The VERY FIRST blog post…

The year started off a bit unusually for me.  I finally feel like I have a direction for my plate design.  This is a huge deal for me because I’ve been struggling for over a year with finding what I WANTED to say and HOW I wanted to say it.  Also I’m embracing and learning to work through my anxieties in the studio.  I’ve become very interested in mental health and how it affects artists, how they work through it and with it, how they still manage to make work that they are proud of.  Unfortunately, the weather has given some bouts of serious cold!  Some days I’ve been able to work in the studio so I’m making the molds that I’ll need for the upcoming year or two.  When I can’t work in the studio (a.k.a. the garage, which is insulated but not heated) then I’ve worked on drawing the designs that I might want on my plates.  I’m learning to let go of making every drawing ready for a plate, and it’s letting me experiment with subjects more so I’m okay with leaving them if it isn’t working out.

Since the birth of Sassy’s puppies a few weeks ago, that has all gone out the window!  Puppies are A LOT of work, made worse when one or more of them isn’t thriving.  My mom and I had to tube feed one of the pups round the clock and I took the night shift.  This left me feeling exhausted and defeated, not seeing an end to all the work or getting my life back on track but absolutely not wanting to give up on this one precious life. We named him Littles since his siblings outgrew him so quickly but he was gaining weight so we were hopeful.  He lived for 10 days.  We were both heartbroken to say goodbye so soon but we knew we had done everything we could.  He will be buried on the property once the ground thaws. 

Now that the puppies are out of danger, things have started to go back to normal.  Once the temperature rises a bit then I’ll be able to go out to the studio and finish the molds.  Until then I’ll continue working on my surface design images as well as tidying, organizing, and restocking supplies.