May, 2022
As May began, the boyfriend and I had just returned from a road trip to Atlanta where he was doing some teaching and I was doing some visiting with friends and remote working (is that a think when you have had a home office for over 25 years?). On the way back, we stopped at Dancing Bear Lodge in the Smoky Mountains, using up a credit from a pandemic-cancelled trip – beautiful scenery, great on-site restaurant, iffy weather. We also realized that we are less “nestled in the woods” people and more “wide-open vista” people.
A couple of weeks later, over in the Kate McEnroe Consulting side of my life, I had an opportunity to speak to a conference of women in econoic development in Austin, Texas in mid May. It’s spring, we have a car now, flying in a pain in the but and unreliable, and this is a season of our live when we are experimenting with pushing at all of the voices that say we have to be in a hurry, so we decided to make a road trip of it.
We settled on a slow roll, staying in Cape Girardeau and Texarkana on the way down. In Cape Girardeau, the Courtyard Marriott is tucked in to a few blocks of charmingly restored downtown, located in an old bank building with great architectural details. In Texarkana, Ed has a great time smoking a cigar and drinking Walgreens wine out on the patio next to the interstate.
Austin was delightful – got to have dinner with friends I’ve known forever and haven’t seen in just about as long.
On the way back, first night was in Arkadelphia, but the treat was the next couple of nights in Paducah (see the Paperpalooza post).
It has felt like spring was a long time coming this year, but let me tell you, this route it was new green growth, bright yellow fields, and generally beautiful scenery the whole way – glad we didn’t hurry through it.
May, 2022
I finished it! One of those 100 day Instagram projects done and dusted. I decided to use this project to experiment with gouache – one of those things I had in my stash but had never used. As you can see on the left, a little gouache goes a long way. I started with full tubes, and 100 mini-paintings later I still have most of it left, so while it was a success in term of experimentation and persistence, it didn’t do much to empty out my art closet.
Part two of the stash busting mission was also kind of a bust. I have a huge stack of report covers from back in the day when every consulting report was printed out over and over again. The paper quality is great, and one side is blank, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to recycle. The printed sides were all painted purple, my numerology color the the year 2022, and I cut 100 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 pieces. It worked great, but the stack of report covers doesn’t seem to have diminished by much.
As a learning experience, though, the whole thing was a great success. Working with the size and medium and color scheme parameters I set myself allowed me to learn a lot about what I feel drawn to create and how to work with the gouache – not nearly as uncontrollable and more luscious colors.
Having said that, I’m not inclined to keep going with this one, but after a break I think I’ll pick another goal, maybe a 30 day one this time, starting in June.
May, 2022
The stars aligned and I was finally able to stop by Ephemera in Paducah, Kentucky to take a workshop this month. It fit perfectly (kind of) into a road trip we decided to make for me to do a speaking engagement in Austin, Texas. And gave me a chance to bulk up my collage fodder stash in time for a visit back to Atlanta for a collage workshop in June and a new series I have in mind.
Kristin, who is the owner of Ephemera, is someone I have known for years since I crossed paths with her professionally in her earlier incarnation as an economic developer. She pivoted almost ten years ago to this successful life as a teacher and owner of one of the best known studios for visiting mixed media and other art teachers in the country.
Turns out, I got there just in time. Kristin has just announced that at the end of the year she will be taking a “gap year” and Ephemera as it is today will cease operations (at least with her at the helm), so I’m glad I got there when I did.
If you don’t know, Paducah is legendary among quilters – the center of the U.S. quilting universe – and years ago reated a program to provide artists with incentives to revitalize a section of the downtown area. It’s a riverfront city with beautiful parkland, and at this time of the year it’s a luscious green everywhere.
May, 2022
OK, I’m going to get just a little mystical again here, but maybe I can take the edge off it. You know how a lot of people think that there’s something lucky about a pair of socks, or a favorite hat, or some kind of ritual. Seems like a lot of times it is connected to sporting events of some kind. Well, for my, my lucky sign has always been butterflies. I like to think that when they show up, it is a sign that everything will be OK, or maybe even better than OK. I’ve had a pet in the past, but not often and not now, so I think the occasional butterfly showing up, and even giving me the feeling that they are following me around like a pet would, takes that place for me. And yes, there’s more, I’ve decided I’m even more special, because in my mind the only reason there would be butterflies outside my 33rd story downtown Chicago window is because they are visiting me, personally. There’s nothing like the feeling of opening your eyes after a sit and seeing a visitor like this outside your window.
April, 2022
Even up north in Chicago, where we ping-ponged between eighty degree days and snowfall in April, you can feel the energy stirring.
We had a great road trip this month down to Atlanta. Actually I was tagging along as the “trailing spouse”, a role that isn’t too familiar to me, while my boyfriend/husband taught some continuing education classes. A great chance to check in on some friends and do a little fabric shopping (I recommend Gail K on Cheshire Bridge for what can be a deeply rewarding experience in a super chaotic layout).
A fair bit of themonth was spent working with Impact Grants Chicago. This year I stepped up from a Financial Analyst for grant applicants to the head of one of the committees of financial analysts. Impact Grants Chicago is organized around the concept of one woman-one vote. Each one of us contributes $1,000, and we make as many $100,000 grants as that money will allow – usually four or five each year, It is an all volunteer organization, and it has given me great insight into a number of inspiring charitable and social service organizations that serve Chicago citizens. Each year as we hear the stories of our finalists during site visits I’m reminded of how truly priviledged I am, and how grateful we should all be to the people who work so hard and stay so faithful to the difficult and important work of these organizations. I truly have no problems.
