. The brunch was still a "go." And it turned out to be a lovely family get-together. Everyone contributed to the meal, we drank mimosas, and after the food, we all sat in front of the television and watched Holiday Inn with Fred Astair and Bing Crosby. This was a real breakthrough, since my family tend to be hit-and-run eaters. Show up for dinner, eat, and bail out before even the sauce on the empty plates has congealed. For them to hang around for almost three hours talking, and then watching (and some sleeping through) a movie was a real feather in my holiday cap.

Here is a photo of the table, before everyone sat down to eat. It's a bit cramped, since my table was originally designed to seat only six. With a little scooching, I can sit eight, but there were nine of us, so I ended up sitting on the end, with a table leg between my knees. Now that the holiday feasting is over, my dining room will revert back to a sewing room.

In the back corner is Inara, wearing my Spanish surcoat, made 30+ years ago. I have pulled it out of retirement and am making an under-dress to wear with it. I used to wear a shirt and long skirt with it, but the shirt fell apart, and the skirt is too tight (and is black with miles of gathers, sewn with black thread, and the thought of ripping all that out and trying to resew it gave me a headache), so I am making a lovely, off-white linen under-dress, which is what the garment would originally have been worn with anyway. That whole project is for an SCA Hogmanay feast (traditional Scottish New Year celebration) coming up January 4th.

As for the coming new year, I suspect it will be pretty much a repeat of 2013 = riding and mounted archery, sewing, beading, drawing, jewelry making, and going to various SCA and horse events. Maybe adding in some experiments with new art techniques or supplies. I have more costumes ideas in the works as well (too much time spent on Pinterest looking at costume eye-candy is to blame), to replace or supplement the old costumes we are still wearing, some of them looking pretty shabby.

So Happy New Year to those who stop by, and wishing you all the best in the coming months.