I picked up materials for some stained glass panels that I'll start next week. But I also finished a couple of things.
For some reason, which seems utterly without merit, anymore, I decided, a few weeks ago, to enter a couple of pieces in the Nevada County Fair, which runs for 5 whole days, next week. I did this not having anything to submit, at the time. But I was thinking, "Hey, start to get your silly head in the game!", or something of that sort. It's symbolic, really, nothing more. I was giving myself a bit of a deadline to do something non-commissioned.
So, I found a John Muir quote. Perhaps I haven't read enough of his words, yet, but for all his other major accomplishments, a wordsmith, he wasn't. Still, I found one that I liked well enough, and set to put it into some calligraphic form. A lot of this I did last week, actually, to be honest.
I'm rarely satisfied with a final result, and this was no exception, but I saw in the paper that the submissions were down quite a bit, this year, and I felt I had to hand in something (like someone was going to hunt me down and wag a finger in my face). Here's the work table just after I finished, and a photo of the piece after I threw it into a frame (I had forgotten that part until the last minute).
I also had committed to a pine needle basket. I generally only work on those at night, in front of the TV, for an hour or two. Each one takes weeks, at that pace, and I needed to seriously step it up. So, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning were spent working on a basket in broad daylight. That probably accounts for the sense that I didn't get too much done, this week (it's like throwing a pot in very s-l-o-w motion). But, I did finish (with some seeds that Dylan had brought from Costa Rica) and then rushed both pieces over the fairgrounds yesterday afternoon. Here's a picture of the basket.
So, that's it. I don't much care for juried exhibitions. I would much rather just have exhibits of people's work without judgment--just because it's interesting. Especially at an event like this. But, there it is. If women ruled the world...Fair starts Wednesday.
