"WHAT HAPPENED TO CHERRIL'S BLOG?" NO ONE EVER ASKED...

 

So what did happen to the blog? Ah, the list is long, but bottom line is life just got in my way. Somehow, starting with the new piece in progress shown here got me started again. In the meantime, I finally have gotten homeowner's insurance just under the wire before cancellation of old policy. That was the biggest challenge for the past few months. It feels like quite an accomplishment. Whew!

Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival was fun and a great success all around I think. It's always a chance to see old friends and make new ones.

The 2023 Round Robin Journal came to an end and we all gathered to share images and stories. The 2024 journals got started recently and I look forward to another year of creative opportunity.

Hopefully, now that I have started again I will be able to keep this up. Blogs seem to have become pretty passe' but there is still something to be said about the practice. 

Meanwhile, I look forward to a full year of monthly workshops, summer and winter shows, and of course the creative energy that goes into it all.

'Til next time.....

THE MUSE, MARY AND ME

 The feet and eyes are for me the most difficult to get right. So it may take me just a bit longer to get this final piece ready for Sawdust Art Festival's Winter Fantasy showing.

Meanwhile, I will continue to look for inspiration and solace in my muse and poet Mary Oliver.

Crisp mornings of sunshine or fog filled with birdsong...aren't we fortunate? I ponder the question of what it might be like not to be able to have these things. What must that mean to someone's life/

And this brings me to poet Mary Oliver and the questions she poses in her poem Gratitude:

What did you notice?

What did you hear?

What did you admire?

What astonished you?

What would you like to see again?

What was most tender?

What was most wonderful?

What did you think was happening?

i wonder how answering these questions, no matter our circumstances, might be likely to bring us to a state of gratitude. So take a deep breath. Listen to the birds, Feel the sun on your shoulders. Enjoy the soft caress of a breeze. Smile at a stranger in passing. Ask yourself these questions from the poem and see if there is even a slight shift in your thinking. Hopefully, you will be brought to gratitude.

Let me know.

IF THIS IS OCTOBER....

 

I think I will definitely need at least one of these sugar treats as the month unwinds (or is it winds up?)

As with most months this one brings both joys and challenges. It's the challenges that daunt me on occasion and I am tempted to drown myself in sugar treats (I AM holding back though...so far)

So on a much lighter note...what is YOUR favorite candy? Or do you turn to something else when the going gets a little tough?

I'm trying art exploration since it usually works, but at some point I am going to have to face the challenges head on and that may call for some sweets 😍 I'll try to keep you posted on the progress. In the meantime, I am creating new pieces for the upcoming Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON A RAINY SEPTEMBER MORNING

 

The rain on the roof this morning surprised me into alertness. What a lovely, soft, gentle patter it was. The humidity factor seemed to increase, but the temperature had not yet reached the point where there was a need to throw off covers. So I snuggled deeper and let my mind wander.

The summer had been a busy one, filled with creating new art and meeting new folks at the Sawdust Art Festival, scheduling and working with the Sawdust Art Enrichment Fund to further fulfill artist John Eagle's vision of providing art for underprivileged while helping to support our local artists. I was tired. This morning with its soft rain was a blessing. I could wait a bit to start the day.

And so my mind meandered as I drifted in and out, imagining new creations and directions that might take me, thoughts of taking care of the little things that tend to slip through the cracks during the summer months, plotting new trails to traverse, and so much more......

What does a rainy morning conjure for you?

CROWS, CROWS AND MORE CROWS....

 

Who knew? The summer seems all about crows in my neck of the Sawdust Art Festival. They fly off the shelves almost faster than I can put them there. 

I wonder if they are off in search of shiny things to add to their stash or gift to some person they have befriended.

Maybe I will never know.

YOU KNOW IT'S SUMMER WHEN...

 

...the festival season in Laguna Beach begins. And this is the week! Preview nights for Sawdust Art Festival, Art-A-Fair and the Pageant of the Masters make for a busy week.

Planning has taken place often for months as readiness varies among individuals. I found myself oddly blessed to be house-bound with Covid, which gave me many hours of art play in March/April that I might not otherwise have had. I wasn't sick...just kept getting positive tests so, with nothing better to do I played and played. And of course my crow friends showed up often in that play.

If you're around be sure to come see me at the Sawdust at Gallery Wall 11. 

WHY IS IT ALWAYS SUCH A SURPRISE?

Hundreds of cards printed, assembled and packaged. Many prints matted, packaged and priced. Originals framed and priced. A booth or Gallery Wall to clean, paint, repair, and get ready in myriad ways to show all of this. Getting ready for any showing of art, let alone a 66 day summer festival is always a surprising amount of things on a long and ever longer to-do list of things needed before one can even begin to think "ready." And I have probably omitted so much, this being only what a mixed media artist might have on the list. Think of the jewelers, the sculptors, the photographers, fabric artists and others, many of whom may have to rely on the timing of printers and such. Just writing this wears me out. But in the end it is always done on time and so very worth it. 

So if you are reading this, come to the summer Sawdust Art Festival in beautiful Laguna Beach and see what everyone has created and how each has mastered the long to-do list.

June 30-September 3

www.sawdustartfestival.org