FINITO!!!

Popping in for a moment to say I have the green stole DONE, and I think all my pressure gauges are back into the normal range.....whatever that might be for me. LOL!
Probably somewhere between the high end of a pressure canner and the boilers that run steam plants.
I noticed my little Studio Assistant had posted for me in my absence and how sweet of the bird! In fact, I may put her to work on blog posting and let me have a break for a month, or until Blogger is behaving again. (oh yeah, that's like, ummmm, NEVER!)
I have, since Sunday, been fighting a migraine that has left me away from the computer for the most part, the blog has been ignored and per normal, I am running behind. I remember I had a teacher once who said, "You can't make up lost time, so quit trying".
There is great wisdom in the statement.
It has been an odd week thru the migraine haze; work still happened, I got to reconnect with one of my previous ministers and had a delightful time, was able to get a little research done but definitely not enough REST.
So over the weekend I will be doing some photos of the stole in ALL IT'S GLORY (and I am not being smug as it is glorious....) and HOPEFULLY have a good post on it by Monday.
Even with everything going berserk this week, it has been overall good with a lot of thinking, rethinking and doing. Odd how life throws you a curve ball now and then just to get you out of your comfort zone. Mine, of course, being where there is coffee and sweet rolls....*sigh*......
I also discovered I am getting very close to my 700th post. 
Good Lord. Am I wordy or WHAT???? Rhetorical question~~no need to comment on that part.
I'll have to look around the studio and see if there can't be a little something for a *700th Give-Away*. With the dearth of posting I've been doing, it could be next month.
In the meantime, I thank all of you that have written and I try and reply to all who have e-mail addy's attached to their comments when I don't get to the blog. You all keep me going, and semi-sane.
I don't want to be all the way there; I cannot imagine total sanity as any fun what so ever.
Till I have photos of my latest creation, I bid you....


Pax....

Back To The Grind

Yes, I have a rather sick sense of humor, but with the amount of work I have ahead of me, I pretty much feel like I am going to be sending myself through those blades for a couple of weeks.
Thus, Anne's blogging is going to suffer. Hey, work before blithering, right? ;-)
Let's see......the studio is in shambles but progress is being made on the commission. It is not as fast as I would like, but what is done makes me HAPPY. That is priceless. So I will continue at whatever pace produces good work.
Sweet Pea has taken over the studio and knows that "S.P. is the bird that rules the roost"! It has been delightful to watch this little miracle adapt and become comfortable in new surroundings and be very happy! And love Jazz and sing along......I have good birds.
Between work, teaching and studies, I barely see Gary so my time is oddly arranged and I am trying to adjust to this schedule. It is a matter of chunks of time here and there, which is not how I normally work but it is what is afforded me at the moment.
Forgive me if I am absent on blogs---there is just a lot to DO and I need to buckle down and deal with all of it.
Oh.
Due to many people asking me to save Milo's exploits, I took the leap into the new Blogger templates (which I might add, I despise) and gave him his own blog. There are no comment options--it is strictly all the exploits he had here on my blog, preserved over there, in order. Just hit older posts to go to the next page. And he was so friendly,  if you would like to add yourself to Milo's Friends (a.k.a. followers) I am sure it would make him happy.  Just click below:

Milo!!!

As for me, I am off to the tables and pattern making, painting fabric, and all the other things involved with the current project. Sometimes it is like juggling cats.
No, it is constantly like juggling cats! LOL!!!
Until I have some brain dribble worth posting, I remain in the studio, slaving away, pushing myself into that meat grinder!

Pax....

