Another hat!

...but not necessarily the one I needed today. I've mentioned before how many different hats it takes to be an artist. Today and yesterday, I have been writing a grant proposal for an exhibit I'm helping organize. I believe it is very important for artists to 'give back' to organizations that support us, because in the real world of art (is there such a thing?), art organizations and exhibits are mostly run by volunteer effort. So, if I want tapestry exhibits to exist for me to show my work in, I occasionally have to give of my time to make sure they survive. Perhaps the whole world would work better if it all ran the way the art world runs... Like for instance, if you want to keep eating good food, you must spend some time working on a farm. Or, if you want a new pair of shoes, you must volunteer to work as a cobbler for a day. Well, I can't order the whole world, but I can do my little part in the world I'm in, which is the world of fiber art.

So.... as I said, I have been grant writing, although I am not a grant writer, and I don't have a grant writer's hat. Fortunately, I DO have a committee full of great editors, as I often need editing! But if you read this blog, you already know that.

So, what is this hat, if not a grant writing hat? This is a 'going-to-play-with-grandchildren' hat! I have new grandchildren I need to meet, and old ones (though not so old, at 4 and 2) that I need to play a bit with, too! On Friday, I'll be going to see Son 1, and on the way home, I'll see Son 2. They each have a Thing One and a Thing Two for me to play with, and we will play, play, play all day! I am packing the paints and the paper, the color books and the story books, the sing-along-songs in my head and on CD, and oh I shall not forget the Grandma-cam. Photos will fill the Grandma-cam!

Grants will be dumped from my brain, and Goodnight Moon will take their place. Little bodies will be measured and growth will be estimated for the Christmas sweaters I must knit (twice as many this year... so I must get to it.) It will be oh, so hard to pry this hat off my head! But then I will come back to my studio and put on another of my artist's hats, and get back to the real (or is it surreal) world of being an artist.