Excuses

...uh... I've been away for awhile, haven't I? I have a lot of reasons why, a lot of really good excuses, blame to assign elsewhere.... It's not like I am at fault! I wasn't being lazy and wasting time. I was designing an addition that we'll start building on the back of our house in a month or so, renovating a bathroom and kitchen, OH, and we went to Jamaica to be in our friends' wedding, and I'm almost finished with another whole piece of artwork, a 2-foot square tediously detailed painting, and I knitted a scarf, and I've planned a super-cool theme cake for my husbands birthday (it's next week, but I can't tell you about that yet because he occasionally reads this blog), and I'm also half done making the coolest Christmas gift EVER for my husband (again, mum's the word), and I designed and strung a 12 strand pearl and crystal necklace, and I had my parents visiting from out of state for a couple weeks, & then they left, and now they're scheduled to arrive back again tomorrow, so my Dad and I can start building a rather large shed together..... uuuuuhhhhhhh (that's a long inhale!)

So, you see? I've been busy enough. It's just that few of those things are blog-worthy. The sketches of the home addition and the shed are crude and unimpressive, the scarf can't be discussed, lest it also spoil a surprise, and the same with the birthday cake and Christmas gift...so, well... here's Jamaica!


The main weather concern happened the day of the outdoor beach wedding we attended. Up 'til an hour before the ceremony, it looked like this outside:

Then the storm passed on, the rain stopped, and the sky produced a beautiful sunset over the ocean. It was lovely. My husband and I were both in the wedding, so we weren't able to take pictures of that.

...here were our friends, the day before, already taking the plunge!

So on to the artwork. I learned from the past few postings that I don't really like showing my artwork until it's completed. No one really cares what your intentions are because that often doesn't go as planned anyway. But here I am, showing you another half finished painting, and telling you that what I plan on doing is adding shadows underneath every single strand of the weaving to make it look like it's laying next to a wall or backdrop. It will give it some grounding and hopefully make it pop. So far, without the shadow, it's a bit flat. This is a detailed section of part of the painting.

I like the way this painting looks like a subtle textural abstract piece from a distance. Then as you move in closer, it takes on a whole new feel. You become aware of all the details and realize that it's actually quite a realistic painting, even though I want it to fit into the category of 'abstract'.

In the customary end-of-year fashion, I have vowed to focus more on finishing the projects I start and getting more organized. In other words, this New Year's Resolution is to honor the resolutions I came up with last year! Ha! That should result in more frequent blogging, more check marks off my list, and less excuses! Good luck with that, right?