Tuesday Tantrums

Well, Blogger started out my morning in it's usual fashion; not letting me publish comments. You know, if I could beat my computer senseless at this point, I think I would! I refuse to drop comment moderation, because the Asian pervy-creeps are still trying to sneak in the blog (like they think I don't SEE their stuff?) and I hate the extra effort of getting the comments off.
Yesterday I boiled my brains mowing as it was the *coolest* day forecast this week, except for tomorrow when we are to have thunderstorms......I am beginning to think my poor brain is about the size of a walnut and just rolling about in my cranium!
Some of the work I have been doing for the church hanging is going good, but even with ceiling fans, dehumidifier running and A/C---the paint is taking three time as long to dry. It is frustrating to say the least. I will have to post some of the photos of the weird stuff I am painting, hopefully to use in the creek bed that runs thru the piece!
Other assorted tidbits.....on my list are the following:

• grocery shopping
• buy supplies to change the oil, filters and spark plug in the J.D.
• chipmunk trap (look out chipmunk heaven......)
• printer ink
• laundry
• oh yeah, studio time

And why was that LAST????
That pretty well sums up my day/week or however long this takes, and I move so slow in the heat.......isn't it CLOSE to Fall yet?
Geez, I forgot to add camera batteries to that list, as I have blown through another set. Yes, I have beatiful photos to post, a lovely story about a surprise from Ces and other  *quality* posts....but I want to be able to publish the comments! ACK!!!!
Okay, enough of a rant...off to Anne-Land to get busy on, well, SOMETHING.
Have a good one y'all.......stay cool! ;-D

Pax...

"Cap'n! We Got No Power!!!" --or-- A Lost Day In The Dark........

Okay, it's a bad, cliche, Star Trek pun, but it aptly described most of my day yesterday. I had just zipped off an e-mail, had a few more that needed attention and WHAMMO! No electricity.....at least, not in the studio. I was frantically pulling circuit breakers and trying to figure out what the *H* was going on and called my electrician. Tom is a SAINT.....I'm freaking, sure the house is going to burn down and he calmly says "I'll be there is less than an hour...."

In the meantime......the remaining power goes out and I decide NOW is the time to call the local Electrical Co-Op and sure enough, they had issues. (and so did I because that meant, no pump, no shower, no toilet-flushing and two parakeets that were FURIOUS their radio had gone off.....yeah, don't mess with Da Boyz music!)

So now I get to call Tom back and tell him it is an REMC issue and he can charge me for bothering him if he wants...he just laughs. I told you, he is a SAINT!

Moving on, the birds became an issue, so in desperation to amuse them, I first tried DH's acoustic guitar (kept mashing my boob plus I cannot play guitar), then my bass (which I can play, but it is electric, so really, there was not much sound), and finally, a concertina which I CANNOT play, but it was fun noise so the birds were happy. I guess we were all Pirates for a while......

And speaking of Pirates, then DH calls and I got to take the property taxes into town and drain the booty bag to stay on the land another year!

Does this give you an idea of where my studio time went????

Thus, I am loading some cool pics from the Zumi for you to enjoy---and believe me, it is waaaaay better than me trying to play the concertina! HA!

I love what it does with photos that would otherwise be nothing.......

A kind of quirky take on the huge wisteria.....did not get the purple color

but love the halo effect!

A scarred trunk of a white pine that had considerable rosin showing...

My lilac...electrified! Make sure to click these to enlarge!

Otherwise you miss some of the great graininess and

odd colors!

Another of the Tulip Poplar....my gosh....it looks like magic...

....And a bee's eye view, looking up through the wisteria branches....

Just amazing, that little tiny plastic camera.

And now I am off to try and get a little caught up from yesterday's reverting to the dark ages. Or I am just *off*......take your pick!

And also, before I forget---which happens a lot around here, unfortunately---warm WELCOMES to new followers! I think one more and I will have hit 90! (who'd have thunk it....???)

I wish for all of you to have a glorious, bright, Zumi-surprise-full day!!!

Pax.

A Quick Check In......

