Ispirato

I had to renew my passport and that meant a new photo, of course. And it is a utilitarian photo - no smiles or head tilting and no multiple poses so you can choose the most becoming one.

The spare copies ended up on my computer desk. And I thought, “Ugh!” every time they caught my eye.

Next thing, I was scanning the photo into Photoshop to see if I could turn the image into something I liked better. Amongst the artistic filters were “poster edges” and “neon”. At left you see the result. I really like it. If it were a full body shot, I’d like to be wearing a silver space suit and sporting a blaster.

Through the ages, artists have painted self-portraits. Some painted themselves warts and all. Some did a little editing, eliminating wrinkles and spare chins (yup, I did this, along with applying the filters).

So who is this woman, staring ahead to the future? She follows the beat of her own drum, given her haircut and nose stud. She’s not shy. She looks optimistic and determined. Maybe a little amused. She is listening, intently … but I bet she will only hear what she wants to hear.

She fell into a vat of nuclear waste which caused her to glow. And aren’t the colors pretty? 

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Two months after chemo has finished, I decided to dye my super-short gray hair RED. Look closely in the upper left-hand corner and you’ll see my “before” shot. These aren’t my most becoming pictures and I feel very brave sharing them! But this is me, now. I am feeling well though not as energetic as I used to be. But I really enjoy relaxing and sleeping, so that is okay.

A year ago, after my cancer diagnosis, I promised myself a studio space - not just the bedroom here at home that I already use. Stuffed with papers, fabric and supplies, it is mostly a storage room with a desk where I can sometimes clear enough space to do stamping and papercrafts. That’s not a proper studio. The studio I imagine for myself gives me room to move. And also room to heal.

Today I signed a sub-lease for a room above Lumina Fibre Arts Gallery in Malvern. Hooray!

I intend to move my feltmaking gear into it initially. There is space for other arts and crafts I pursue, but for the next few months I’d like to focus on felt. The ground floor is occupied by the gallery and a couple of small teaching spaces. I already sell work through the gallery. And it would be good to run some workshops again. In fact, I have just booked-in to do SoulCollage facilitator training in late July with Karen Mann, and Lumina’s back workshop is a good space for running SoulCollage classes.

I get to move into my new private studio in early June. Now that’s something to look forward to.