Happy New Year, Friends Across the Globe!

Greetings from Missouri Bend Studio, friends across the globe! I hope that 2015 has arrived and brought new cheer and inspiration to all.

It's been a very long time since my last post. As I may have indicated, I went back to school last fall for a masters degree in Adult and Higher Education here at the University of South Dakota. Don't we always we have high hopes that we can juggle everything there is to do in life??? I thought then that I could manage to keep up with my blog, my Easy shops and my life as an artist, even if on a more modest scale. Well, I was quite wrong!! It took me until the middle of the semester to resign myself to the truth...the studio was turned into a study/office and I gave up the pretense of keeping up at all, since it was obviously not the case.

I had a really wonderful, albeit intense, semester and loved the challenge of entering a whole new discipline. I find that I am very interested in the workings of higher education, despite the very real and troubling issues that are affecting so many around the world. I believe that obtaining an education is so important, yet the issues facing students, faculty and the public are complex and daunting. So....having said all that, I'm gearing up for a new semester to begin tomorrow, with the vow to check in here on some sort of regular basis. I've missed the many friends I've made across the globe through the blog here and my Etsy shops.

In case you are interested, I have reorganized MissouriBendStudio, my Easy shop and streamlined the sections. Everything that was there is now drastically reduced in price and is listed in the Clearance section....these small works need new homes and would love to ship a piece just about anywhere! I'm slowing listing some newer work, especially the pieces from the last year that are made on cradled panels. These are small mixed media drawings (acrylic and ink) on 8" x 8" panels that are cradled, which means that rest on 1 1/2" sides and stand somewhat off the wall. The sides are painted and continue the main artwork around the edges. They are lightweight and need no framing....I hang them easily in my studio on a single push pin!!! A couple of pieces are shown below.

Dust to Dust no.8

Dust to Dust no.5

As you may imagine, not much new artwork is getting made in my studio these days, but this is only temporary, as I can't relinquish this part of myself entirely. I'll be back in the studio by mid-spring, I hope, as the room transitions from office back to art making zone. So, please stay tuned as I list some more recent work in the shop and do check back here for updates. I may just begin a new daily practice of small drawings to keep myself in balance....I'm happy to share them here, even if I don't take the trouble to list them in the shop.

Look forward to hearing from you with comments or updates about what is going on in your life in the new year!