Moving, Moving, Moving

Obviously you all haven't seen me here for a couple of weeks, and once again, I apologize for my absence! But I have a good excuse- and a note for the teacher, too- and I think once you hear about it, you'll forgive me!


I've told you that we're relocating, but I really haven't gotten into any of the details about it, mostly because the bulk of them would send you right off to sleep, but I finally have something fun to show you, and a little bit of new art, as well!


Here's the summary. In the last few weeks: our house has been sold to a young couple who really seem to get what we've tried to build and grow here; we've decided that rather than buy an existing house that would force us to compromise on too many of our "must haves", we're going to build a house and get exactly what we want, where we want it; we've found an apartment to move into temporarily while the new house is being built. 

Whew.


In preparation for building, we've been mulling over, and deciding upon, all the finishes and features we want in the new house. All of them. It was a daunting task, picking every single thing that would go into a 3000 sq.ft. house, but for help, we were assigned an excellent designer and got two days to wander though a well-appointed showroom. It was creative and fun for both my husband and I, and because I've had to scale my daily art making way back to accommodate showing the house to prospective buyers, inspectors, appraisers, neighbors, and realtors, it really allowed me to get my art ya-yas out.

We've chosen dark hardwoods, almond-colored cut-and-loop carpet and a lovely, creamy tile for the floors throughout the house. In the above photo is the carpet and floor sample, and also the kitchen cabinets and (granite) counter top. Yummy.

For the master bath- the tile (lower left), cabinetry (lower right) and granite counter top (center); the carpet is also shown but won't, of course, be in the bathroom.

All the remaining other bathrooms will look like this: dark cabinets (lower left), tile floors and showers (upper right) and granite counter tops (upper left); again, the carpet is also shown, only as a reference to make sure it stays in line with all of the other rooms.


Finally, we decided to tile the back patio with this luscious 18" x 18" tile...

Fun, yeah? It was! And now the hard part comes: waiting for it to be built so we can move in!


In the meantime, and since the house has been sold and shouldn't need to be seen by anyone else until we close, I've dived back into the studio, making as much of a mess as I please! I'm so thoroughly inspired our experience last week in the design center and it shows in the work I'm producing.

As a challenge to myself, and in search of something to keep me sane during a couple of months of temporary housing while my art supplies are packed away in storage, I decided to try working minimally, with papers I'd already painted and as few tools as possible. I limited my paper selection to just four pieces- one for the background and three with which to collage. I used fluid matte medium, one paint brush, a cutting mat, and one X-Acto knife. Frugal, indeed, and certainly those are supplies I can take with me and use while I cool my heels in an apartment until the house is finished and we can move in!

First I collaged a background, and then started adding cut Stacked Journaling elements, one layer at a time. 

 (detail)

I love the jagged edge, and the way the top layer of cut SJ floats above the collaged background. I also get a kick out of how closely it mirrors all of the color choices I made for the new house! And more importantly than anything, in the midst of all this relocation madness, it felt great to finally, finally, finally take some time to make art and lose myself in the process!

Happy creating!