Dear Diary: My Life. This Week...

What a week. After spending Monday and Tuesday posting new "goodies in Etsy, I have turned "inward"– exploring new work involving Mom, and how her early death affected me. I'm thinking about this because I was recently asked to submit to a new publication that is "in the works". It involves answering some tough questions about my experiences as an "artist", and a request for some art that is inward-looking, personal. I have been skirting the issue for years, knowing full well that some day I would have to embrace Her, fully, in my art. I have felt her in the studio with me, as I peruse old photos of her. All I have left of her "life" are her old cookbook (her notations are in the margins, along with unknown bits of dried food), one of her art history books (complete with her handwritten lecture notes) and her photos from the 1950's, right before I was born. As I work on this particular piece, I seem to be having some heartfelt, silent conversations with her...feels good. Love you mom.

Pictured: work in progress.

Art in the works, great uses for old books...

I have been working on these two pieces (off and on) for the last two years. The top one is based on some photos I took of a maker of "barro negro" (black pottery) near Oaxaca, Mexico. Her name is Sofia, and at age 92, I do believe she is still at it! The center image is of a piece I am doing based on Venus fertility images. These unfinshed pieces haunt me. Just when they start to "progress", they come to a screeching HALT! I think I am just too concerned about the outcome. I should know better by now, NEVER be concerned about the outcome...art is all about the journey.

I just LOVE my collection of old and soon-to-be-discarded books. I have found another great use for them (other than altering them for journals and using parts of them in my assemblage pieces)–I use them to weigh down artwork I am gluing to backing boards, as I prepare them for framing. The wide array of uses for old books never ceases to amaze me...