Deadlines -- the Bane and Ecstasy of my Life!

What is it about DEADLINES that make them so despised and yet so valuable--to me? 

A bit of pine casts a long shadow on a quiet December morning.

 It's a funny thing about DEADLINES.  Without them, I am a world-class procrastinator.  With them, I surprise myself with what I'm able to accomplish with serious focus and hard work.

The dining room table doubles as a work table!

This story begins Dec. 7 when a friend sent me an email to remind me to submit to an exhibit focusing on REPURPOSING.

(Repurposed:  A second look, a second life - January 11-February 11, Windsor Art & Heritage Center.)

Oh, yes, I thought.  This exhibit looked so interesting and I had (at the time) given it great thought--and then got interrupted and off I went into a different direction.

When was that deadline to submit?  Dec. 21?  Hey, that gives me LOTS of time!  (Who am I kidding???  YIKES!!!)

But, as a creative person I always seem to have art/writing projects jumbled in my head just waiting for a good ol' fashioned DEADLINE.

It seems I never have enough space to really spread out!!

One of the pieces just waiting to be created involved weaving scrap paper, like tissue boxes and advertising card stock I often get in the mail, to create a series of woven squares to help me fashion a "dance floor" (of sorts) on recycled cardboard.  

I wanted to also use two pairs of the cardboard shoe inserts one often finds in new shoes.  

Slowly, the pieces begin to take shape and I test placement of the "dancing feet."

My goal was to create a piece that focused on the cycle of recycling--the circle of use, almost like a dance step.

As I cut cardboard and scrap paper I realized I needed to expand my collection of adhesives, which was a fun trip to the art supply store.  

Finally, it was completed and ready to hang to take a photo to use to submit.

"A Paper Waltz," 37" w x 27" l x 3" d, recycled cardboard and scrap paper.

Now it was time to begin the REALLY INVOLVED piece that had been rattling in my head since I had finally taken the time to empty my Grandmother's sewing cabinet that I have every intention to refinish someday.  

My beloved Grandma lived into her 90s and this small cabinet contained YEARS and YEARS of salvaged zippers, fabric scraps, buttons, thread and all the flotsam that seems to need a container in which to reside.

The table changes in content and new work begins.

Oddly, though, it wasn't the sewing odds and ends that I SAVED that enticed me.  

Oh, no, it was the STUFF I THREW AWAY that wanted to be reconsidered as ART.

(I might have avoided this nagging by all the "sewing garbage" if I had dumped the wastebaskets after I finished emptying the sewing cabinet, but I did not take the time that day and so all that "stuff" began to call me--quietly at first and then quite insistently once I decided to enter "Repurposed.")

Not sewing "discards" but treasured art supplies!

Despite my serious objections, I began to sift through all the stuff I had so righteously thrown away, retrieving the broken and orphan buttons, the zippers cut out of clothes to be discarded, scraps of fabric, old worn-out buckles, and odd stuff like bent pins and little papers wrapped with thread.

With this new art work taking shape in my head I began to admire the strange items harvested from the trash, seeing all the new potential and considering new ways to combine and present them to help me tell the story of the magic I experienced with my Grandma's sewing cabinet.

Using a canvas I began to create my mixed media whimsical story.

Once I gathered all the treasures from the trash I selected a canvas and began to broadly paint my Grandparent's house in acrylic paint using a wadded rag to keep my strokes very broad and not too precise.

I wanted to create the image from my childhood memory and not get derailed with too much detail.  

I just needed the basics to begin to "paint" the details with my harvested sewing treasures.  The old zippers became my Grandad's garden, the rusty scissors and pencil stub became the clothesline out back with salvaged garters holding a scrap of lace like clothespins on the line.  

Buttons became my stones so beloved around the front door and in the sidewalk.  The worn-out buckles made a perfect country fence and fabric scraps suddenly gave the sky and hills drama.  I braided three scraps of fabric into a "tree trunk" and was amazed to see how many shades of green fabric were waiting to become leaves.  

