"Art Heals"

     Once again I apologize for doing a lousy job of keeping everyone updated on my life, art.....etc.  I have been keeping myself extremely busy these days working on new art, teaching art lessons, and decorating my new house!  Basically I am trying everything to take my mind off my infertility struggles!!  Last month I underwent my second round of IVF with the same sad results as the first ....no baby!  I turn 37 tomorrow and I am beginning to get nervous about my future as far as children are concerned.  Do I adopt?? ...surrogate?? ...egg or sperm donors??  The hardest part of the whole journey is knowing when to give up on yourself....your body?? ...and look at other options....luckily our Dr. has given us new found hope and says we should keep trying IVF because we are producing viable, grade A embryos---now we need to find out why they just won't stick!!  My husband and I are scheduled to have a battery of blood tests done to rule out under-lying diseases that can cause miscarriage. ugh!!  Now I am scared of what they may find?? or if they don't find anything ...then what??  Anyways I am taking a baby-break until July and trying my hardest to enjoy the beautiful Spring weather and all of my other loves----making art---teaching---and crafting my butt off (thank God for Pinterest). 

     Currently I am having a ball teaching landscape painting and mosaic to my older students and metal tooling and color theory to my younger artists!   Gosh I love teaching----have missed it like crazy!
     I have once again started two new series.  The first series called "Dolly Daydreams" are inspired by an online course I took from Suzi Blu----love, love her artwork and her "Les Petite Dolls".  These little dollies include all of the same adornments as previous works---vintage fabric, vintage ephemera, decorative papers, acrylic paint, stamps, stencils, and cutesy affirmations.  My second series, "Patchwork Blooms", are especially made for all of those odd-balls out there that don't particularly appreciate dolls as much as I ------hahaha....how anyone could not want a cute little dolly hanging on their living room wall is beyond me?  This series also uses similar background techniques including beautiful vintage fabrics collected from flea markets, antique stores, thrift shops, garage sales...but instead of a doll-theme the artwork loosely depicts blooming flowers and/or trees.  I am unveiling these new pieces tomorrow in a window display at Studio B.---pics to come.