Catching My Breath!

(Picture 'borrowed' from Andrew Thornton's blog. Thanks Andrew! Katie Wall of Fusion Beads, yours truly, William Jones of Green Girl Studios, Greg Odgen of Green Girl Studios, and Lindsay Burke of Fusion Beads.)

After CHA and Tucson each year I get a little blue, perhaps a periwinkle or a chambray, not an indigo or sapphire. A blush of blue (if you will) descends on my little studio here in our little school house and I feel just a skootch out of sorts. It’s a combination of knowing that winter is far from over and I won’t be throwing my flip flops on again until Spring (that is unless we manage to finagle our trip to Jamaica this March), returning to the resolute acceptance of the isolation every studio artist feels and facing with resolve the neglected straw I have yet to spin.

Alternately I miss my family and our menagerie with an unrelenting intensity while I’m out of town. I hate being away from my lovely daughter. I hate it because I know that each moment with her is a gift and each moment that passes brings us closer to that inevitable day when she will pack up her things into boxes and move into her own home. Sigh. I miss my husband and his calm demeanor, the perfect yang to my yin. He keeps me grounded when I’m flying off in a million directions...as I am often wont to do. I miss our pecky chickens, our snuffly pigs and our snarky little terrier and I miss the comfort and security of being home. Home which isn’t so much a building as it is the place where I hang my hat and more importantly where I hang my heart.

I find Tucson absolutely enchanting. I quite love the giant cacti dotting the landscape and the sensuous curve of the mountains surrounding this sprawling and decidedly un-urban city. If I don’t make it to a tropical paradise to retire; I shall seriously consider the southwest. I quite like it there.

I had a lovely time at the Create Your Style event. A great class, a delightful book signing with my delightful co-authors Katie Hacker and Fernando DaSilva and a charming evening with the Green Girl Studios gang including my dapper and debonair stand-in date William Jones, the always fascinating and deliciously wicked Andrew Thornton and the enigmatic Greg Ogden along with the sizzling, saucy sirens of Fusion Beads. I only briefly managed to tear up the dance floor at the Swarovski party before the lights came up and we were sent off into the warm desert air. Most unfortunately I steered us away from what would have been a fun after party to a most disappointing foray to Tucson’s ubiquitous meat market dance club Pearl upon recommendation of my friends at Beadalon. It sounded like a good idea on paper. Talk about feeling ancient! I’m quite sure I was the oldest person in the entire club! Thankfully no one offered me a hot toddy or a scooter for the dance floor. We escaped mostly unscathed by the experience and managed to console ourselves with a very tasty early morning diner breakfast before I turned into a pumpkin and navigated my way back to the Hilton Garden Inn without further incident.

(Picture 'borrowed' from Andrew Thornton's Blog. Andrew Thornton and I enjoy an after hours diner moment!)

I wanted to take a moment to thank Bonnie and Dee Dee Ogilvie for a most relaxing, Super Girlie Good Power™ infused lunch on Friday after my class. Katie Hacker and Brenda of Venetian Bead Shop joined us for delicious gourmet food and inspiring conversation. The Ogilvies are some of the nicest folks in the industry. They radiate sunshine, surf and sand and one simply can’t help but feel happy in their presence. Huge thanks to Bonnie for the stash of laser cut wood beads and Brenda for the bag of GORGEOUS Venetian glass. I’m a lucky, lucky girl indeed.

I have miracles to make and magic to conjure and I’m afraid this blue period will have to cease sooner than later. I’m planning some blog giveaways and free projects for the new books this week so please stay tuned! Give me a moment to catch my breath before I dive back into the fray...

In totally unrelated news...a clip from my last show on QVC made The Dish on Style Network this weekend. Too funny! Also if you get the upcoming issue of The Crafts Report, my hubby and I are featured in an article about being a spouse to an artist. He was a very good sport about the whole thing. Thanks Drew! The insightful Sister Diane of CraftStylish interviewed me and a variety of other craft industry folks at CHA on the topic of the Indie Craft outreach at her podcast here. My mixed media wooden purse made April’s Crafts ‘n Things along with some pics of my studio storage. With all of that and two new books storming the shelves...why good grief, I’m everywhere! Which I suppose makes being settled back into the studio routine a little less blah. I may not be on an adventure, but my creativity is!

xoxo
Madge