Too much?....or MUCH MUCH MORE

It's been a busy summer, or rather a really busy end of the summer.....

This Summer after hitting wall after wall in the Spring,

 I finally feel I broke through some barriers.

I found a studio...

I moved...

a long personal separation ordeal (OK, divorce) moved closer to being resolved ...

and am excited to say.....

I'm in the process of buying a little place for myself.
(in that order)

I have traveled this summer in all directions through New Mexico.....
through the far dry east plains to Portales and Clovis for the New Mexico Historic Society conference,
to Silver City in the southwest to experience the Clay Festival,
to Taos to enjoy Chamber Music

and last weekend to Denver in the north for a Healing Touch regional conference...

and right now, for the next 7 weeks I'm taking an on line course with
Claire Zamett and Katherine Woodward called 'Awakening your Feminine Power'....
an amazing course of revelation and evolutionary thought

In September I'll be headed to Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, 

for a retreat with Joanna Powell Colbert......
and meet up with my beautiful friend Michelle

where I'll stay a few days longer and soak up the moist salt air...

and then head to Georgia O'keeffe country in Abiquiu and Jemez Springs here in
The Land of Enchantment

then in October, days after I sign the final papers on my new place,

 I'll head to Sunrise Ranch, north of Denver 

to embark on the 4th Level instruction of  Healing Touch practice. 

I'll return from that to immerse myself into my new space....

and try to fit the proverbial '10 pounds of potatoes into the 5 pound sack' again......

and I expect I'll be cleaning and painting and planning to move the rest of my 'stuff' I've had in storage for two years back in Michigan,

(and renegotiate the 'stuff' in my studio)

And through all this planning and pushing and moving and traveling and learning and evolving......

I've also been taking a small metals class where I rent a bench......

and 

have made

these...

chains and baubles and such...

All of this, by the way, courtesy of saying "YES",

"I will do this, I will experience this, I am open to this idea"

and trusting I will be shown the way...

I asked Jean Houston a question when I was in the midst of a struggle to leave my safe little casita in
Mountainair to move to Albuquerque......

from being a country mouse to a city mouse...

you see, I was afraid of loosing my connection with nature...

and she said to me the words she often repeats in response...

"The Answer Is: BOTH/AND and MUCH MUCH MORE, it is not EITHER/OR"

So this summer I am living the BOTH/AND

and

MUCH MUCH MORE

On becoming conscious...my process...

So over the years I have had flowing interests in all things fiber.....

weaving, quilting, stitching, printing, dying, paper making and book binding......

which required an assortment of twine and thread and beads and paper, book board and fabric and needles, dyes and wax....and the tools for all these techniques

you know how that goes....

and as I made the paper and had the opportunity to travel to far off lands, I began to collect it too

(as we do...)

and then with the paper in hand I began to study printmaking.....and having let go of my loom, 

to fill that void

I acquired a large etching press.

And with that not only did I collect ink and plates and burnishing tools,

I also collected an assortment of tools and materials to frame my prints

mat board, frames, point driver, mat cutters

And as anyone who is into printmaking and has an interest in fibers and wax knows....

 the next lure

 is

encaustics.

and I collected all the stuff to work with that medium....

Burning in tools, more waxes, pigments, heating pans, cradled boards & brushes....

In addition to all that, over the years I've also collected sewing machines.

I'm counting......perhaps 6?

don't ask...

and tables and cutting mats and scissors and fabric,

pins and needles.....

and 

with all those supplies, I made sure in the last several years to take care of them.....

so I also collected beautiful rolling restaurant shelves and lots and lots of storage boxes.

Today I'm deeply entrenched in working with metal...

And I've collected a source of materials and tools for working that way too.

And then there are the Books

and Journals.....

and with trips and travels

oodles of ephemera for assemblage and inspiration

not forgetting aged, forgotten and not completed artworks

It is a 'soup to nuts' evolutionary creative practice for sure.

that took a lifetime to amass

And now as I sort my stuff......I realize I can't do this again.

Move with so much stuff that is.

Yesterday my friend Martin said...."well then, it's time to settle down".

And as I become conscious of my track record

not to mention my

astrological orientation

I thought it might be more likely that I

don't.

(settle down

that is)