Back in the Studio...

Gus and I have moved back into the studio to work. We've had a few nice sunny days; more typical to our winters than all this previous two month's grey coldness has been. And, though the natural light in the sitting room is lovely to work in, it lasts only about 3 good hours from the direction I need it to be to work in. Also, I discovered that working from a sofa is not very friendly to my back and body! So I've moved my Mirrix back to the better light and work chair in the studio.

It's good to be back in the studio. I have added a few new 'friends' that Gus has not yet discovered or destroyed. The bird in the top photo is of feathers, so he'll probably sniff it out before long. I bought it to put in the Christmas tree, but liked him so much that when I put the holiday stuff away, I just moved him into the studio. The tiny green bird was on a gift from a friend, and he is nestled in the curtains in a tiny hummingbird nest that fell from the tree outside my studio window last week. I had spotted the nest in the area I'd watched hummingbirds in the summer. It was invisible until the leaves fell. Then one day last week I looked out and saw it was gone, so I went out and found it on the ground below the tree. It has joined my studio 'Naturalist's displays.' I can't seem to keep from bringing in wasps nests, seashells, rocks, turtle shells, and whatever else that will fit in my pockets or on my shelves. (In fact the butterfly and the paperwasp nest in the top photo were also front yard finds: I did not kill the butterfly, but found it dead on my porch one day. I also did not kill the wasps, but collected the nest when it fell from the same tree the hummingbird nest was in.)

I am still working on the small tapestry for the unjuried ATA exhibit. I am at the half-way point on both it and the "October" tapestry. I am not progressing very rapidly, as I've had a couple of weeks of health issues that make working for any length of time quite uncomfortable.  BUT, I would really like to put the small tapestry in a local exhibit that goes through the month of February, and the work would be due at the Art Center by the end of next week. SO, I need to hustle, aching body or not.

After I had begun this tapestry, which is a self-portrait, I saw that there has been discussion of a tapestry exhibit of "selfies," which is an annoying (to me) term for all those phone photos people are constantly taking of themselves to prove that they have been somewhere, I guess. The worst 'selfie-takers' I saw were in the Louvre; where there were people taking photos of themselves in front of almost any and every piece of art, blocking the view of those of us who truly wanted to see the artwork. I swear I saw people who must have only actually seen the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo when they looked at their selfies on Facebook or Twitter. (In fact, I had my son pose as a 'selfie taker,' though he is definitely not one, next to an ancient statue who looks like like he is taking a selfie!)

I have to say that I do not see this as a 'selfie.' It will be a self-portrait, which is a long-held and traditional subject for an artist in any medium. When you spend time weaving an image of yourself, it requires more than the quick transitory image the term 'selfie' implies.  Just my two cents worth.

And, speaking of exhibits, it seems to be the time for me to spend a day at the computer making decisions about which exhibits I can and will enter (as there are four now with encroaching deadlines to consider.) It is getting quite expensive to enter exhibits anymore. I just had a piece accepted in the ATB10 exhibit (YEA!) so there will be the expense of shipping that piece. I will probably tackle the entry forms and decisions and ATB catalog needs later this week. As Scarlet would say, "I will think about that tomorrow."