I dare not say things are totally *fixed* in ISP land, but they are working better. I have missed blogposts of my friends, and caught up on a very few by scanning titles this a.m.
Miss a day and you miss the world; several brought great grief to me, some joy.
Much happens when you are away.
I will try and be back to regular posting by Monday; I am desperately working on the banners and attempting to survive therapy, and I am sure they are torturing me for the joy of it.
Yes.
I am quite sure.
I ended up spending most of the day in bed yesterday after my trip to *the chamber* but the muscles are better and I am stonger for it all.
As to lack of comments, please forgive me---I just am in a time crunch that I am trying my best to resolve as quickly as possible! I have even unplugged the phone so as not to be disturbed while working or getting the rest necessary to function.
Miss y'all much......will try and work up some humor on the next post......my funny bone must be in therapy too!  ;-)
Love to all y'all and a hug to those of you who are going through great trials of the heart right now. ♥♥♥

Pax.

Not Enough Time......

......I feel like a hamster in a wheel......too much to do and not nearly enough time. In fact, sad as it is, I may have to take a couple of days OFF BLOG (aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!) to catch up.
I got a new printer successfully installed, got some steam straightening of bargello work done so it can be cut and sewn, got the desk somewhat clean, but still a load of papers everywhere, have not touched my art and know there is no time today or tomorrow.
It is one of those pouty, grim, foot-stomping moments of life where you have to assess the necessary and ignore what your really want to be doing. Not that I don't want to be sewing; I just don't want to be cleaning, cooking and fighting the never ending laundry battle. And I can't put those off any longer. I am now *well* enough to resume a few of the duties and have a regular sleep pattern back so I can't paint in the middle of the night (I miss that one) and also am so far behind on visiting blogs that I am ashamed of myself....AND.....more new WELCOMES here.....  :-)
YIKES!!!! This is going into a spiral and I need to catch my breath before I hyperventilate as I type!
I did however get another piece in the "Java Love" section of my Zazzle store....STICKERS!!! Inexpensive way to satisfy the urge for, well, bright fun stuff! Click HERE if you feel the need to warm the plastic...LOL!!! (and the cockles of my heart!)

So, my friends, the blog mistress may be away a bit. (most of you who have read for long know I never am able to keep this promise....) Unless something extremely exciting happens that I absolutely MUST blither about.
The brain-dregs you've been getting are not fair. You deserve better.
Now I am off, to my appointed tasks, and I wish all of you fun, happiness, good art vibes and above all else...

Pax.

Things Seem To Be Working Better.....

(I just like the pics.....nothing to do with the post!)

.......and I am hoping by Monday I will be back up and blogging for real. A tremendous amount of work done here yesterday that gives me hope I might catch up. Not get ahead, but caught up is good! Today is a rest day, or play in the wet studio day.

Health-wise I am pretty much back on my feet, DH is still somewhat under the weather but we have survived the flu-bug-from-Hades. May it return there promptly.......and stay.

So bear with me dear readers! I'll have some interesting things when I start posting again!

And as an aside---I have had a couple of the readers that used info from the tutorial on collage backgrounds to do their own thing, and they have sent me photos. I will be anxious to post those, plus what I have been thinking about for finishing my own.

Now off for a day of rest, other than getting dinner lined up and getting *naturally blond* again...... ;-)

Couch and sock knitting (fern pattern, toe up), here I come!

Pax.

No Blog For YOU!

Okay, it's a bad pun on the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, but here's the thing; the computer is working only half, I spent ALL yesterday troubleshooting and trying to delete junk programs, I am way behind due to life and have not been able to get anything creative done.
I am taking a break until I can get this blasted heathen machine back working right.
I really, REALLY hate computers and the problems they cause.
I hate sending them in for repair and finding an assortment of programs I did not ask for when they come home.
I wish I had saved my money and bought a Sony Vaio like DH's, because that is the fastest, most trouble free machine I have ever seen.
But I didn't. And don't have the money for one now. If I did, this one would be sold. Love my new flat screen, dislike grossly the CPU. It doesn't even play CD's like my old one......was sort of lead to believe it did.
At any rate, until I can get somethings caught up, done, fixed, well and be a bit more human.......
I'm outta here.

Be back before the leaves fall........

Pax.

