Finish The Old To Make Way For The New & Michelle Ward's Crusade #23

Fall really does seem to be right around the corner now. It's raining today & it's cool. Rain is in the forecast for the week ahead. Is this temporary ? Or is it the long slippery slope towards 'eternal, seasonal gray'? Only time will tell ! There were only a few sturdy blossoms left on the rose bushes; those that struggled to reach 'bloom' are all the more fragrant for their trouble. I save those petals every year in a special basket that has gotten full over time, but, somehow, I seem to be able to keep adding to it. I am finding the urge to sleep more (is that really possible?!). The evenings are brisk enough that I have put the fingerless gloves to work as I knit or sew and I am noticing that the days really are a lot shorter. I am beginning to 'feel' the "H" word. Hibernation. There are moments when that seems desirable as well as moments when the thought of closed windows and doors is almost enough to make me want to run outside and scream! I think about getting my "happy light" out of it's summer time cover, knitting something larger, working on a large hand quilting project, anything that will keep me warmer. I'm feeling the ever more incessant urge to clear the art-full decks, clean my figurative plate, and sweep the proverbial drawing board clean. Fall & Winter are, for me, truly a time to savor moving forward - sometimes finding a new direction with my art.

Michelle Ward issued a timely 'crusade' this month though her Green Pepper Press Street Team, called, interestingly enough "Clean Your Plate". This theme coincided eerily with the thoughts that have been rumbling though my mind. My house is cluttered though I don't like it that way. I like order in my disorder. A place for everything even if I'm the only one that knows where that place is. I become easily thrown off kilter when I become overwhelmed with dead-lines, "have-to-do's", commitments, meetings, & obligations. I need time to day dream, to play, to lollygag; draw, spin, paint,sew,felt to my heart's desire without any of it at all having to be anywhere by a specific time. I need this sort of play time just as I need sleep, food, air, love,h ealth & friendship. I become very peckish when I do not get enough un-pressured time to create; just as I need more time alone than many people do. Some people make New Year's resolutions, mine tend to come at this point in the year when the days are shorter & there is more time to settle in. I want to explore some new things this winter. My requirement for "new things" is that I can utilize them to enhance my other passions of knitting, sewing, quilting or journaling. I want to try to spend some time learning calligraphy - or at least some calligraphic techniques. This can be used in my journals, of course, and in my quilts. I want to paint some more - which will also help journaling & quilting. I want to make enough small crows, felted bags, pen cases & knitting bags that I can begin to sell them on Etsy. The one commitment that I have not yet fulfilled is making a new crow to take in to a local gallery for consideration for their 'roster'. I told them that I would try to make it by the middle of this month - but obviously this has not yet happened, and is unlikely to happen until I return from my sojourn to Houston in October. Hopefully, there will still be interest in my Corvid family.

So my Fall & Winter plans are these (not necessarily in any particular order):

1. To sift, sort, prune & gather my supplies.
   
2. Spend some time getting to know my spinning wheel. Spin some of my fabulous 'new' fiber so that I can use it for felts & knits.
   
3. Clean off my desk to make way for some unfettered space to paint & play.
   
4. Try to tackle some of the mess in my sewing area so that I can, at least, know what tools I have available and where they are!
5. Rest, renew, & enjoy the journey, whatever the journey is. Make the process the most important thing - the end result will be just fine if I do that.
   
6. Stop spending quite so much time online. Just a little - well....maybe that won;t happen - but maybe it will!
   

How about you - what plans do you have for making this one of the most creative & enjoyable Fall & Winter seasons yet ? Let's shed some of our creative light onto the dark Winter days to come!

The Feeling Of Fall's Arrival & A Peek At Judy Perez' Color Theory Class

These are some of the last of my summer blooms. I was once an avid rose gardener but alas, our soil needs some serious improvement to make them happy and, worst of all, we don't get anywhere near the amount of sun they need in order to flourish. These few short blooms perfume the room in a way that nothing else can. The yellow roses in this little vase are called 'Sunsprite' - a floribunda rose with an intoxicating deeply rich scent. Oh! How I love this little rose. It just makes me smile. The other rose is called Joseph's Coat. It a climber with big glorious blooms that turn from brilliant oranges, reds & yellows as buds to softer versions of those colors when they open. Not much scent to these beauties, but they're teriffic. The air has the scent & the feel of Fall now - the nights are already crisp - in the mid 40's - and, although the days warm up well into the high 60's there is just a different smell to air. Fall is coming - the blooms are fading. Generally I long for these first crisp Fall days, but this year our summer was counted in days, rather than weeks or months - and by summer I mean sunny days with temperatures in the 70 or 80's. It's always possible that we will have a belated 'summer' this Fall as we often get a glorious Indian Summer to perk us up and ready our psyches for real Fall and the continuous rain it generally brings beginning in late Octoberor early November.
In more 'color full' news. These were the first two lessons from Judy Perez' Color Theory class. As I have mentioned before in a previous post the class officially began on September 1st but I got a little ahead - a good thing since I never know when an extra busy spurt will start leaving me scrambling for time to do class projects. Thanks Judy - I appreciate having the option of moving along at my own pace! I have never really taken any color theory classes although I have read many books about it on my own & have developed my own sense of color along with an accumulation of many books on the subject over the years! It's been interesting to actually make my own color swatches. Judy suggests making the swatches on another sheet of paper and then cutting & pasting them onto her grids. I did that for lesson one and found it tedious to cut and paste. I just painted inside the proverbial boxes for lesson two and I was a much happier camper - plus I think it looks neater this way. The book that Judy refers to for the calss is called "Exploring Color" by Nita Leland. I know I have mentioned this book in another post, but it really is work mentioning again! I love finding new books on using color that are just straightforward, well illustrated & great. This wonderful tome may be had for a song as a used buy on Amazon. Get yours and check out Judy's class while you're at it !