Once Uopn a Time

Once upon a time in Gurney, Wisconsin, we'd slide down the hill (Wis. State Highway 169) on the glare ice, at night. Low temperatures were not an issue - cars were. Before the four streetlights were installed we'd watch for the power-line wires to reflect headlights. "CAR!," somebody would yell. "Hit the ditch!!" There was no ditch, there was only deeper snow. None of us died. We loved our metal-runnered sleds, we didn't love the long hike back up Gurney Hill. Oh well. The price of the ride. The stars are closer to the ground Up North. I miss the sky of my sledding days. I took The Big Dipper personally. We won't talk about the Northern Lights.....

Anyway - back to reality. Eckels Pottery sold our first mag-ment - two magnets back to back with a metallic Holiday ribbon sandwiched in-between. This way one lovely ornament can become two useful magnets.

And last night I finally finished the Valley Press interview. May it as be entertaining to read as it was to write. It's scheduled to be printed in the first issue of the New Year. I hinted at new characters coming out of the pen. Not bears!

Now on to last-minute Holiday doings.
And then The New Year. Good Luck to Everybody!

-Sue

Waltzing Bears

Wow. Today I put a few last touches on the dancing bears that were started as a pastel demo at the Minnesota State Fair. That was in early September, and it's now the first of December. "Making product" has been given priority over "creating art." but this pair of waltzing bears is as done as they're getting. Changed their footing from beach sand to grass. Seemed like the right thing to do. Lighting and shadow is always a fanciful thing - my bears and atmosphere tend to ignore laws of reflection and light source. That's a lovely part of being the artist. Susie-World Rules - ha!

I also finished and packed some tooled and painted leather bear ornaments for the Eckels Pottery ornament show in Bayfield, WI. They turned out surprisingly nifty - I'd forgotten how much fun it is to work with leather. If they don't sell, they will be welcomed additions to our motley ornament collection! To think that once upon a time I was going to be a "serious" ornament collector. Oh well.

The end of this week holds the Landmark Center Holiday Show in St. Paul, Mn. Always such a beautiful show - now to see how sales go. It's also my last show of a pretty good season. I do appreciate all of our customers - whether they buy a $4.00 magnet or a $400.00 original. THANK YOU CUSTOMERS!!

Back to the list of things to do....
-Sue

Tossing

Wow. I am throwing stuff away. Not in a bag for Goodwill. Not taking stuff down to the antique shop to sell, but after three thoughts simply putting stuff into the trash can. Wow. And Elaine is getting rid of stuff, and Carol is getting rid of stuff.

Perhaps we will create the Light Economy. The less stuff to deal with era. What a concept. Less to dust, less to break, less to move.

I have learned that (sorry, magazine companies....) I don't need to own a magazine, I just have to read it. Hooray for the Stillwater Library! And the racks of back issues!

A square foot a day of cleared space is the tiny goal. Today it happened on the studio counter, and also a tad in Tara's desk. I heart open horizontal space!

On to the day1

Sue

Zoomin'

Summer is peelin' past..... sigh. I tear pictures of Adirondack chairs out of magazines and toss "em in the inspiration pile.... Then I think of the folks laboring over the making of those chairs that to me just mean "relaxing." Nope - they mean lumber and saws and hardware and sweating. Yin yang yup.

On to another day of not relaxing. I ain't complaining because this means folks are still buying bears. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

July 16 - here we come!

On to the day-
Sue

State Fair!

The application deadline has been met! Tara, Todd, and I have entered the very tough Art competition at the Minnesota State Fair. Me in Pastels, Todd in Sculpture, and Tara in Photography. None of us has made it in yet, but ya gotta give 'er the go.

I will be demonstrating pastel techniques there, too, but as yet I have no plans. A lovely calm bruin couple at the lake? A cranky close up of a Hal or a Bert? We'll have to see who is hiding in the paper...

Just finished framing a waltzing bear pair. Title: "Another Time." Got to try out the new Terry Ludwig pastels won at the Lake country Pastel Society's meeting Tuesday night. We piranas around the free stuff at Wet Paint's two tables..... Lucked into a nice assortment of dinged sanded papers and some perfectly fine pastel boards. I do not need more art supplies. I need more time. And more space? Time is more important than space right now.

On to the next mission. A cool front is pushing through.

Tootle-loo,
Sue

The Next 21 Days

Wow, talk about lack of noting....
But on to the re-inventing. Twenty-one days will find life at Sunday of the Ely Bluebery Festival - truck-willing and creeks don't rise.....

I'm slightly spoiled now from the Blue Ribbon and valuable prizes awarded me and the bruins at the Stone Arch Art Festival in Minneapolis in early June. Taken aback and truly amazed. "Thank you!," to all who helped make it happen. Ya yust neffer know, ya sure, ya betycha.....

So on with the mission. Food, family, friends, work....l

I've keeping current with book-keeping, I can durn sure type here a few times a week.

One down. On to the twenty. A different me for Ely.
Today holds ordering mats, matting and framing, working on pastel originals, figuring out a new tee-shirt order and making some calls.
First, coffee with the crew at Fresh Fields, and bringing home a loaf of multi-grain bread to Tara, Brit, and Tyler.

Lucked into seeing the Federer - Nadal Wimbleton match. awe-inspiring - even for a I-don't-know-anything-about-tennis sort like me. The not-giving up not-giving-in I-can-still-win even-in-the-dark energy of both so equal. A joy and pain to see. Thanks, dudes, for the honor.

Not really balanced - don't really care.

-Sue the slightly daring