"Grandma's Sewing Cabinet," 30" w x 24" l x 3" d, acrylic on canvas, sewing remnants and fabric scraps.

I am delighted to report that I MADE the 12/21/16 deadline to submit and just learned this week that BOTH WERE ACCEPTED!   

Without the DEADLINE this work would still be rattling in my head, waking me up in the middle of the night, begging to be created.

WITH THE DEADLINE I turned our kitchen into one giant scary mess, woke in the middle of the night with a new insight, was so focused I lost track of time--and am proud to have two new works to exhibit.

My relationship with DEADLINES?  Well, it's complicated.  

Arctic Blast and Other News

November morning walk.

November has been one tumultuous and amazing month.

On my brisk morning walks this week I have been reflecting on all that arrived in November.

1.  Political upheaval.

No matter how you voted, political change is in the wind.  

I am, however, most GRATEFUL for the cessation of political ads.  

2.  A SUPER MOON.

It truly was as bright, big and brilliant as forecasters predicted. 

Super Moon over our house Nov. 13, 2016.

3.  First Winter Storm!

Hello Winter Storm Argos!  

Winter Storm Argos was the most welcome of winter weather.  Not only was it our FIRST snow of the season, it was the FIRST moisture we received in a very long, dry 35 days.  

It has been so warm and temperate with few frosts/freezes that I swear the Canadian Geese are pondering whether to rent or buy--and, just skip the whole migration-thing.  

First morning of ice on a pond's edge.

In fact, I decided to name this blog Arctic Blast and Other News in honor of this week being the first to have, in fact, an ARCTIC BLAST.  

It is short lived as warming temps return and it will be 50 degrees and other perfect sunny day by Sunday.

Usually--well, there's no usually about it anymore, is there?--it's hard to realize that winter doesn't officially begin until Dec. 21 because by November autumn has been replaced by winter in terms of snow accumulation and freezing temperatures.  

La Nina is having fun with Colorado this year.  Our high pressure system has pushed colder temps and precipitation to my friends in North Dakota and to the south/southeast.

But, this week, I've rejoiced in some mysterious, dark, overcast mornings with temps below 20 degrees--perfect for adding the extra gear and being grateful for hooded coats.

A true November morning.

4.  Thanksgiving.

Perhaps because it was such a grim and divisive political year, Thanksgiving seemed a special refuge reminding us of the beauty and warmth to be found with family and friends.

I was amused, however, at the many newscasts containing special advice to viewers on how to avoid the topic of politics at the dinner table. Politics, always a tricky topic of conversation, was clearly NOT the invited guest this year.

Our Thanksgiving morning was made even more special with a pair of Bald Eagles soaring over the pond, marshes and eventually our house. Delighted to spot them in the distance while we made our tea and coffee, Ken and I ran outside to the back deck to watch and appreciate their leisurely flight on the strong winds that carried them effortlessly west to east.  

This could be the same pair of Bald Eagles that nest every year about a mile-and-a-half away from our house.  We often see them in their big ancient cottonwood at the very top branch during the winter months, but this year through the summer, too.  It's marvelous when they fly over our neighborhood, especially our back yard on a morning when we happen to look outside!

5.  Creative sparks.

It's a marvelous thing to have creative friends!  Earlier this month we had a YUPO PLAY DAY, where Annie taught us how to embrace all the possibilities of Yupo paper.  (For complete details see my other blog, http://TobyBakerSparklingStories.blogspot.com.)  

Long before that, however, we began to entertain ideas of the four of us, Annie, Suzette, Susan and I, bringing our energy and art together for an exhibit in 2017.  The spark ignited enthusiasm and creativity and we have...


                     eARTh: The 4 elements

It's quite exciting as we have a location:  The Art & Heritage Center in Windsor, CO.
And, we have a date:  February 22-March 22, 2017.

At breakfast a couple of weeks ago this is what Annie and Susan had to share:

In next month's post I will focus on my approach and what I want to bring to this exhibit.

