Nights at the Museum

Hi guys! I'm back.

I know it's Bead Table Wednesday, so quickly, here is a shot of my ever-crowded bead table (jewelry table, wire table, sewing table, mixed media table....):

What? Doesn't everyone sew and work metal and make jewelry on their ironing board??

The bathroom remodel this summer has rendered the garage workbench a little inaccessible for the moment, and I haven't had time to clean it off as yet, so that is why some of my metals stuff is in front of my (poor neglected) sewing machine.

But BTW is not what this post is about....no.

Most of you know that I was accepted into the training program to become a docent at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. It is a prestigious and comprehensive training program that lasts a whole year, and includes art history lectures, gallery exercises, training in basic museum education, and programs on the collections and holdings in the museum. It's a volunteer position, and I am undergoing this extensive training willingly, and without financial compensation. The rewards are much greater than that for me.

So far, we are three weeks into the training, and have completed lectures on ancient art and the ancient art collection in the museum. To say that I am happy is an understatement.

The first week, we were allowed into a gallery with our instructor and a security guard after the museum was closed. It was quiet and cool, and the halls were lit and the marble gleamed and outside it was dusk. It's an amazing experience to be so quietly surrounded by works of art created by countless hands and minds from across the centuries -- and millennia. All those people and all that creating....people we can identify and have images of, and people we only know as "the Virginia painter" or "R", or people we have no idea about at all, whose identities are lost in the passage of time. I was overwhelmed by the existence of these people and what they have left behind, by the magnitude of what we do creatively as humans, and by the seeming enormity of the task before me.

But now I see why it is that this appeals to me. Oh, it always has, the history and the concept of a museum, and the reading and learning. But for the first time in....years?....I sincerely feel that this is what I'm meant to be doing.

On some levels, it's intensely frightening.

On another level, it fills me with a joy I can't describe, and that has spilled over into the rest of my life in these last few weeks. Even in the midst of the chaos of three children starting school, husband in college, and work and family life activities. 'Go placidly amidst the noise and haste' has never been so applicable to my days.

I have a couple of years to spend working at the museum in this capacity, but my mind has already started to wander to "what's next?" as I find myself idly surfing the course listings for Virginia Commonwealth University's Art History department.

We'll see; I have plenty to do and to think about before I go get all fired up about any further schooling for myself. But for now, I'm happy to be doing what I'm doing, and looking forward to the future eagerly.

One Bite At A Time

This is the message board in my kitchen. I like to change the message from time to time to reflect things we need to think about, post messages to congratulate members of our family, encourage each other, or just inspire someone to do their best.

Lately, I've had quite a lot of GOOD in my life -- good news, good happenings, positive outcomes. I've told you some of it already. I'm so thankful for all of it.

Lately, though, I've also had a lot of NOT-SO-GOOD. In July alone, one of our dogs nearly died and required expensive emergency vet care, the master bathroom shower leaked into the living room ceiling and caused a catastrophic failure of the drywall, resulting in a huge 3' square wet hole in my living room ceiling and the total destruction of my master bathroom, and the air handler for our upstairs heat pump backed up and began leaking into the ceiling of the master bedroom. You can imagine how that went.

The work that I do as my 'day job' has slowly crept up to a level that is overwhelming. I've gotten many parts of it under control, but for a while there, I was seriously stressed and managing WAY too many teeny tiny details. Add to that the kids being home, and getting enough time during working hours to handle everything is nearly impossible. Thankfully, my boss is awesome and trusts me to get the work done.

My middle daughter was having a hard time grasping some of the finer points of appropriate school behavior.

Somehow, I hurt my foot enough that walking is painfully difficult.

We have to choose contractors for the bathroom remodel. I have to pick out tile and cabinetry and paint and accessories for a project I wasn't planning on doing.

It's all been a lot (too much!) to handle.

BUT.

In all of this, just when I thought the Universe was all about handing me a big bucket of crap, I realized I was also getting handed a bucket of good stuff, too.

People starting coming out of the woodwork with recommendations for tile guys, and drywall people, and plumbers.

The sales guy at the tile place helped me narrow down my choices and choose a selection of really pretty and complementary tile for our teeny master bathroom.

We found out we might be getting a decent refund from a previous homeowner's policy we weren't supposed to be paying on.

I got a raise at work!

Wren had a great day at school yesterday.

My foot pain (that I thought might be a stress fracture) is actually plantar fasciitis. Soft tissue injury, difficult to heal, but not as bad as a fracture.

I got some copper pieces ready for etching.

And my husband brought me flowers on Monday.

So, when I take everything together, there really has been a LOT of good along with the not-so-good. Staying positive is a good thing, and it helps. I'm so grateful for the support of friends and family, including my virtual 'tribe' -- you guys! Sometimes, it's true. When you have a LOT on your plate, you just have to remember to deal with one thing at a time so it all doesn't overwhelm you. Eat that elephant one forkful at a time!

AND, to bring some focus back on art and jewelry, here's my Bead Table Wednesday contribution...

I've moved things to my sewing space to try to keep my kitchen island from becoming a beady, coppery wasteland of in-process projects.

I hope you all have a terrific Wednesday!

BTW

It's Bead Table Wednesday....and this is my current bead table in it's current state. Actually, it's the space next to my fridge. Note the detritus of 'real life' all around. And my sketchbook. One of them, anyway.

BUT!

I've been making stuff! I got about six pairs of earrings made, and as soon as I get some good photos, I will show them to you. And then I will list them in my shop. Yay!

Bead Table Wednesday (and other stuff)

Ok, you guys. This is the first Wednesday I have had NOTHING on the agenda for the morning. I've been going to, or taking kids to, various doctor and other appointments every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the last, oh...four weeks? All necessary, but since my only free time is in the mornings when kids are in school, that's when I schedule all my stuff.

The good news is I got new contacts and avoided the dreaded bifocals for a while longer.

The crown on my broken molar is fixed and intact. Finally.

The test results were negative. (which is good)

My blood pressure is perfect.

Lingering (and annoying) problems are starting to look like they have solutions, finally.

All is right with the world.

SO, here is my contribution to BTW!!

The weather in Virginia has been glorious for the past few days, so I have taken my 'work table' outside to my deck. All the better to bask in the warm spring sun, and watch the kids play in the yard! The bonus is that the arms of my Adirondack chairs are wide enough to hold my pliers while I work, so everything is right at hand.

This is my tray that I work on. There are any number of potential projects, in-process projects, and fiddly bits I'm playing with on this tray. As you can see, I am still in love with copper, and plan for this to be a long-term relationship.

So there you go! Kinda boring, I know, but that's what I have been up to lately.

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I've been sort of a slacker about jewelry-making lately. I've made a few pieces here and there, but haven't been able to muster up the enthusiasm for really going nuts and getting my work out there. Truth is, I'm sometimes slightly envious of other artists who seem to have lots of materials and supplies at their disposal, or who can go buy whatever it is they want to try out or work with. I can't afford to keep up with the latest trends in jewelry-making that involve new, cool supplies. I also know that everyone's situation is different, so there's nothing to be upset about. I don't need to keep up, I just need to do what I do best -- be myself. But I'm also having a very hard time focusing on just about anything lately. Lots of projects get started and then not finished, across all of my creative realms. I don't know why. Hopefully this will resolve soon enough. But in the meantime, I hope all of you are finding joy in your creative endeavors.