Day Two of Art Redux

After being unable to have time to get to the comments as they came in yesterday, I thought it would be worth it to answer/comment on thoughts and ideas in todays posts. Above is another of my unfinished masterpieces (channeling the Grinch here...."HA!" ....have to get the nasal inflection right!) that I do really LIKE but don't think I will want to finish the way I did the others in the series and no, I have no photos of those. They were done in an extremely rushed time and I was doing good to get the paint out of the brushes.
But I digress.......a lot......

So I think from the comments that we established the fact that we all have these items, and can't dump them. Now, I believe it was Jean that was asking about the canvas panel---yes, these are the flat, cheap panels. They take a lot of abuse, are relatively inexpensive and can be mounted to other heavier panels, objects, etc. for permanence. I order by the box from Dick Blick and get a humdinger price. I don't know about the quality of other companies; Blick's are good so I continue to use them. (read that.....I have a LOT) Jean also mentioned about a face being worked into the piece in yesterday's post and that is odd because that was the first thing I thought of when I was taking it to the worktable. So that's a possibility!
Linda suggested that everyone send me a *little something* to use or be inspired by, and I won't say no to something in the mail!!! That's a possibility. I'm such an unscrupulous mooch...... ;-)
Pam suggested we all go to our poor little misfit art drawer, take something out and either:
A. Make it worse---or---
B. Make it better!
She also intimated she has a lot to choose from.....I doubt that!
Audrey said she was considering digging out some old painting and seeing what she could do with it! You go girl!!!!!
Val has seen my studio so she knows how much stuff lays unfinished and we both commisserate about it. Yes, she has the little lost artworks too!
So I am hoping tomorrow to really get down to business on the piece, or spend a lot of time going through my computer files of images, looking for things that might bring new life into the work. And I am pretty sure rubber stamps and paperclay will be involved. By the way, the paperclay website has other types than what I use, and I might just have to---at some time in the near future---order one or two of the other varieties to see how they handle with the stamps.
Well, we've bared our sins and souls here, so you know the daily mantra:
Let's go make art!
That stays out in the open.....on display..... ;-)

Pax.

One more day.....(but check the bottom of the post!)

......of mediocrity and then I will be posting normally again.

Out on the road again this morning, with no idea when I will be back. A ton of trying to catch up on all while trying to keep up. The studio is so torn up at the moment I don't have a space to set a cup of coffee so that is the major offensive when I get a second breath!

I desperately need the sewing area cleaned off and so need a few more items to get junk out of the way, and then there's just the OTHER junk that needs to GO!

I think I'll run away to a tropical island, or New Orleans, or someplace where I can have a single, whole day to relax. A stay in a sanitarium is beginning to look really, really good!

In the meantime, I want Leslie to know her artwork is DONE, I am looking for boxes to ship pieces to her, and Tristan and Jean! Hopefully by the end of the week, my mailing committments will be completed!

And to the rest of you, I bid you a good day of studio work and lots and lots of hopping ideas! Speaking of which; you need to visit Gypsylulu Delights and sign up for a delightful blog give away! Yes, photo below! Click it to go to the post.

And to all of you.......

Pax.

This should be my motto.....

Needless to say I snagged this from somewhere; it was in a link from a friend so I have no idea who the credit goes to......but it is an excellent statement of life here at the moment.
I am supposed to get the computer back this morning, however, I have to get cleaned up to go to the Dr. this afternoon, and that is NOT a short process. So how I'm going to manage all this, I don't know. I should have told them I would call when I got back in and life would have been much easier.
No. Oh no. That's too easy. Make it hard on yourself Anne....drink more coffee and really do more stupid things.......FAST.
Last evening DH taught so I took advantage of the time (besides playing on Facebook) to start purging some of the old junk in my studio. I had probably ONE DOZEN bottles of dried up glue. They went. Other thing I don't know what they were or where they came from----OUT. In fact, I emptied one full set of drawers, six or eight, and also the *junque* on top of the drawers. I kept asking myself how artists can be such pack rats and produce anything. Or find anything.
I have put this off for a long time, but the purchase of two new sets of slim drawers for the wet studio forced me to come to terms with a bunch of crappola that had been ignored far too long. If I move THIS over HERE, then I can put THAT over THERE. And geez, that gets old.
I have a feeling you all know the routine far too well........sigh......
The only perk out of all this is there will be several empty sets of nice drawers I can give away when it is all done, which is sort of a motivation for me to keep plugging along. And the second part is usually when I am doing this, the next thing that happens is ART. It is this bizarre ritual of purging (though you could not tell it) then creating. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Now off to transform into the Sex Goddess (SNARF!!!!!!!)......or at least a clean and coiffed version of me.
Drink more coffee Anne; you'll believe anything!
Have a great day folks and I hope your drawers aren't filled with dried up glue.