6.  Quiet beauty.

Walking along the Poudre River Trail is idea for contemplative thought.

Still, for all that November has brought this year, there is a quiet beauty and serenity that is most appreciated as I walk each morning.  

"Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay."
   --Robert Browning

Shadow Play

How can anyone resist a perfect autumn day?

Even if one is a self-professed lover of another season, there is a wooing of one's soul by the lush rich colors and scents of October that is irresistible!

Even when I'm rushing through a day full of errands I suddenly find myself so surrounded by absolute and total beauty that I just have to stop and try to breathe it all in, to somehow try to capture that essence deep into my heart.

As I walk each morning, I am also entertained with the way light and shadows play with fallen leaves on the sidewalk before me.  

With Halloween just a haunting breath away, here is this fall's chapter of SHADOW PLAY, 2016.

There was a crooked leaf
that cast a crooked shadow.

Fright Night Leaf

Dragon Leaf

Dragon Leaf II

Dragon Leaf III

Dragon Leaf IV

 

Leaf from the Black Lagoon!

Guillotine Leaf

Witch's Hat

Haunted Leaf Village

Skeleton shadows.

Leaf Maleficent

Witches Cat

?????

"When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
'tis near Halloween.
                              - Author Unknown

Bubble Magic!

"It is a happy talent to know how to play."
                                             - Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Dad at the cabin blowing bubbles on a windy day.

My Dad loves to play!!

When I was a kid, the other kids in the neighborhood would often come to our door asking,

"Can your Dad come out to play?"

Everyone knew that the game was always more fun, more lively and more inclusive if my Dad was playing, too.

My Dad has that wonderful rare talent of making any hum-drum task a "competition," where the rewards seem to rise in merriment from "just winning" to being Champion of the Universe!

(How I loved that honor--whether it was how many weeds one could yank from the back yard or getting lucky enough to beat my Dad in Monopoly!)   

Fortunately, my Dad spent his career as an elementary teacher and later as the principal of two elementary schools in addition to several administrative positions.  His favorite time of any school day--RECESS!!!--where he got to play with the kids.  

Last month on a weekend at the cabin (at about 9,000 feet elevation in the mountains on the Wyoming-Colorado border) Dad suggested we use all that Wyoming wind to create soap bubbles!

He keeps an assortment of bubble wands in the cabin (but, of course!) and proceeded to mix up a nice batch of soapy water.  What we got was frustratingly close to GREAT bubbles.  Our best efforts produced small flimsy bubble "starts" that never really launched. Maybe it was the higher elevation or the extreme wind, but we knew we could do better.   

As we packed up to go down the mountain we vowed to do a little research and return next week, Labor Day Weekend, armed with BUBBLE POTENTIAL!!!

I, of course, Googled for best-ranked bubble recipes and went to www.Amazon.com for soap bubble wands and solutions!  Carefully I read reviews and made my choices.  Dad went to the Dollar Store and picked up an assortment of containers with different mixtures.

My Dad and Ken using the small vials to create smaller bubbles.

As we embarked on the weekend we mixed two different homemade recipes for soap bubbles and compared them to the solution in various "store bought" brands.

BASIC SOAP BUBBLE RECIPES:

6 C. WATER (DISTILLED RECOMMENDED)
1 C. DAWN
1 T. GLYCERIN

--OR--

6 C. WATER
1/2 C. DAWN
1/2 C. CORN STARCH
1 T. BAKING POWDER
1 T. GLYCERIN

We also mixed up one bottle of concentrated BUBBLE BONKERS BUBBLE JUICE to a gallon of hot water.

This is the champagne of bubble solutions!  I was hesitant to purchase it because it's on the expensive side at $19.97 for a two-pack of bubble juice or for one bottle of bubble mix and two bubble-maker wands.

But, I figured it should definitely be part of our Bubble Test Project--and, I'm so glad it was!!!

