Autumn air

When I left home for my Seattle job 3 weeks ago, it was still hot and sunny here.  I've been back a week, and I returned to a town encased in autumn, my favorite time of the year.
While in Seattle, I got to spend a day working at NW Encaustic Studio in West Seattle.  I decided to look at color in a different way, not to be afraid of it (I tend to like brown and cream, over and over again).  I love what I did, and it wasn't scary at all! 


Yummy earth tones, rusty looking!

 

I am loving working with pan pastels, too...it's like finger painting!



These were all enspired by an ad for ceramic tiles.

It was freeing to try color, and the circles are raised, which is fun to do, but scary to pull off the tape! 


This was inspired by an old oil painting of flowers, so faded I almost couldn't tell what they were.

 I am going to go for a walk now, to crunch some leaves under my feet...

Getting ready to be busy.

I must admit, other than the day to day stuff, I have been not very busy.  Not very motivated either.  Must be the heat.  I wonder how I can allow myself to stay un-busy.  I enjoy the peacefulness, but in my head, I am shouting, 'get busy!'  The loess is everywhere, but I don't dust it away, the bathrooms need a sparkle, but I turn my head and look the other way.  The studio is a mess, but I say, 'tomorrow, I'll tackle it.'  When it's something for me, I am lazy, when it's for someone else, I am on top of it. 
Soon I will be traveling back to Seattle to work, flowers for my client, flowers for my friend's wedding reception.  I have no choice in the matter, I get to get busy.  And in that setting I thrive.  I love the planning, the trouble shooting, the minute by minute itinerary. 

I do get to have a bit of fun, too.  For 3 days at the end of the 16 days, I will do something for me.  I hope I can stay motivated, as I will be making art.  Building something wonderful, with a fantastic artist as my instructor.  And then, to wrap it all up, Fall Feast, a wonderful day of friendship and eating and drinking at a beautiful cabin in the mountains.  It will be a blissfully happy day, the perfect ending to my busy days (it would be best if Larry and Maddy could be with me...).
I'll post pictures after the busy.

Time to work

I am now just days away from 'snapping' on my latex gloves and getting to work.  Flowers that is.  I always feel like it's re-learning to ride a bike, but once I pick up a flower, it's all good.  I miss going to the wholesale market, smelling sweetness, falling head over heels in love all over again with flowers.

 

photo by Tom Barwick, s/s 2008



photo by Jim Henkens f/w 2004

 These are 2 of my favorite bouquets, both featured in Seattle Bride Magazine.  The later one was my very first bouquet in a magazine, and the best day was when a bride brought the picture to her consultation!

Not that I'm doing a wedding this time (the only wedding I'd want to do now is a relative or my own!), but one sweet Greek baptism, and then flower samples for a Sept event, complete with linen samples and glassybabies (http://www.glassybaby.com/).  This is fun.

What a lucky life I am living. 

Backpacking into the mountains with a boy (or two) and a dog.

This weekend I backpacked.  It's been a while.  Often, I try to think of an excuse not to, as I am not that good at it.  Most of the time, Larry has to come back down the trail to help get me up it.  He'd take my pack and I'd finish the climb with, if I had one, my tail between my legs.
This time, I did it all up and down, and didn't fall once (well, once off my 3 legged stool after a beer) nor did I twist my ankle, another thing I usually do.
We went with Gator (Walt Green), a good friend of Larry's, and with Madeline, our sweet puffa, this her first backpacking trip!  I was very worried about letting her off leash, first - it's not allowed, and secondly - when she sees a chippie or anything moving, she's off like a rocket, and I was afraid we'd lose her.  My fears were diminished when I realised how hard she pulled me up the mountain.  Now, granted, I thought this would help me get up the mountain, but it just made it worse, as she kept getting us all tangled up in the lead.  So, off leash she went, and she was, for the most part, a perfect angel.  She loved to hike, and when I got behind, which I did frequently, she came racing back down the trail to check on me, ears up, wagging her tail as if to say, 'hey, mom, you okay?' and I'd say, 'I'm okay, Maddy, you go on ahead...' and she'd race back up to Larry and Gator.

courtesy of Wikipedia, as my phone died early on...



Maddy enjoying Larry's chair!

 We got to the top, and were amazed again by the beauty of Mt. Stuart, and by some small rocks laid out on the ground that read, 'Hi Tyson' (Larry's last name)...left for us by his great friend, Iron Mike Campeau!  Also found was a large can of Foster's beer, left in the crook of a tree, with a note from Iron!  What an amazing discovery (when did he do this?).  Once the beer had time to get really cold (we buried it in the snow) we raised a toast to Iron and shared the bounty.

Now, I've been on this particular hike at least 3-4 times before, and always enjoyed great weather.  This was not one of those times!  We woke to rain, bright lightening, and count with me, one thousand one, one thousand two, THUNDER!  A bit scary, but not as scary as waking the next morning to more rain, and my pack, which I left out in the rain...well, everything being totally soaked, so much for a lighter pack on the way down!  It started to clear about half way down, and we made it out without incident.
For my exemplary hiking abilities, I got ice cream on the way home.  Good times!

Feeling creative

I've been invited by a fellow Ecamp artist to post on her blog.  I've not done that before...so I had better start looking professional.  I spiffed up my blog page and I like it!  So far I am the only one to see it, but that's okay.  It feels like a 21st century diary.  Holy cow.

Can I blog?

Well, everyone else is doing it, and has been for years now. 
With a computer that is older than my nephew, and email that sometimes takes a few hours to open, this should be a challenge.  But I'd rather not get left behind, so instead, I'll try to figure this out one day at a time.
That's enough for now.