Hmmmmmmmm........that sounded a bit odd........

Okay you know what I mean! May your studios be filled with plenty and may your creativity be abundant! Is that better????
Pax.

And I'm Off........

Okay, a little self-deprecating humor! But for those of you who know me in person, then this is really funny and right on target! And yes, I am off to the Doc today, so trying to get too many things done all at once--as usual. (actually, the heels would be much higher in real life!)

As to yesterday, I was somewhat good. I did rest, but I also went to the wet studio and got a background going, which helped me zone out more than sleep and medication. And I spent some time on the computer, cleaning things up, debugging, etc---you know, all that stuff you have to do to keep the computer working at least most of the time without major meltdown.

Got into my Gimp program and tinkered with a photo I think I am going to use on the canvas I am toning. Now I have to send it back to ACDSee to finish what I want to do, or maybe Corel Photo House......have to check and see which has what I want. God forbid I learn to use Photo-Shop......it's on the computer upstairs. I don't have the time or desire; my attention span is NOT that long......

Decided yesterday what I was wearing today as that is always a major factor in me leaving the house and of course have to do the hair and make-up; it's that blasted Southern Thing! If you aren't of *the blood* then the whole statement makes no sense and if you ARE, then there is no reason to explain! And yes, you break out the *good girdle* for these trips.

Hopefully I will get good results and some information I really need, so please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. This old gal has got to keep on ticking, if only to entertain you and annoy some others on my list! ;-) SNARF!!!

Til later, I wish for you a most productive day!

Pax.

Catching up

(Copyright Anne Huskey-Lockard, 2009, all rights reserved)

On just about everything today. The house, the laundry, the piles of *stuff* that have collected mysteriously everywhere. I'm sure there must be some evil Pixie that comes in every night and distributes these little non-treasures that I then have to contend with.

I have been quite lax on anything that has not been health related or art related and it has caught up. I'm at the "Oh cr*p" stage, wishing it would all go away, along with the rain and the gloom and the soreness and limping.

I want to run away and walk through the woods, take photos of flowers, mushroom hunt, breathe in the smell of the earth coming back awake from a too-long winter's sleep. I want to take my camera and wander through town, finding the remnants of old buildings that speak to me and need recording before time and age take them. I want to sit quietly at the Cafe and have a latte and just zone out.

Instead, I get to listen to the roar of the sweeper, smell floor cleaner and try and figure which pile of laundry requires attention first. These are not the priorities of life I excel at. I'd rather be trying out the new rubber stamps I bought, or mounting some u.m.s I've had FOR EVER, or looking though some books for some verbal inspiration for a piece taking shape in my minds eye. (in Latin, no less!)

Surprisingly, when I get out the John Deere and do the acre, that is good creative time. I just listen to the hum (or rattle, depending if I have had it tuned up) and soon I am off elsewhere in Artland, thinking or rehashing an idea. It's odd, but it works.

Alas, when you're pretty sure you could grow potatoes in the corners of your rooms due to build up of dust, art gets set on the back burner. You know, where things simmer. And maybe that's okay. Those five fresh canvasses in the wet studio need thought before diving in.

Simmering is good.

I need to remember that.........

Now go simmer your creative brew; let me know what you've come up with!