This solution was incredible!!!  Not only were we able to create GIANT bubbles with a variety of wands, but THEY HELD TOGETHER, LAUNCHED AND FLEW HIGH AND FAR!!!  So far, in fact, that we entranced the two-year-old boy in the cabin next door to bring both his parents over so he could play with us!!!

As we created big GIANT bubbles he would laugh, clap his hands and run into the bubbles, often finding himself gleefully inside!!  I don't know who was laughing harder, us, him or his greatly amused parents!

(Sorry I don't have pictures of this but since I'm a bubble-maker I couldn't actually be the photographer, too.  Darn.)

Dad uses the Bubble Bonker Bubble Wands to begin a gigantic bubble!

Here are our BUBBLE PROJECT RESULTS:

BUBBLE SOLUTIONS;

WORST -Homemade Recipes

 Maybe it was the elevation or the hefty wind, but our homemade recipes were unsatisfactory--even when we tinkered with them by adding more soap or glycerin.  They didn't have enough bubble wall strength to "launch," let alone fly.

OKAY - "Store Bought" Bubble Solutions

The various bottles of bubble mix my Dad bought at the Dollar Store worked just fine for little bubbles from the wands inside the containers.  The bubbles often floated the highest and farthest because they were smaller.  

VERY GOOD - The bubble solution from the Toysmith Big Bubble Wand Set (which I got from www.Amazon.com.)

This set includes a shallow pan, bubble solution and two wands--a star and a circle ($9.47).  The solution produced excellent large bubbles or several smaller bubbles, if the wind was just right.  They had enough strength to "launch" and fly! Sadly, there was just one small bottle included and it goes fast when making larger bubbles.  

EXCELLENT - Bubble Bonker Bubble Juice Mix (www.Amazon.com or www.bubblebonkers.com)

Although pricey, this mix does make one gallon, which lasted through Labor Day Weekend.  There was even a small amount left, which we saved for another day.  This solution makes GIGANTIC bubbles that "launch," fly, morph into different shapes created by the wind and often separate into several smaller bubbles that fly high and last a fairly long time.  They also have a beautiful iridescence making the bubbles look like floating rainbows!

BUBBLE WANDS:

WORST - The "star" shaped wand included in the Toysmith Big Bubble Wand Set.  It produced no real bubbles of any kind.  Rather, it wasted the solution as it dripped off the wand and created a lot of mess.

GOOD - The wands found inside the containers of soap bubbles from the Dollar Store.  Depending on the shape and length of the wands a variety of bubbles could be formed just by dipping in the solution and holding out into the wind.

VERY GOOD - Bubble Bonker Bubble Wands.  Although a simple construction of "straw-like" handles and thick yarn, the material held a lot of bubble solution and often created more than one giant bubble before needing to be dipped again.  The wand in each hand enables one to literally "create" the bubbles and determine the size.  Practice really did enable me to create some amazing bubbles.  My only concern was that often the yarn-like material would twist and make it a smaller opening which produces smaller bubbles.

EXCELLENT - "Circle" wand in Toysmith Big Bubble Wand Set.  Although constructed of plastic, the wand seemed flexible and strong enough to last for many bubble blowing sessions.  The circle is about 7 inches across and big enough to create some terrific bubbles, depending on the bubble solution.  It did GREAT with the solution that came in the set and MARVELOUS with the Bubble Bonker mix.


 

Dad and I blowing bubbles over Labor Day WeekendI

I recently read in a 2015 review that adults who are playful--spontaneous, uninhibited, and fun-seeking"--are better at managing stress and tend to be more motivated.

(Oprah Magazine, September, 2017)

My closing wish to you:

      PLAY!

A day in the Pawnee National Grassland...

It's a place of great beauty, where the wind blows without hindrance, dust is fine and once airborne by a passing car or truck, takes its own time to slowly sink back to earth, and where it would be easy to believe one was in a foreign land--and yet I was less than three hours from home.

This is the Pawnee National Grassland, the destination for four friends who happen to be artists and photographers, who share an enthusiastic passion for adventure and exploration--even for those familiar places we think we know. 

