Shame on me! It's been far too long since my last post--my apologies. But boy, things have sure been crazy here this past month! Most of them with good things, such as completing my final duties as Parliamentarian for RESS, working on the new version of its newsletter The Boat for February publication and wrapping up two long-standing sculptures of a mare and foal that have been inexplicably troublesome for me these past nine months--If you heard a lot of cursing and arghs! from the general northwest vicinity, it was probably me as I broke off yet another leg for the fourth time! But they're just about done now, and I'm very pleased with how they turned out. Everything works out for the best really, and had I not been delayed all this time with them, I don't think they would have come out as cool as they have. Time puts you in fresher places, which often is an advantage for art work.
And the biggie good thing is the enthusiastic and overwhelming response to my sculpture Stormwatch (pictured above in resin, cast from my original in epoxy clay). I am so grateful and totally taken by surprise by the response--I'm still in shock. Hey, I thought he'd be a hard sell! Who knew that this funny little gelding would take the world by storm! (wink) And I'm happy to report he's going to be my first bronze, and I hope to have him in metal by the end of next year. I just need to sculpt a base for him, which is something I'm really looking forward to cuz I have some fun ideas for it. But the even greater thing with Stormy was that with him, I was able to help just a little bit with the Blessed Broodmare Project, to rescue dozens of pregnant PMU mares from slaughter! What a great way to kick off an edition! Check out the YouTube story on how these mares were rescued! Oh boy--does it get me verklempt. These dear people, the Bucklers, are also the same people who do many of my resin castings, including Stormy! The best things in life are those that come full circle in good ways.
So to celebrate his successful release in resin, I treated myself to something fun--an excruciatingly cute frog hat at a crafts bizarre in a local high school (above). LOOK at that smiley frog! The whole cap is rimmed with them! And there's a fly on the top! Is that not the cutest cap ever? It's wool lined with angora, so it's warm and soft at the same time--two good things that go better together! The lady who made this hat, and other assorted angora knitware, is there every year with one of her angora bunnies that you can pet, which of course is the highlight of the whole day for me. This year, she had "Mo" there--a big fluffy white beachball with ears. I about died. So c'mon cold weather! Bring your worst--my frog cap will protect me! The flower on each earflap gives me incredible power!
Speaking of which, my back. Ah yes...the spine--the great humbler of upright bipeds. My nemesis. My Achilles Heel. In my long, sordid battle against the best attempts of my spine to keep me bedridden, I have my first MRI this weekend. I'm not necessarily looking forward to it, but it's gotta be done to see what's going on. But I am so grateful that we live in a day and age of such technology and it makes me wonder what the next fifty years will bring us in ways of medical breakthroughs and discoveries! In the meantime, I asked my neurologist if I could sign up for a bionic spine, with the "sch-sch-sch" sound and all, and her reply--"We're not that cool...yet". I love it.
So with that thought, I leave you to ponder this: " Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." ~Lewis Carroll
And the biggie good thing is the enthusiastic and overwhelming response to my sculpture Stormwatch (pictured above in resin, cast from my original in epoxy clay). I am so grateful and totally taken by surprise by the response--I'm still in shock. Hey, I thought he'd be a hard sell! Who knew that this funny little gelding would take the world by storm! (wink)
So to celebrate his successful release in resin, I treated myself to something fun--an excruciatingly cute frog hat at a crafts bizarre in a local high school (above). LOOK at that smiley frog! The whole cap is rimmed with them! And there's a fly on the top! Is that not the cutest cap ever? It's wool lined with angora, so it's warm and soft at the same time--two good things that go better together! The lady who made this hat, and other assorted angora knitware, is there every year with one of her angora bunnies that you can pet, which of course is the highlight of the whole day for me. This year, she had "Mo" there--a big fluffy white beachball with ears. I about died. So c'mon cold weather! Bring your worst--my frog cap will protect me! The flower on each earflap gives me incredible power!
Speaking of which, my back. Ah yes...the spine--the great humbler of upright bipeds. My nemesis. My Achilles Heel. In my long, sordid battle against the best attempts of my spine to keep me bedridden, I have my first MRI this weekend. I'm not necessarily looking forward to it, but it's gotta be done to see what's going on. But I am so grateful that we live in a day and age of such technology and it makes me wonder what the next fifty years will bring us in ways of medical breakthroughs and discoveries! In the meantime, I asked my neurologist if I could sign up for a bionic spine, with the "sch-sch-sch" sound and all, and her reply--"We're not that cool...yet". I love it.
So with that thought, I leave you to ponder this: "