One Move Equals two Fires...part One

I am ashamed to say that this was the sad state of affairs of my art studio for quite a while. In it's defense, there was about 3 moves that occurred over time that caused this disaster. Not to mention a long period as it was building up when there was little I could do about it...I was struggling to barely walk with a cane with degenerative arthritis. But awhile back I finally got hip replacement surgery, and it was an enormous success.

Which of course meant that putting off dealing with the disaster lurking behind my studio door was suddenly NOT an option any more. It became something that MUST BE DONE. In the mean time, when I had moved over here some years back - boxes were shoved around. Dreamweaver finally was able to go and rescue stuff in storage from where she lived before - in another state! More - many more - boxes. My ex-husband but still friend over all these years passed away last fall, and we had the final duty of disposing of HIS stuff. More boxes. ( some of all of which went into a storage building on our property, which helped and we had Fiber Geek and GAFilk Friend to help us there with his stuff - and that is the story of part two of this post series! I always seem to be posting events backwards - perhaps that is because that is how life is perceived in memory...) About 3 weeks ago, or there-abouts, my dear friend Light out of the goodness of her heart let us sucker her into helping us finally, for once and for all, dig this out.

She came over on a Thursday night and we began organizing what to do. Friday morning dawned and she and I began moving boxes. First, we pulled everything OUT of the storage building and cleared it, to reorganize. Then we began pulling stuff out of the studio. Now...understand, most of what Dreamweaver and I have in boxes are books...paper back and hard back books. Between us we probably have about 4000 books. (yes, that is 3 zeroes and no, that is not a typo, as Light can now attest.) At first she was excited..."Oh cool! Books" By late Saturday, her joy as a bookworm had degenerated to "Um. Books. Yeah..." The bins with the books are, I might add, heavy. Some heavier than others. Eventually, the studio finally looked like this...some sweeping still to be done, but...we were getting there.By Monday, Lights reaction to me opening a bin and saying "Oh, surprise, books!" went something like this - "&%$@#!!" I now suspect along with paying her way to the GAFilk convention this coming winter - which is how we suckered her into doing this - I now probably owe her several, if not more therapy sessions to deal with her new found condition of Bibliophobia! Late Monday evening she went home. Exhausted, whupped and tongue dragging the ground. I would be more inordinately proud of my 47 year old self wearing out a 20 year old, except that the next day, Tuesday, I made it out of the bed as far as the computer chair in the living room, and then crawled back to bed. That was my excursion for the day! Yeeps.

I am still organizing, finding ways to shift things and arrange things. It's still a little messy, and a work in progress. However - I am painting! Instead of it being a massive jumble of stuff that stops you at the door, it is now a working artists studio, and functional...Most of my work is murals at sites else where. But it is absolutely imperative that I also function in my studio too, to produce work for sale. So, now The Barefoot Arts Studio is up and running...

I am working on a series of "cute animal" pictures based on the illustrative style I have used on the children's wing of a church school. I have been assured they should sell like the proverbial hotcakes. Feed back has been very positive from both the church, which is letting me sell the paintings there without charging a commission (!!!) and from friends and family who have seen the paintings in progress. This is the Panda bear painting - currently am working on Koala bears ( if you look close in the picture above, you can see the Koala bear painting on the easel).
Light, I want to thank you profoundly with all my heart for your cheerful willingness to work your ass off on this project - even though you seem to be very pleased with our offer to pay your way as a fair trade, I say to you, that you are owed so much more than that for your hard work, your unrelenting cheerfulness and your sense of humor which even the weight of 4ooo books could not dim. With Dreamweavers insane work and school schedule, and my own crazy hours and the limitation of some arthritis still, we could NOT have done this with out you, period. So thanks, with all our hearts for your heroic efforts above and beyond the call of duty or even friendship! We are looking forward to GAFilk with you next January! And I am sure we will all remember with fondness (or maybe not) the work we put into this to get there! We love you and never ever doubt it...we owe you, woman!