Sunday, Oct. 4: So I don’t really have a topic to post about today. Right now I’m outside taking a break from working in my studio. I’m just sitting outside, making nature observations while enjoying the sights and sounds down by the gate where my studio sits.
What did I do all week??
I’ve been really busy all week and I didn’t get a chance to write notes about what’s keeping me busy. And I can’t even tell you what all I’ve done now.
That’s the way it goes if I don’t write it down.
I have a really bad memory when I try to think about what I’ve done in the past week. But right now I’m sitting outside the studio taking a little break. I was hanging up some artwork and getting it organized.
first Open Studio date set
The first Open Studio day will be November 1. While it isn’t finished inside yet, I’m going to start using it like it is. Tomorrow morning will be my first day to use it as a studio and I’m very excited.
There’s still a lot of finishing work to do (walls, ceiling, floors…) but I’m ready to start using it anyway. I’ll work on the rest as I can.
I have no cell phone signal here. That is one of the things I like about where we live. There’s no cell signal. The only time my phone is connected online or to receive phone calls or make calls is when I’m at the house on Wi-Fi.
Here’s a little bit about what I see and how I’m experiencing nature here right now.
Nature Observations… and things I need to do
To my left there’s a connex full of things that I’m sorting through and trying to throw out things I don’t need and repackage things that I do want to keep.
It’s all arts and crafts and and things that I use for going to art shows and my booth and all those kind of supplies. Some of it is not useful to me any longer and maybe the recycle center will take it. Some of it is just junk that needs to be thrown away.
Flowers
Right here on the outside at the back corner of it there’s an echinacea plant that I put there years and years ago and kind of forgot about. It’s grown and divided and I need to separate it and start some new ones.
It’s got an old seed head on it with withered still pinkish petals kind of stuck to it all around. We’ve had a lot of rain so it’s wet still. Next to that is some fleabane daisy.
They’re pretty little white flowers with yellow centers, about three feet tall. All the flowers are at the top of it.
Need to do list is not getting done
The grass needs to be mowed and I see other things I need to do which I mentally make plans to do. I’ve made this observation before, but haven’t gotten around to acting on doing any of it yet.
I’ve got a potting bench table across the creek there in the ginseng nursery. It is probably 20 years old and now falling apart. It still has things on top of it that are on the end that is less degraded and warped. They have not fallen off of the table somehow miraculously.
I need to get that cleaned up.
I’ve got some ginseng seedlings to dig and ship bare root.
Back to nature observations
The wind is rustling through the dried leaves on the sycamore trees and the gum trees right here by the creek.
It’s cool today. It’s probably about 70 degrees right now, partly cloudy.
Thimbleweed
I also see a thimbleweed. It’s an interesting plant. I really like that when it comes back every year in that spot in front of a large-ish rock. It’s way too heavy of a rock to move, but not a boulder.
And right now it is finished with the flowers and now it has the cone thimbles on top. It’s also called wind anemone because it flows and sways in the wind.
It’s a single stem that branches into four branches about midway up and the whole thing sways even in gentle breezes like those passing by today.
Asters
There’s also some purple asters.
And a little bit of woodland goldenrod blooming.
The spice bushes have all but dropped their berries. There’s a couple of red ones still attached.
And the leaves – there’s lots of leaves on the ground now. There’s an oak tree just a little farther down the driveway that makes really large acorns with caps that make excellent little hats for my Forest Folk when I make them.
Reviving the Forest Folk
Forest folk are little creatures. Some of them look similar to people with heads and arms and legs. I used to make little dioramas where they had a room they were engaging in whatever activity.
Some of them sat on a chair with a little book that I made for them to read. I used things like milkweed thistle for hair on a few of them. It made them look like little old people and I thought they were adorable.
Fantasy Creatures
Some of them didn’t look humanoid. They looked like creatures. I can’t even begin to describe what those were. One kind of looked like an insect.
I’m going to start making those again once I get my studio finished. I miss having them. I miss selling them and I miss making them.
They were made from botanicals, things that I find on the ground. Of the forest. The glue was the one non-botanical part to it.
What else?
There’s really not much going on. I’m taking it easy today.
Hanging artwork.
Sorting through my boxes.
I bring them in out of the conex one by one… which so far has only been one. LOL.
I take forever to get things done.
Rambling
I’m a rambler, I’m a wanderer, and I wander through my task list in about the same way that I wander down the driveway taking pictures of things.
No set deadline, it just goes from start to finish. Or not finished, whatever the case may be.
That’s it for today.
I’m going back to rambling my way through another day tomorrow, doing nature observations when I can. And that’s the way I like to spend my time when the opportunity allows it.
The Next Day…
This morning (Monday), I did FINALLY work on my painting. In my studio. And it was sublime to have a space dedicated to art to work in.
Here’s my owl in progress. I added more shadow to the shadows and glow to the glow. I’m going to try and work on painting every day that I can.
But this morning chilly weather delayed me! At 48*F I waited a bit until the sun warmed up the building! That was a reversal from the previous weeks where early mornings were the only times cool enough and it got hot soon after. I have a little heater to put in there but it needs a new hose from the propane tank. That’s on the list for tomorrow.