Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Now is the hour...


It is time to throw up the white flag and surrender.  Perhaps I shall rise again to fight the good fight another day but until then...

I am molting!

All that hard work that chicks do, well, they need a few days (?) of downtime to restore their production levels and their fluffy good looks!  In my case I suspect it will take more than a few days as the Rooster is heading into retirement and supervisor of the hen yard, that he is,  he has some major revisions in mind!  I think it was the thought of him sticking his beak in my coop that has triggered the molt!  lol


The truth is that I have fallen behind on most fronts.  My journal/planner has been reduced to penciled scribbles, notes and overflowing piles of ephemera.  Thank goodness these new phones keep records of texts for what happened and when.  ;^)  I do plan to catch up and pretty them up.  Just not sure when.

The one constant is art school 101.  The kids come home with us Sunday and we do school Monday morning.  I am just luving our new program!


It takes 3 hours total and we can expand any of the basic segments into THE project.  We start with a timeline and add all kinds of interesting things to show where we came from, how parts of history influence art and where we are now.  Heck, I'm learning lots as well.
Then a short reminder of basic elements and art principles.  The nature journal is their homeschooling daily journal and we do show and tell and just review sketching or how to draw a bird info.  Then, RECESS!  The artist of the month follows. Did you know Dr. Seuss was an arttist?    The Project depends on what we want to focus on for the day and which they can work on while I get some kind of literature reading in.

  I intend to keep this format in future years as we can go back over the time line and focus on different things and also build on what we have learnt.   I am really quite pumped and find this even more exciting than the grand kiddies.

 I had started an 'who am I?'  journal at the beginning of the year.  I think it was the start of trying to figure out my creative self and the journey has had some amazing revelatory twists and turns.  I fully intend to hit this one hard in the year 2018.  I have learnt so very much about myself.


I have had good intentions but realize that sewing just isn't going to happen.  Perhaps the hiatus was necessary as I am starting to really yearn for sewing time and even bought a piece of quilting fabric while I was away.  This winter will likely see only hand sewing and I did get an online class for free form embroidery that intrigues me.

Part of the learning was my fashion mission.  I kinda felt this was vain and frivolous but creativity expressed in clothing reveals to others who I really am.  I've been delighted to see how art principles  apply just as effectively in the fashion world and overlap in many areas.

 We have been delighted with our young contractor as we build our new home.  His expertise and suggestions have made this such a fun project.   He 'gets' my vision and the Rooster's budget!

 We have been stockpiling pavers and the grand kiddies have been a tremendous help passing them down off the truck.

 The property is quite pretty and unspoiled.  The kiddies found a young pine that we've marked and it will be a worthy journal subject as we chronicle our time here and theirs.  :)


 We were comfortable to leave things in good hands as we took a trip out to see DD#1. We all watched Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy!  ;-O   Hubby was all about having a meal ready for the working girl to come home to and I caught up on the art scene from her trip to Paris! She had an amazing dvd on the works in the Louvre.  We had left in the first snowstorm of the year and came back to full blown winter.  But also rested and refreshed for the move from the old farm to the new town.
 
 I have been being creative.  I can testify that creativity isn't just an art room or even an art class option.  Embracing my 67 year old body and all the 'old rules' for what one can and cannot wear has required some creative clothing choices as I decide what I want to look like.  There have been dozens of design decisions for the house.  I have a pile of landscape books by my chair as the Rooster wants the landscape budget perfected.  Come January 1st we will need to get creative as we pack up 40 some years of stuff and transition from the farm life to small town living.  It won't be hard because every time we drive away from the property our smiles get bigger and bigger as we anticipate this new adventure.

And that brings me to goodbye.  I have enjoyed my blog and chronicling my creative journey.  I have grown and changed is more ways than even I realize.  I am so looking forward to my Rooster's retirement and our new home, our new LIFE!  I think this is a good place to end.  I'm not sure that I want to nor even can leave blogland.  But I won't be the country chick messing about with crafts under the bemused eyes of my farmer.  We will be doing life differently but definitely creatively!

Thank you for reading and being a part of my story.  Perhaps I'll see you in a book with a different title.

Blessings from elle