We couldn't wait to photograph this building in Keota.

Armed with detailed maps, lots of water, a few snacks and plenty of sunscreen, we set out a couple of weeks ago to visit an area in Colorado--north of Greeley, east of Fort Collins, south of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and west of Sterling.

I learned that once the communities of Grover and Hereford, now quiet shadows of former days, were once thriving towns connected by a rail line from Cheyenne.  Hereford was even referred to as a "resort" town and featured three buildings designed by students of Frank Lloyd Wright!  

Fortunately, one of us, Susan, has lived in Colorado longer than the rest of us and lives "just a stone's throw" from the edge of the short grass prairie.  As one who loves the history of this place, she was able to share old newspaper clippings, a general understanding of this area and access to private lands that afforded us special photographic opportunities.

One must love--or at least appreciate--the solace of open space in the short grass prairie.

I love the gray-weathered wood of this structure.

 Our first stop was in Keota and we took advantage of the morning light to shoot empty buildings and the "pleasing decay" of structures falling to the ravages of time and weather.  

We laughingly agreed that a trip like this, full of "no where" and "abandoned houses" might not appeal to everyone!  But, for us, it was remarkable and seemed to willingly invite us to look closer and see more.

Slats of the roof of the structure (above) reveal patterns with nails
and sky.

Even though it felt like we were the only humans in this vast expanse of land, I would be surprised to look up and see a large truck driving by, leaving a long dusty plume behind it as it rumbled along the dirt road.

This is oil and gas country and despite the drop in prices and the inactivity of many drilling sites, this is still a vital aspect to the economy of Weld County and so the trucks continue to roll along those empty dirt roads. 

Pawnee Buttes seems to rise without warning from the prairie.

Horses we met seemed glad to pose for us.

We followed signs to Pawnee Buttes, which is an unexpected sight to encounter on the prairie.  

The geology of this place is amazing.  Who would imagine "sea bed?"

Heading north we stopped to photograph anything/everything that caught our artistic interest--which was just about everything!  

In Grover, we think the red building on the left was once an opera house
and the white building across the street a hotel/rooming house.

In Grover we stopped for lunch, as Susan mentioned that Grover's Market and Grill was the only place to get a bite to eat for miles and miles.  The hamburgers were delicious!!  

A blue car waits in Hereford.

The views from this house captured my imagination as I photographed it in detail.

Suzette and I captured each other in opposite windows.

There are some places that seem to beckon and feel comfortable from the beginning and this old house outside of Hereford was that to me.  

From its vantage on the prairie there would be no surprise storms from the west (or any direction, for that matter) as views seemed unending.  

Even as it continues its decline, this house was beautiful to me.

Just down the road and down the hill lies this house near the river.

Closer to Crow Creek, this property appealed most to Annie, who could imagine the view from the kitchen window at the end of the day.

I missed the views from the house above.  They were just a mile or so apart and yet so very different.

The flag waves brightly outside the post office in Carpenter, Wyoming.

Since we were "in the area," we decided to drive north into Wyoming and visit Carpenter (which wasn't even on one of the maps we brought.)

We were glad we did as there were lots of fun places to photograph.

A quiet afternoon in Carpenter, Wyoming.

Eventually, after several additional photo stops, we decided to head to the West Pawnee Ranch Bed and Breakfast.  

Not only had we booked the Prairie House for the night, we had made plans to have dinner there, a hearty ranch dinner that was especially delicious after a day in the sun and wind.

The Prairie House at the West Pawnee Ranch Bed and Breakfast.

We were warmly greeted by owners Louanne and Paul, and their adorable friendly dog, Foxy, who lavished us with kisses and managed to get lots of tummy rubs.

Suzette, Annie and Susan willingly allow Foxy to nag them into some serious petting.

 

Seriously, who can resist this sweet face?

Breakfast awaits...

...as does the open road to continue our exploration and appreciation of this beautiful place so close to home..