Friday, March 26, 2010

Sometimes A Little Gets You Started

I just buckled down and started to get the studio into a place where I can maybe actually work...



I had some clay slabs that got too hard to use back when I was pregnant with Chloe (3 years this summer - yikes!) that I decided to break up and put into the dry clay reclaiming buckets. +2 square ft of table space earned, yay!


Things have just been piling up on my slab roller table, which is my main work table for makind stuff and glazing...


And now, things have been shifted around, put away and I've got some room to get some work done when I find a fleeting few minutes.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone - as I feed and burp the baby and type one-handed... Got to love these phones!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Take Each Day...

We had such beautiful weather this weekend. Sunny with a slight breeze and the temperature peaked in the low 70's...

With having two little ones around, not much on the to do list gets done. It feels like weeks just go by and all we do is manage to get some laundry done. But this weekend was different. We had a great mixture of house cleaning and organizing, fixing leaky toilets, scrubbing mildew from the shower corners, unclogging drains (oh how I forgot about how much hair you lose after pregnancy), birth announcements and thank you cards done and mailed, oodles of piles accumulated were gone through and disposed of... It felt great!

And we even had time for outside fun! Thanks to Haley and Ali for starting this cool sidewalk chalk colored block decoration on the patio! I just LOVE it!!!




And I have to say, living in a suburban neighborhood has it's perks... We have probably the coolest group of kids living within a few houses of us. And they all like to come by after school and on weekends to hang out with Chloe and to help in the garden. And the girls are itching to babysit Chloe. Which for now, having them over so I can work on the garden (soon) will be such a blessing!

Last night, Dave and I actually got to sit and eat dinner alone while Riley slept and Chloe played 'kick the plastic bouncy ball up on the roof' with Mark (she just watches him and cracks up then runs around like a crazy person with arms flailing about playing airplane). And then he blew bubbles and she ran about and tried to catch them with her bubble wand and yelling "get back here bubbles" and squeals of happiness and "bubbles... more bubbles".

And I must admit... If she wasn't in school I don't think I would have the energy or patience to deal with her and a newborn all the time. And she wouldn't be such the great kid she is (her teachers are awesome and she learns so much there)!

So at some time in the very near future, Marsha Neal Studio will be going full throttle again. Not sure exactly in what direction (maybe some miniature things as garden treasures) along with the beads and pendants...

It's about time for some experimenting...

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Where are you???

Ok, so I am starting to get grumpy a bit more frequently these days. It's now been months since I've done anything creative in clay, and I think I really need to. Problem is that my work space is a mess (that whole moving office into studio/basement organization thing). And with new baby aroung, any "free" few moments I have are usually spent breathing and looking around thinking of what I need to get done around the house.


For example, yesterday I opened up our enclosed patio Florida room since it is starting to reach the low 60's now. Had to of course pick off the dead stuff from the plants overwintering out there... The bunnies were happy to have company again!


And ol gal Stinker the cat was extremely happy that the sun was out and was the first to run into the FL room as soon as she heard me at the doors...


And even though I can't drink my regular beloved motivational coffee, I can still have some decaff... Which of course tastes best out of a hand thrown mug! And who doesn't love the swirlies from the creamer?

So I sit sometimes and wonder where did my creative self go? Why do I get so frustrated? Why feel so anxious? Yes, there are a lot of really cool things going on out there in blogland and in fellow artists studios... But my time now is here as a mom. At least until this little one doesn't need both or one of my arms constantly... Let that creative itch go unscratched for a bit longer. It's so frustrating though! Better time management may help too (and more sleep).

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone