Week 12: Half-Way!!

Oof.  I can't believe my residency is half over!!  Yikes.  It's been a real self-check week!!  Have I done all I'd hoped in the first three months of my residency?  Hmm... I've done a lot, but maybe not everything!  Will I be done in three months with all I have to do??  No, but I'm going to try!!  Since I have no idea what I'll be doing when the next three months are over, I suppose I'd better get on that, as well...

Anyway, this week was busy and a little odd, but mostly because I had no time in the studio.  This was through no fault of my own, but due to leaking pipes in the ceiling above the studio - boo!!  They're fixed now, the wall is repainted, and I can move back in on Monday, and hopefully not faint from paint fumes (that place has really bad air circulation...!).  

Here's some of what I did this week:

My week started out in the most GLORIOUS place on the planet (IMHO): Ludington, Michigan.  My family's been vacationing there since I was a kid, and I love it there more than I can say.  (Seriously, I could go on about it for hours!)  I was able to start of the holiday weekend at a Scottish festival in Alma, Michigan, then headed northwest and spent the rest of the weekend reading in a hammock, hiking, eating, hiking, sleeping, hiking, kayaking, and playing games.  It was exhausting, relaxing, and wonderful!! 

Massed Bagpipe Bands at the Scottish Festival

Ludington Lighthouse and SS Badger

Reading this book for the third time
and loving every minute of it!

View from some of the hiking trails

Ludington State Park has the pretties trails!

View from the hammock...!

Kayaking on Hamlin Lake

Walking along the beach to the
Big Sable Lighthouse

Possible my best game of Yahtzee! ever!!
TWO Yahtzees!! 

Skyline Trail at the State Park

Burger, fries, and lemonade at
our favorite little dive

Eskimo Kisses ice cream at House of Flavors!

The rest of the week I stayed busy!  I did an art lesson at the school where I used to teach (more on that another time), taught two private lessons, worked at Two Twelve a couple of afternoons, got sunburnt doing yard work (yay spring!), and spent some WONDERFUL time drawing outdoors!!  Since I didn't have my studio and the weather was so wonderful, I thought I'd take advantage!!  There was a bee dive-bombing me one evening, so I started a little campfire and smoked it out!  It worked pretty well - the bee got all sleepy-looking and sort of floated away! 

And I couldn't let a perfectly good fire go to waste without making any s'mores, of course!!

Aside from sketching animals for the book, I painted this thumbprint tree for my nephew's Baptism.  It will be full of thumbprint leaves from family and friends!

Next week I'm excited to be back in the studio and back on track!!  

Week 9: The Show Is Up and Bagpipes are Piping!

This week has been...odd!  But good.  I got my show at the cafe hung on Monday with the help of 212's Meghan Canavan, and I think it looks good!  Keith McGuire, our graphic designer, made this awesome, old-timey-looking poster for the show, and I love it!

Once the show was up, it was back to business as usual...ish.  My studio-mate had lots of photo shoots this week in the studio, so I vacated a few times (thankfully she's awesome and tries to schedule shoots when it's convenient for me - so nice!); I had lots of things to do outside the studio (dentist, catching up on things I'd left undone while prepping for the show, etc), and I got sick (a cold), so the week was a little jumbled and I felt like not much studio-type work got done.  But lots of other stuff did!!  

On a rather unrelated note, it was a beautiful morning here in Saline, and we had all of the windows and doors open at Two Twelve to let the fresh air in.  We're right across from a beautiful cemetery, and there was a funeral there later in the morning, up on the hill, complete with a bagpiper.  I can't tell you what bagpipe music, especially in person, does to me!  It's like some sort of magic flute that lulls me into a state of peaceful contemplation.  I love it!  My grandfather came from Scotland, and I grew up going to the Alma, Michigan Scottish Festival each spring, and having my dad play tapes and CDs of bagpipe music around the house, so it's in my blood.  Plus, Saline's Sister City is Brecon, Wales, and each year we hold a Celtic Festival, for which I am one of the organizers.  I get a full dose of bagpipes every summer, and I love every minute of it!  

Since I know some people aren't big bagpipe fans, I'll just include two very short videos I took at the Scottish Festival last year - it doesn't compare to the 200+ member massed pipe bands that take the field there each year, but it's still music to my soul!