Woo Hoo!

I am very excited to announce that Blue Star Trading in Hico, Texas is including Taproot Studio artwork in their spring inventory!  I have been busy, busy getting their order together and some really fun projects are on their way to the store today.

There are more altered cigar boxes...

matchboxes...

lots of collage eggs...

and loads of stamped spoons in pots!

 The tiny seed packet at the base of the spoon was a last minute addition that I love.  It has me thinking of all kinds of projects using seed packets.  I'll let you know where that rabbit trail takes me.

Have a great weekend!

Always Somethin'

I just re-read yesterday's post and wowa...a bit serious, eh?  I am happy to report that this is a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and I am definitely not in a tunnel today!  The sun is streaming through the windows onto my incredibly messy work space.  No joke...the mess is substantial.

The funny thing is that just after writing about the need to balance creative pursuits and relationships, I was challenged in that very thing. (It's amazing how often that happens.)  Immediately after hitting the publish post button I received a call from my friend Jennifer, a gifted fiber artist who is very good at maintaining a healthy balance between work and play.  She wanted to stop by to share a little inspiration she'd found and what were the first words out of my mouth?  "Can we make it another time?  I'm in the middle of a big project."  Ha! 

Really?  Was I so busy that I couldn't take a five minutes to connect with a friend and be rejuvenated and inspired?  The tunnel was definitely trying to suck me in.  I ended up meeting Jen for lunch and our interaction - the laughter, the article she shared, the "connectedness" - did inspire me and give me renewed energy.  I am so grateful for friends who save me from my tendency to isolate myself.   

So this morning I'm going to work a bit to catch up.  I've got a big order due soon that has been a lot of fun to put together.  I'm working on some items for a spring display...stamped spoons, decoupage boxes, and something new...collage eggs.

These are paper mache, covered with pages from vintage books, painted and embellished with hopeful and inspiring words, quotes, and images.   I just love working on spring projects with messages of life and new beginnings.  I sent the first few out the other day and I'll be working on some more today.  I also have a pile of sterling spoons flattened and ready to stamp (thanks, Em, for your help) and a collection of painted pots fitted with styrofoam and ready to have reindeer moss applied.

All these happy projects are giving me spring fever!  Now I am off to the neighbor's house, hopefully to find a UPS package that should have been delivered here last night.  I ordered some new stamp sets...some pretty fonts to use on the spoons but they were delivered to someone else by mistake.  UPS can't help me find the package until Monday but I really need it today!  Well, okay...I really want it today.

And so it seems appropriate to leave you with the words of the great Roseanne Rosannadanna: 

It's always somethin :)

Tunnels

I love details. I sometimes love them a little too much.  I tend to lose perspective and allow projects to morph into tunnels...endless passageways into which I disappear.  

Finding balance has been my greatest struggle as an artist/mom.  Too many times I have rushed headlong into tunnels of creativity, leaving my family, indeed my life, at the entrance.  I like to put a nice label on it.  I like to think of my perfectionism and obsessiveness as passion and focus.  Really, though, the label should read "self-centeredness" as I pursue my own interests at the expense of those around me.

How easy it is to get so caught up in issues of self that we are oblivious to the needs of those around us.  We enter the tunnel, moving deeper and deeper into the dark, ever more removed from the world .  Some get so lost in the tunnel that they sacrifice everything else.

I am held in check by choices I made a long time ago.  I committed myself to loving and supporting a good man for the rest of my life.  I chose to raise children that need my energy and attention for a season.  These commitments sometimes feel like chains but really they are lifelines.  They pull me back to center and my freedom falls within their boundaries.

A Bit Wreckless and Very Grateful

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

                                                                                                                                         -Goethe

You know, this blogging thing is amazing, really.  With just a few keystrokes anyone can be a published author.  How extraordinary (and scary).  There are no editors to catch my grammatical errors and typos (although I do have a few grammatically gifted sisters who love me enough to notify me immediately when they see a mistake).  I usually don't bounce my ideas off anyone before I hit the "publish post" button.  It all seems a bit wreckless when you think about it. One click and whoosh...It's out there. 

On a deeper level, there's the issue of content.  When I express my true heart, or put my artwork up for everyone to see I'm taking a chance.  Maybe you won't understand what I am really trying to say.  Maybe you will compare me to endless numbers of artists who are more gifted and more skilled than I.  

Long ago in art school I felt like I put my heart in front of a firing squad each time my work went up for critique.  In that setting you pour your blood, sweat and tears into a project and then invite others to tell you not just the strengths, but the weaknesses they see.  As much as you want and need honest feedback, it can be hard to detach your sense of identity from the way your latest project is received.  Especially at first it feels a bit it like someone takes a peek into the bassinet and says, "Your baby has some good qualities, ma'am, but let me tell you how she could be improved!"  The creative life is not for the faint of heart, to be sure. 

But what choice do any of us have?  We are individuals created in the image of a gloriously creative God.  We were born to share the things that matter most to us.  Our human hearts long to be known and loved. 

So I want to thank those of you who encourage me in my creativity.  You cannot imagine how much it means to me that you read my clumsy words or see my humble efforts and have a kind word to say.  Thank you for being my safe place to grow and learn and try new things.